Sweet Dreams

I suppose that when the world was first formed there was enough of everything for everyone. Enough land, enough food, enough water and enough sleep.

As we grew and more people were born it was obvious that the world would eventually run out of our natural resources.

So we started inventing. We found ways of building higher to make up for the lack of land. Then we added chemicals to our soils so we could grow more food from the same ground. We even found ways of storing water so there would not be many dry days. But some people knew that we were really only creating more problems for the future

There was however one thing we just couldn’t do and that was to make any more real sleep.

So at night there is still the same amount of sleep in the world as there always was – but more people want it. Every night there is only so much to go round which means some people sleep well, some people have disturbed nights and some people hardly sleep at all.

So here is our challenge. How do we find a way to share out the sleep evenly so everyone gets enough? If we can’t do that we are just going to have to get used to the odd sleepless night. Perhaps we could with the right thoughts in our heads as we try to sleep. 

Are you like me? Do you lie in your bed getting upset and angry when can’t sleep. Do you think “Why me?” as you toss and turn, “why won’t my brain just switch off?” and then “oh no, now why I’m worrying about that?”

Well try not to fret or get annoyed – it’s not that you can’t sleep, it’s that somebody else is sleeping for you. With so little sleep to go round in the world it’s just that someone has got some of yours for that night. So stop thinking about yourself and try to enjoy lying awake knowing that someone somewhere is sleeping really well because of you. Who knows, you might just drift off feeling better.

Then just imagine, if we could enjoy sharing sleep with others so everyone has just enough then perhaps we could do it with food and water and land and money and ………?

OK, it’s a stupid thought but forgive me I’m tired. I didn’t have a great night – but then someone somewhere did.

with thanks to Carol Wadsworth for the beautiful photograph in Swanage