The Bliss of Rest
Posted on October 11, 2019 by dragonspitapothecary
There is nothing more pleasurable to me than sliding into a fresh made bed with clean sheets that are cool and soft to the touch and being so tired it feels like I sink into the mattress. It’s like a deep grounding connection of my body to the Earth where I’m enveloped in warmth, comfort and softness. Feeling the weight of a quilt I personally made placed over me secures me even more deeply in a safe, comforting place where I can rest. This is blissful.
What troubles me is the times I’m so exhausted from my day but when I go to bed I toss, turn, flip blankets on and off and generally don’t sleep well at all. Why is it when we are spent on energy and exhaustion takes over we have the hardest time sleeping? Our dreams are not at all restful and our minds never settle? It’s like a cosmic pull against what we very much need and instead of resting and recharging we are watching the hours pass in the darkness.
Too many people I love have trouble sleeping. I too have times where I just don’t sleep well and it’s a challenge to capture those precious hours of sleep. As we age our sleep also changes and we find ourselves sleeping less. Regardless of how blissful our place of rest is we can’t seem to shift into beautiful dreams and enjoy the deep sense of security, contentment and rest under our quilts and blankets.
Bridget
I made a quilt for a sweet friend of mine who was suffering from leukemia. She wrote about the day she went in for her diagnosis saying she put on one of her favorite summer dresses and prepared herself for a war she hadn’t planned being part of her life. She told me after hearing this news that she had the “good kind of cancer” as if there was even such a thing I thought but she wasn’t going to let slow her down and this just something she would brush off easily. Her fight was strong and she went bravely through it all the way until cancer took her just one year later.
The quilt I made her was pink, white with flowers and sparkly fabric that was incredibly girly and feminine, while being warm and strong – just like her. I put a thick cuddly heavy fabric as the backing for extra warmth. She said she was always cold during treatments and when she tried to sleep so I thought this may help. When she got the quilt she said it was like being wrapped in a hug from me. Her husband told me that quilt went with her to every treatment and every hospital stay and was around her when she passed. She specifically asked him to save that quilt and be sure to pass it on to their grandchildren as a reminder of a hug from her.
It broke my heart losing her. She was someone I intentionally spent time with anytime I went to Arizona for work and she would always have ready a stash of the brownies from a local place we liked to share together as we caught up. It was a fun yet soulful connection that often brings two people together in meaningful and memorable friendship.
She often told me of her dreams during this time. She dreamed of getting better and continued to say this was something she was going to beat. She dreamed of going to watch her husband coach sports at the high school where he teaches. She dreamed of watching her son get married and welcoming the babies they would have together. These were dreams not unlike many of our own but they became more precious as she started to realize the distance between those dreams and seeing them come into fruition as this disease waged on in her body.
I think of Bridget often when I have an intense dream of my own. I intentionally remember those dreams and have started writing them down to sort through if they are messages I need to act on and bring into reality. When they are I put on my favorite outfit and bravely face how to accomplish them. It has become intensely important to me to realize the importance of dreams and the preciousness of their messages in my life.
Night Mind Tricks
Our minds often play tricks on us at night. Our minds will bring up all sorts of random thoughts, experiences and feelings that take away or limit our ability to deeply rest. When we should be resting we are awakened suddenly in twisted sheets soaked in sweat with our hearts beating quickly. We fight to regain consciousness to realize where we are and all is actually alright.
Not being able to sleep or being tormented by thoughts and dreams that surge our hearts in the middle of the night is devastating to our rest. We wake in the mornings even more tired and drag through our days desiring a few hours of sleep. Our heads hurt with a drunk like feeling from being tired preventing us from thinking clearly and moving with the energy we need for our day. Our emotions are raw and we are highly sensitive to noise and light that easily set us off in anger. Our bodies hurt from a soreness we can’t pinpoint but it runs deep in our joints and muscles like we have worked out extensively and need to recover but have many more miles to cover.
Prolonged feeling like triggers our body into an adrenal overdrive for cortisol to respond to the stress and keep things working. When we have many nights like this we are more susceptible to illness such as colds, flu, sinus infections, yeast infections and breakouts. We see our diets change to more high carb, sugar and salted foods, convenience foods and other things that are comforting and easy to get because we lack the energy to prepare anything more. We stop moving our body in play and exercise because we lack the interest and energy. Our relationships feel disconnected and distant like no one understands what we are going through and can’t see the spiral of challenges we are weathering. All because we can’t rest deeply and peacefully enough long enough and consistent enough to take control of what is happening.
Sleeping medications and prescriptions are highly prescribed and used by 1 in 5 adults regularly. These medications force sleep and yet many leave us feeling groggy and numb in our bodies and minds. We change our body’s chemistry with these pills attempting to sleep but often end up with further implications of not sleeping when we try to stop taking them. Our bodies can’t heal and rebuild in these states and we see further decline in our health and an increase in other symptoms. It can simply seem once these things start there is no quilt, comfort, routine or process we can take to improve what is happening. We start spending our days in a continual state of exhaustion and accept it as just something that is.
Vetiver
The thickness of vetiver oil is like a balm applied to chapped lips. It feels like it coats the cells of your body in a layer of protection; shielding them against the war going on in our body so they can work on repairs and find refuge. It’s like a hug from a warm heavy quilt sent with love and providing comfort in a time of need.
Using Vetiver to promote blissful sleep is a natural option even when you sleep well generally. The heaviness of it soothes our minds and helps us release the anxiety of our day. We are able to sleep deeply and more contently so our body and mind have a true chance to rest and recover.
I use doTERRA Vetiver harvested from Hawaii in my diffuser that I keep on my bed stand. It is woodsy with a light aroma of spice and Earth. It floats to the bottom of the water in the diffuser due to its weight and lasts long into the dark hours of the night providing an ongoing mist of aroma throughout my room. It is soothing, comforting and supportive of a deep sleep where more blissful dreams can occur and rest is realized. The natural process of falling to sleep and staying asleep feeling relaxed, unforced and something my body and mind can soak into while enjoying the feel of soft sheets and a quilt over me. Using all of our senses to create a space for rest helps our body and mind know it is safe to rest. We can find respite for a time.
Finding Sleep
As night falls tonight, how will you sleep? Will your body and mind fall into a blissful rest and dreams or will you toss, turn and find unrest? Is your bed a place of solitude and peace or a war zone of your mind plaguing you with anxious thoughts?
Finding alternatives to sleeping medications helps your body regain the ability to rest well on its own and provide the gateway to recharging our cells and providing deeper quality sleep. I highly recommend doTERRA Vetiver because of it’s quality and purity with a moderate price point that is economical. I also enjoy using a meditative app that provides support to ease my mind from the day’s stress while the Vetiver diffusing in my room soothes me into a deep restful sleep.
If you would like to learn more or order my recommended sleep solution with Petal diffuser simply visit my website: