Lightly Child, Lightly.

Posted on by Live & Learn

“1 a.m.: Lie here then. Just lie here. What of it? It’s just lying here. Think of good things… Try to calm the banging heart.”

— Samantha Harvey, The Shapeless Unease: A Year of Not Sleeping (Grove Press; May 12, 2020)

 

Notes:

  • Photo: Katia Chausheva (Plovdiv, Bulgaria) with Ariel amoureuse (via Mennyfox55)
  • Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.”

 

 

43 thoughts on “Lightly Child, Lightly.”

    2. I wrote a short comment yesterday in reply to your comment Lori but it seems to have vanished. Anyway, made me laugh out loud – I had completely forgotten that also an even small dog can snore quite loudly!!!! 🙂

      1. Hi Kiki! Sorry the comment disappeared, but lovely to hear from you regardless. And yes, Lola can snore like a buzzsaw. Incredible how much noise can be generated out of just 12 lbs. 😂🤭

  8. 🙁 Is it partly due to July’s greater humidity? And have you tried the age-old nursing assistant’s friend, Benadryl antihistamine caplets? (I can’t seem to recall the good things strongly enough!)

  9. Oooh. “The banging heart.”

    Know it well — usually at 3am it awakens clamouring for acknowledgement.

    Sorry you’ve been hearing the ‘banging heart’ for the past three nights.

  10. When I have trouble going to sleep, I count backward from 1000, by sevens. I don’t know if it helps me sleep, but at least it’s better than thinking about the problems of the day! 🙂

  11. Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
    I’m trying, I’m really trying … proving to be kida vexing!! … “Think of good things … Try to calm the banging heart.” – Samantha Harvey, The Shapeless Unease: A Year of Not Sleeping (Grove Press; May 12, 2020).

  12. Being a really bad sleeper, the worries great and small visit me…. no good. It’s too hot, HH snores, problems grow to a giant size and my joining thumb and forefinger is so not calming me down. I really do thank in those nights for all the good things happening to me, I pray for the ‘lost’ causes and cases, but I’d so much rather sleep.

      1. It’s supposed to somehow channel your inner self or what?! 🙂 I’ve been told by 2 friends to do that, one a hypnotist (who left me down in more ways than one could imagine, so why wd I believe her), the other a yoga practitioner….. I do it because I can w/o any difficulty and w/o getting myself in a pretzel 😉

          1. boy, you shot me down with that remark! Because, now I HAD to look it up and it took me a mo to find out HOW to define my question to get an answer….
            It IS a term of the yoga business – that woman who did hypnosis also did yoga and thus I had no idea where this stuff come from. Anyway, it’s not malarkey but it’s not important for us either. Satisfied?
            If not, here’s a link for more:
            https://www.doyou.com/7-common-yoga-mudras-explained-23667/
            In the end, this exchange was rather interesting – for me!!! Because I was told I could do that with any other finger plus thumb to get a better ‘inner connection’ (to calm my non-stop-working-brain …..).

          3. A family, with the last name “Malarkey” bought my childhood home. There was further contact with them years after the sale, interesting to save the least.

  13. When you practice sitting in stillness on the land each day. You will sleep like a baby. It’s drug free and healthier than any other remedy I know. 🌈

    2. Hello, there was no place in your previous comment to leave a reply: so here goes “A family, with the last name “Malarkey” bought my childhood home. There was further contact with them years after the sale, interesting to save the least” >>> This is also true for me!!! <<< I've left a comment after Dave's comment "Very Good" forgot to include my name so it will come up anonymous if he chooses to approve the comment…part of the comment is perhaps you are my youngest sister? Did your childhood home have stain glass windows? & a willow tree?

  15. No, Malarkey here…a double coincidence: A family, with the last name “Malarkey” bought my childhood home, too – go a few feet to the corner across to the pone at the park!
    I did have contact with a member of their family & what an unbelievable encounter that was 🙂
    Would be funny if one of my sisters have happened upon your .com? & they made that comment…

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