It may be that we have had some stimulating mental experience which
has not yet relaxed its grip upon our attention. In such case even
bodily weariness is apt to be forgotten, for, after all, every physical
sensation is dependent upon some mental condition, whether fleeting or
permanent. It is this interdependence of physical feeling and thought
which makes it possible to recall emotions of pain or sorrow, of
comfort or joy. The sight, the touch, or the smell of certain things
will bring back sensations that once accompanied them, whether those
sensations be painful or pleasant.
If the mind has been so stimulated that it cannot relax, there is
little likelihood that sleep will come quickly, but we cannot relax by
impatience. Tossing and turning will not quiet the mind; we must either
accept the condition calmly and follow out the train of thought that
has started or deliberately side-track the exciting cause. This may be
done by setting up a counter activity in the mind along quieting lines.
For instance, if one had walked the streets late on some such occasion
as a New Year’s Eve celebration in New York, and had become stimulated
by the lights and the crowds, he might deliberately recall the most
peaceful day in the country that it had been his fortune ever to know.
A typical scene of this sort is a warm Sunday in late spring, when
all the usual activities of country life have ceased; the air is
heavy with the scent of clover and field flowers, the apple blossoms,
and the thousand odors of the fresh country field; the air moving so
lazily that it scarcely stirs the trees; the cow chewing the meditative
cud; the bees buzzing dreamily; the very horses, standing under the
shed of the little white country church, whinnying softly to each
other, as knowing that a spell of peace is over all, a spell that must
not be broken; while from the church itself comes the drone of the
preacher,—each little stir a part of the peace that broods over the
day. Think of some such thing as that, recall it in all its details,
and the chances are that the drowsiness induced at the time, whether
one were of the congregation or a mere onlooker, will again steal over
the eyelids and, before one is aware of any change, he is well on the
way to the land of dreams.
In the same way if one has read an exciting book, or has seen a
thrilling play, one may either live them over until the feelings
exhaust themselves, because no longer new, or one may deliberately
divert one’s self from thinking of them and devote the attention to
more soothing things. Either course removes all cause for impatience
with the fact of wakefulness and leaves the mind quieted. This tends to
drowsiness, even if it does not really induce sleep.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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