Under my Skin

People have been asking after me. “Are you getting some rest”? “I expect you are glad to be away from responsibilities in Edmonton, so you can get some rest”. You must be feeling rested now…”. Purposefully resting, “now I will go and rest” is not something I tend to do. I told one of the monks recently that when I can’t keep my eyes open any longer I lay down and go to sleep. That’s as close to purposefully resting as I get. However I’m one of those fortunate people who can fall sleep, at any time. I remember being on a hike with my dad in Scotland. We sat down on a pebble beach beside a river to have lunch and afterwards we both fell fast asleeeeep in the sun. It must be a family trait. These days though when it comes to sleeping at night before midnight, I remain wide awake.

Last night, partly in response to all those messages about getting rested, I decided to turn in early at 10.30 ish relinquishing the wish to write a blog entry. As midnight came and went and unconsciousness eluded me I wished I’d written instead. But this sleep pattern will have to change as monastic schedules set rising before 5.00 in the summer months and I’ll be at Shasta Abbey in a couple of weeks.

I’ll get in a bit of early-to-bed-early-to-rise practice this week-end as the community at Lions Gate Priory will be packing up and driving out to the retreat land near Lytton. We stay until Monday, a holiday in Canada. No late night blogging for me for a few days.

On the subject of resting? For me, the deepest rest is to simply sit, and I’m able to find more time for that at the moment. Thank you for your well wishes and kind concerns.

And Edmonton, Alberta, people, dogs, big skies, thunder, lightening, peeling paint, sunshine, hot cars. Like Singapore, you got under my skin and haven’t left.

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3 thoughts on “Under my Skin”

  1. Dear Reverend Mugo,
    There’s a mugo pine in my front yard — our favourite tree. I like to think you haven’t completely left Edmonton, either.

  2. Pre-midnight insomnia…..tell me about it.
    But having said that it is surprising how quickly the body adapts to the new early to bed early to rise schedule.
    Only trouble is, when I’m back home, my new early rising throws people for a while. Until I revert to post-midnight sleep patterns.
    Such is life.
    Will you still be posting your blog from Shasta?

    Norman

  3. Hi Rev Mugo,

    My sympathies. I have exacctly the same symptoms. However I have found that staring at the screen until late evening is the culprit. If I get all my computing done before 22.00hrs and then listen to the radio or read for a while, I can get off to sleep by 11.00 to 00.30 but if I compute much after ten I find it difficult to drift off before 03.00 and sometimes 04.30.

    The eyes have a very direct and broadband connection to the brain and I suspect that the wake/sleep signals get reinforced at the wrong times. But I have no scientific basis for this suspicion.

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