Fall Asleep Like a Saint

Our inner dialogue is as important as the conversations we have, even those we have with those closest to us. As the philosopher Gurdjieff said, “When falling asleep wakes you up you’re making progress.” When we reach a level of awareness where actions we take that are below our standards of conduct ring our inner alarm bells and cause us to remember that we don’t have to act unconsciously, we are well on the road to a peaceful and powerful life. 

Gurdjieff used falling asleep as an obvious metaphor for drifting into unconscious being while awake, but sleep is a vital nutrient for our well-being, let’s call it Vitamin “S.” I would like to share with you my ritual for falling asleep. I’ve evolved a method that uses the time before sleep to refresh my totality as a multi-dimensional being – some call it their Soul or their Spirit – the way deep sleep refreshes my body:

It’s quite simple: When you’re lying down and about to fall asleep, visualize the world covered with love and forgiveness and then make it personal – love everyone for the sweet innocent baby they once were (even those who’ve long since gone sour or worse) and forgive everyone for everything!

You can start off by seeing love and forgiveness as a thick rainbow-colored  liquid being poured out onto the Earth from a jar like the symbol of the astrological sign Aquarius (my sign, by the way). Or if you don’t feel like visualizing that image or your own conception of the concept, then try saying the words in your mind as you direct your emotions to actually desire to forgive everyone for everything.

I live in the same world that you do and I am well aware this practice is going to trigger plenty of resistance from the grudges you think you’re entitled to carry around with you. That’s great, because that’s how you can become aware of them, especially the ones that have become buried so deeply into your awareness that, paradoxically, you are not aware of them! You may come to realize that you aren’t just carrying around these grudges and other feelings of entitlement to behave badly, you’ve actually taken them on as who you are unconsciously or, worse, who you think you are supposed to be. You can’t be forgiven if you don’t forgive and yes, you have to be the first one to do it – sorry! Forgive me?