Great article about those 3am anxiety sessions

Thanks for posting this Jan.

From the article...
"Have you noticed the 3am thoughts are very self-focused? In the quiet dark, it’s easy to slide unknowingly into a state of extreme egocentricity. Circling round the concept “I”, we can generate painful backwards-looking feelings like guilt or regret."

You bet I have noticed this, and I know I am in good company
I tend to wake every night at least once, usually 2-3x...pain, anxiety, emotional processing. 9 years of this BS is quite enough, thanks brain. So, I have recently said enough is enough flailing about in my own 3am neurosis and committed to this practice:

Tonglen is an ancient Tibetan practice that awakens our compassion and introduces us to a far bigger view of reality.
The word tonglen translates as “sending and taking.” It reverses our usual logic of avoiding suffering and seeking pleasure. In tonglen practice, we visualize taking in pain with every in-breath and sending out whatever will benefit on the out-breath; we are relieving the suffering of ourselves, others, and the world.

As Pema Chodron says "Since I am feeling it anyway..." In this clip she talks about tonglen, different ways we can apply it, and then about a 12 min guided practice.


If you're going to give it a go, I would suggest listening to the entire talk at least once, especially if Tonglen is new to you, and then the guided practice gong starts at 34:30 for subsequent listens(or find another that suits!). I find it really helpful using the guided ones in the middle of the night when I am at my "lowest ebb physically and cognitively".
Tonglen is a deep and powerful practice. I have worked with so many meditations and practices in those wee hours and I find this one eases and soothes pain and anxiety like no other.

 

This has plagued me on and off for years, but because @JanAtheCPA posted this, even the title suggesting this behavior is “normal”, I slept well walking at about 3am and going back to sleep immediately. Thanks Jan!

 

From the article:
"Around this time in the sleep cycle, we’re at our lowest ebb physically and cognitively. From nature’s viewpoint, this is meant to be a time of physical and emotional recovery, so it’s understandable that our internal resources are low.

But we also lack other resources in the middle of the night – social connections, cultural assets, all the coping skills of an adult are unavailable at this time. With none of our human skills and capital, we are left alone in the dark with our thoughts. So the mind is partly right when it concludes the problems it’s generated are unsolvable – at 3am, most problems literally would be."

This makes so much sense.
This article was a really important read for me because this is one of the things I struggle with the most.