Two Sleeps
I’ve sunk into my medieval self, the world of two sleeps, as described by historian Roger Ekrich in his book At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past. I wake at three, bounce around a bit and go back to sleep. I have to be careful though, sometimes I let the waking get away from me, and simply stay up. But usually, sleep overtakes me and I succumb. Of course, it helps I’m no longer driven by the clock and work. I can sleep until I wake, which is why I’ve mostly given up on my alarm.
The habit of the alarm, however, is dying hard because I like early mornings to write, walk around and meditate. Although, the time between the two sleeps can be used for that, too. At the moment, I ruminate a lot about past transgressions and errors, but I’m slowly training myself to forget about them and move on. The past is the past and I’ve mostly learned all the lessons that need learning from those days and times.
At my age it feels nice to have a goal and find a new way to live. Luckily, I guess, I don’t have anyone to disturb with my nighttime ramblings. So, I’m free to discover the world of the night between my sleep periods. So far, so good. Even with a peek at my phone, I’ve found I’m able to crawl back into bed to embrace Hypnos in search of Morpheus. Sleep and dreams, things of wonder. And I’ve been dreaming, and it feels good.