Awaken the Gods of Sleep

When I was younger I had no problem falling asleep. What could have possibly been on my mind as a kid that would’ve made me not sleep well?

Late homework? Nope.

Didn’t turn in a library book on time? Uh-uh.

Forgot to write to Santa to let him know what I wanted for Christmas? Well, that might have done it but, ummm, no.

As a kid we didn’t worry about things that would have such a negative affect on our sleep patterns. Our biggest worries (some of which I listed above) were never a big enough deal to affect us in that way.

So, when did that change?

I think the first time I suffered any non-sleeping nights over something that was worrying me, was when I was told that my grade in biology wasn’t going to allow me to take part in the graduation ceremony from high school. I mean, I graduated high school, but only because I had to take a 30-day summer school course and pass that to get my diploma. And, I did.

My mom was so upset she left work early and went to her room and cried herself to sleep. I was feeling so guilt-ridden for letting her down, that I couldn’t sleep at all that night - and it was my 18th birthday, too.

I didn’t forget that incident for awhile, and I hated that my carelessness resulted in my mom crying. You see, out of five kids, I was the "smart one". And, at the time, the only one who stayed in high school and graduated (eventually). She wanted that ceremony, and I denied her that pleasure.

But, the point of that sad little memory was to highlight the first time I had trouble sleeping. I’m no scientist, but if this were a scientific experiment I think that would have to qualify as a successful test result in proving my point.

The scientific fact that your conscious problems that you bring upon yourself to the point of heavy worrying is a factor in the disturbance of your sleep patterns which take place in your subconscious. Thus, conscious problems which bring upon massive worrying affects your subconscious ... rendering you sleepless, right? (Where can I apply for a grant to actually workshop this?)

So, what is the solution?

Well, I would have to think that if you continue to involve yourself in actions that bring worry or strife to your mental well-being, you will continue to have sleepless nights.

(You're repeating yourself, so ... NO, that's not it.)

So what do we do to avoid this problem?

Well … for starters, quit fucking around and get your shit together!

My dad used to tell us that.

That’s what we all need to tell ourselves on the daily. However, it’s easier said than done, isn’t it? We talk a mean game to ourselves, but we also know that deep down inside we're not going to hold ourselves onto that tough talk we just gave ourselves, It's not in our nature. So, if we give up on ourselves that quickly and easily, what's it going to take to seriously take matters into our own hands for our own benefit?

Every new year we decide to pick something about ourselves to work on so that our lives will improve. We call them “New Year’s Resolutions”. And the thing we most often choose to work on is our body. “I resolve to eat better and lose 25 pounds by May”. Yadda, yadda, yadda ... We tell ourselves that every January, and frankly, it's become a joke. We both know this is an empty promise to placate our need to fit in. So when someone asks you if you made a NYR you have a quick response - and that’s that.

If, by chance, you manage to take the weight off, great! You succeeded! If you didn’t, well, “there’s always next year!”

I call bullshit on this!

We need to be a little more honest with ourselves when we take part in this annual ritual and give it the respect it deserves.

According to the History Channel's website, in the article "The History of New Year's Eve Resolutions", some 4,000 plus years ago the Babylonians began this little ritual that has slowly evolved into what we know as the New Year's Resolution today. The difference was that it was actually held in March (the old beginning of the new year), and it was a part of the 12 day ritual for celebration of a newly crowned king or pledging allegiance to the reigning king. It was called Akitu.

This celebration went on with them praying to their Pagan gods, pledging to pay their debts, work harder, be better people, (lose weight? just kidding), etc. If they followed through on these promises the gods would show favor to them and their crops would be blessed and provide a good harvest, If they did not, they would fall out of favor to the gods and surely they and their families would suffer,

In 46 BC, the Romans held a similar ritual, and Julius Caesar himself was involved. He changed the beginning of the new year to January, in honor of the god, Janus. This is the two-faced Pagan god who was able to look in the past and into the future at the same time, thus able to reflect on the past and look forward to the new year with promises to be better. The Romans offered sacrifices and promises to be good, and they believed they would be rewarded if they followed through.

In 1740, Christians joined in the fun due to the Methodist clergyman John Wessley. Same basic principal, on New Year's Eve you were to state the things you were resolving to change and put it on a list. Following through brought you favor with the church and God.

Today this is not a highly religious ceremony. It's not even something my church brought up any time that I could remember when I went to church as a child and as an adult! It wasn't anything that I could remember being important, It was always something done on a whim, or for fun, or even involving a bet with a relative, or something like that. T0day, it doesn't hold the same level of importance that we used to give it.

The New Year Is the Time to, Once Again, Make New Resolutions!

If you made it this far, congratulations! Your NYR will not be to improve on "finishing what you started"! It means that either my article truly interested you and you wanted to know what it was that I was going to recommend in order to sleep better so you can dive right in, or it was because you didn't want to hurt my feelings when I run into you and, without permission, quiz you on what I've written here. (Because, you know, that happens all the time!)

No, this will not end with me just rambling on about the Pagan gods, or the rituals held during those early times. Nor will it be something I'm just going to pull out of the 'bullshit box" and state that "this is the way to go". No, I'm actually going to post something that I've put a lot of thought into, and I'm going to do this right now, right here!

Why don't we all resolve to do better!

Yup, how cool and original was that?

But, seriously, there's actually merit in this. In actually resolving to do better, to be better, to live better, believe it or not, your subconscious will be affected, and without you even noticing it, you will sleep better!

If you take a stand and publicly state your intentions on how you're going to improve your life in one way or another - be it losing weight, finishing school, calling a relative you no longer speak to, starting to excercise or even joining a gym - your subconscious will react to these positive changes and you will sleep better, Can I prove this scientifically? Hell yeah, I can! Will I? Hell no, I won't!

I do believe that I've done quite enough in this department just by writing this down at all. Consider the time and research this article took for me to get my point across. Consider that I am a very lazy person, in general, and that this effort was way above and beyond for me and that I should be rewarded with any and all accolades open to me. Can you consider that? Well then, thank you for your consideration.

Therefore ... *ahem* ...

My New Year's Resolution will be to lose weight, be a better person to everyone I run into and to work hard and smile more often. Yeah, that should do it. I can count the zzz's I'll be cutting already, as this will definitely help in my efforts to sleep better.

Or maybe I'll just donate to a local charity and call it a night. Right?