I know what you're thinking..."Where did THIS come from?". Let me explain. I was thinking about what my son said last night. "Dad, if you try to go to sleep, you stay awake, but if you try to stay awake you go to sleep". Wise for his years, he is. A good commuter, he will make some day. Annoying, how Yoda talks.
So I was sitting there thinking about how I go to sleep...the actual process of sleeping on demand. It's not nearly as hard as trying to be creative on demand, or funny on demand. Sleeping on demand is an art and a science at the same time. It takes planning, a disciplined mind, and some subtle observations of how your body reacts to different stimulus...external and internal.
Imagine that you are a professional cliff diver and you're standing on this little teeny ledge over the ocean. You want to dive. You are eager for the dive. You're going to dive eventually, but you've got to wait for just the right wave, because you're a professional, and professionals are patient. Non professional cliff divers have a very short career.
So you focus. You have prepared yourself mentally for this. You walk thru all of the phases of the dive in your mind. Your eyes are closed, but only just. You breathe deeply and regurlarly. You FEEL the ocean 75 feet below you. You listen to the breakers as they pummel the cliff.
You are ready. Your eyes are open now...waiting for THAT wave to call to you. No, not THAT one...that one behind it...THAT's the one. It calls and your body slowly leans forward. Your arms are stretched straight out like when you were a kid and your dad would "fly" you around the room. Don't go there...you're about to dive off a cliff, for crying out loud!!! Focus!
Just as your body reaches the perfect angle you bend your knees and launch out into open space. Nothing between you and that wondrous wave...that perfect wave. Just time and space. You feel the wind in your face...in your ears...it becomes a roar, but you don't hear it. You're focusing...remember? Down you fall...the rocks slipping by like they were made of silk. Your arms stretched out like the wings of a turkey, and doing about as much good.
This is you...a professional
At the last possible split second you raise your arms over your head to take the impact of that cool, blue wave. Into the wave you go...part of the wave, you are. (Sorry) You immediately tuck your body to stop your descent into the rocks below. You look up and see the trail of glistening bubbles that your body made as it slipped through the crystal blue water. The sun is sparkling above, beckoning you. AIR is beckoning you.
This is also you...perefect form
You push to the surface. You pass by a few fish who are wondering what that fin-less, gill-less thing is doing in THEIR domain. And you finally break the surface! Nirvana!
"HEY! It's your stop...you gettin' off or you wanna ride back to the bus yard with me? I aint got all day, y'know...I got a schedule to keep". Ah...another successful hour of sleep has passed by like the wind and the rocks of the cliff and the blue water.
So that's you. The professional. There are others who try this. They are NOT professionals.
Everyone who tries to sleep on the bus can do it...eventually. Same with cliff diving. If you are on that little ledge long enough, you will eventually end up in the ocean. It's all about how.
The non-professional will be pre-occupied with the events of the day. They want to dive, but that last conversation with their boss keeps running through their mind. They lean, they LOOK like a cliff diver (airplane arms and all) but they can't focus on the task at hand. Their mind is undisciplined. SLAP! They hit the water..the cruel, cold, unforgiving water.
This is NOT you...aren't you glad?
Then there's the non-professional who really doesn't want to dive. They just see others do it and it looks so cool...so peaceful...Ahhh. But they don't know how. They just sit there and they get sleepier and sleepier. They wish they could fly like a Kingfisher, straight down into the dark water below. But instead they just fall asleep and roll off the ledge...SLAP!
Then there's the non-professional who wants to dive and has climbed to the little ledge, but along the way they notice all of the cool nooks and crannies in the cliff face. They are TOTALLY preoccupied with something other than the task at hand. And when I say "at hand" I mean at hand and feet...THREE POINTS OF CONTAAAAAAAAAACT!!...SLAP!
Again, NOT you...that's gonna leave a mark!
The professional sleeper DIVES into sleep...on their own terms...whenever they want. The non-professional merely FALLS to sleep...at their own peril.
Don't play games. Be a professional. And be QUIET...I'm trying to focus....ahhh, here comes my wave now...
