Dear Aislynn:

Something that came to my mind right now is that it will probably not be a good idea for you to work with teenagers, as in being a middle school or high school teacher!

I thought about you last night as I found myself awake and starting to become more and more awake THINKING about being up. So I thought: what if I try (again) what I told Aislynn and let her know how it worked for me in the morning, when I write to you. I imagined lying in the sun because I remember how the warm sun, sometimes the hot sun, on the beach, that hot sun on me, how it automatically calmed me, sort of squeezed out all the fear in me! Same as a hot tub or a hot bath does, ever a hot shower! That image and feel of the sun did calm me and I lost that awake-and-getting-more-awake feeling.

I didn’t sleep perfectly but good enough. Regarding imagining a whole movie, I see how it will not do the job when you are involved with the details and resolutions. Maybe just a scene as lying in the sun will do? Not perfectly but somewhat helpful…just like it was for me last night… or the raft on a calm river.

I’ve been writing this post as I am reading parts of yours: you choose what is most calming for you, the imagery. Just like drinking tea works for you and then one time it doesn’t … but may work again, same here. And any such tool (remember the tool box?) will not work perfectly every time. So you change tools, scenes to imagine.

Let me know how this works…

anita