I have lots of issues with sleep. I find myself needing sleeping pills a lot more than I should because I have so many issues with hot flashes, which will often wake me up 4 or 5 times a night in panic. I've been trying to figure out how to wean the sleeping pills from my life and how to learn to live with the hot flashes and still be able to function during the day after sleepless nights.
Last night I decided to play an audio book that I have called "How to Practice" by the Dalai Lama.
I haven't decided whether I consider myself deeply religious or not. I think of deeply religous people as being people who have some sort of religious tenet that they follow. One of the things that helped me get through my cancer treatments in 2001 was the meditation classes that I took from a Tibetan group called Rigpa. I like the Buddhist view of the world where, instead of changing the world, they believe that first and foremost the person needs to change. I guess in that respect, I would consider myself a Buddhist. Tibet is a wonderful icon of what all of the world should be, I believe. And I also believe that if there would be any hope at all of my helping to create that world, I would need to find a solid ground within myself first, so that I would have a firm foundation upon which to stand as I hold my hand out to the next person.
So, in that vein, I thought that playing a Dalai Lama audiobook might be something that could help get me through the night and hopefully instead of waking up agitated and unable to meditate and/or get back to sleep, having the Dalai Lama speaking to me and helping me to focus on that image of world of peace and simplicity, and finding it all within myself.
I woke up at 6:00 this morning, feeling completely rested. I was amazed.
