HYPNOS
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
The breath as tides
Ebbing, flowing
Rhythms that define
The body's anchored home.
Close your eyes. Settle.
Let go the deitritus
That clutters the mind
Plugs emotional floodways
Drift into the electro-currents
Of that dark theta flow.
Heart slowing. Beats
Dancing circadian synchronous
With breath waves
In that pulsing lullaby
That sings you downstream
Of consciousness.
Float past the blue delta
Landmarks named
From the sendiment of day
Lush growth regenerates
An accretion of healing
Against the forces of decay
Empty into that deep
Ocean of dreams
Rapid-eyed sailing
Through emotional roiling
Charting the passage
Through memory and time.
Hush now. Sleep.
These twilight journeys
Unload our diurnal cargo
Unpacking lightly and easily
Until you are an empty vessel
Ready to be filled.
October 9, 2020: A doctor once told me that the most important thing that can be done for one's health is to drink water and get enough sleep. The simplicity of this advice felt suspicious; we are a culture that delights in short-cuts and miracle answers. However, it has become evident to me that we cannot shortcut our need for sleep, nor the consequences of too little sleep. I have come to believe that adequate sleep is a necessary prerequisite for all other cognitive, emotional, and physical work. With its impact on learning, memory, emotional regulation, and immune response (Walker, 2019), sleep is a critical component of any work a psychologist might do. This is true, not just for work with my clients, but also for me as a practitioner. Walker's assertions about the importance of sleep have seeped into my thinking: "Sleep loss will leak down into every nook and cranny of your physiology, even tampering with the very DNA nucleic alphabet that spells out your daily health narrative" (Walker, 2019, 5:12). Sleep has to be part of self-care, perhaps the most critical component prioritized above all other forms of self-care. It is the foundation for wellness. It is easy to stay up researching just that one more intervention while forgetting that if I can't integrate it into my learnings, if I can't be present for my client, clear and grounded, it won't matter how brilliant the intervention is.
Walker, M. (2019). Sleep is your superpower [Video]. Ted Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/matt_walker_sleep_is_your_superpower#t-834741