Sleepless Nights

How is it outside? 71 F, breezy and damp. It smells good outside.

If I were a gambling man, I would wager that the number of blogs started in the wee hours of the morning is a sizable one. Instead of picking a spread, there would be options as to why it was started: things like mania or insomnia. I would go with insomnia.

As fortune would have it, I am not a gambler. I never saw the attraction.

I have been thinking about insomnia a lot lately. I've been subject to it all my life. My family, especially my mother, have recurring bouts as well. Most of my friends have it, or have had it.

I once read that insomnia is a sign of depression, and I think that sounds right. Insomnia is also indicated by many other things. For the moment, mine is fueled by a racing imagination. I am anticipating, planning, creating and other things. Sometimes this is good. Sometimes it is not.

Reading and meditation calm my mind, and I have always found inspiration in the Tao te Ching, though it's path isn't that of Buddhism. I'm not married to the idea of being Buddhist though, but because it is testable and functional I stay with it for as long as it continues to be so. I'll start tomorrow with the passages.

This is my first step.