Your Life While You Sleep
Does she even have a name? I call her “Night Walker.”
She’s not very expressive, either words or facial expressions.
She doesn’t worry or feel the low grade anxiety that seems to follow me around most of the time.
She’s intense, like a character who stepped out of the inky pages of a comic book.
She has no bills to pay.
She never sits in a car pool or wonders when to fit her workout into her schedule.
It’s often nighttime in her world.
There is nothing she cannot face, handle or conquer.
Night Walker is me, or at least a part of me.
She’s the part of me who moves my dream story line forward.
She is my sleep self, the counterpart to this self telling you her story.
And she is as real to me as the other parts of me, the waking parts. Her personality is indelible.
My dreams are the stuff of Hollywood script writers, action packed with heightened sense of boldness.
I’ve become enchanted by my dream life and the version of “me” who lives within it.
While you are asleep, what happens to your life?
Do you think of your dream life as a valid, real part of your life, one that has meaning and story, or is it transient and worth less than your waking life?
I’m fascinated with the life I have while my awake persona rests, my arms and legs paralyzed to prevent me from acting out bizarre plot lines.
I enjoy experimenting with this part of my life, building a bridge between this “me” and the “me” I’ve named Night Walker.
To help you develop a relationship with your sleep/dream self, I offer a handful of suggestions to you:
#1 Have a routine that allows you to transition from the daily hustle ’n’ grind to a restful state.
I have a routine of reading a daily affirmation/suggestion then writing in my “one line a day” journal. Then I ask myself a question or plant an intention for my sleeping, dreaming self. Sometimes I’ll ask Night Walker to go on a mission to find an answer or idea for me.
Weird? Maybe.
Effective? Yes.
Fun? Absolutely!
#2 Practice paying attention to your thoughts when you first wake.
When you wake, notice whether you get an answer to a question that’s been on your mind. This could be as simple as a picture, word, or feeling.
I like to see whether the messenger of my sleep self brought something meaningful for me, like a gift. I say thank you to Night Walker for her participation in our combined life.
#3 Develop a relationship with your sleeping self.
Eat well, exercise, do what you can for this version of you who is working to reset and recharge your mind at rest. For me, this looks like making sleep a priority, including how I encourage my body to move through natural rhythms. For example, I tend to cut off caffeine by 10 AM and avoid eating a few hours before I plan to go to sleep.
Your sleep self could have real, valuable contributions to your waking life.
It’s all you, after all. You simply get to decide whether this version of you is a valued member of the Team of You.
I adore Night Walker and borrow her personality when Waking Lisa could benefit.
And I like to imagine that I have more access to my 24 hour/day life than I previously dreamed possible.
It’s a playful game with no downside, so why not?
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