when I get insomnia (like this morning, for example), it's always the kind where I wake up too early, not the kind where I can't fall asleep at night, and it's usually hooked into some anxiety I have ignored, something I'm procrastinating about endlessly, some fear I haven't addressed. so in addition to asking where God is in this, I find it helpful to ask myself to be really honest and detailed about where the Devil is in it. very often I find that my procrastination about some task is due to my not having worked out some unclarity about the task itself. there's usually an unaddressed REASON I'm not doing it, not just sheer laziness! and a funny thing I've noticed about the fear demons is that they are strongest when they are only in my peripheral vision; when I finally gather the courage to look at them straight on, they stop having power over me.

also, my practical rule for myself is that if I can't sleep, and lying there ruminating isn't doing anything helpful for me, I get up and make coffee and get to work, just as if it were morning. I much prefer crashing in the afternoon to the misery of frittering away the night in the company of demons. plus, I've come to love being awake for the dawn!

anyway, I don't know if this is at all helpful, dear Paul, but my sympathy is with you!

comment from  Eve Beglarian : September 01, 2006

Hi Paul and Eve and Stephen (*waves from California*)

Well, of course I would happen to meander over to the Ascension website to see what's going on and find this great blog...

I practice the Jesus prayer. (Or try centering prayer or some other contemplative practice that you like.) It works very well - try 20 minutes or more if you are still awake. I just sit up in bed and do it. I am asleep practically at the time my head hits the pillow. Try it at bedtime as a regular activity too. Where's God in this for you? Maybe you are in that state of "nepsis" (don't know how it's spelled in English) - "wakefulness" so that you pray, as you have already thought. But don't ask about sleep or why, maybe it's not just a "one time" answer...just pray. I figure that's the reason I'm wide awake at 4am, somebody wants to talk to me, or just wants me to listen for a change, and pay attention!

Anyway, I hope that is helpful. It works for me.
Love from Janine

comment from  Janine E. : September 01, 2006

Thanks for the replies. They make me realize that when I do pray during those sleepless nights, I'm really just doing a lot of complaining. Maybe I'll try praising God instead!

Janine, will we see you again?

comment from  Paul : September 03, 2006

Hi again Paul! :-)

I plan to be in New York at the end of September, so I hope I see you then.

I wish you could have been at the Book Club meeting when we discussed the Master & Margarita, you could have been our expert (but I know how incredibly busy you are...)

re praise: The thing about the Jesus prayer or any derivative of "Lord have mercy" is that in asking for mercy we ask in the fullest sense possible for a therapeutic response...We just don't know what that is! Anyway I hope it helps
Love from
Janine

comment from  Janine E : September 05, 2006

Bush is forever saying that democracies do not invade other countries and start wars. Well, he did just that. He invaded Iraq, started a war, and killed people. What do you think? How does that work in a democracy again? How does being more threatening make us more likeable?Isn't the country with
the most weapons the biggest threat to the rest of the world? When one country is the biggest threat to the rest of the world, isn't that likely to be the most hated country?
If ever there was ever a time in our nation's history that called for a change, this is it!
The more people that the government puts in jails, the safer we are told to think we are. The real terrorists are wherever they are, but they aren't living in a country with bars on the windows. We are.

comment from  Anonymous : February 16, 2007