Don’t slip this for sound sleep…
The definition of happiness may
differ from person to person but most would agree that the happiest man is the
one who gets an uninterrupted sleep. Not that I suddenly started talking about
sleep as I’ve lost my sleep over something or I am suffering from insomnia. I
felt like talking about it after I saw such a happy man the other day.
Cozy beds and comfortable houses
don’t necessarily bring undisturbed sleep. Those who retire for the day under
the open sky or find shelter at public places like bus stands and railway
stations or find refuge in huge water pipes lying by the roadside would
certainly bust the myth of ‘comfort sleep’.
However, all those days, I believed that people, no matter how
desperately wanted to sleep, would choose at least safe places! This is where
our happy man stands out; he was sleeping on the road divider in the middle of
a maddening traffic.
I chanced to look at him while
crossing the road. Honking vehicles and the usual mess we are used to on our
roads would drive you to wit’s end but this gentleman was peacefully sleeping
at a spot with vehicles almost kissing him! For a few minutes I stood there and
I must confess, I really feared for my life. I envied the man who was fast
asleep caring the least for his life. I wondered if he was alive and asked
about him to a shopkeeper nearby. “Don’t worry madam. He is taking his routine
nap…” Perhaps, no one on the road found it as strange as I did. How can people
be it so matter of fact?
I moved on but this happily
sleeping man was in my mind. I don’t know if he was a beggar or a labourer. The
only thing I observed about him that he was cool as a cucumber when things
around were boiling hot. Is this level-headedness or peace of mind? Do we call
this happiness? May be, he didn’t lose his sleep over traffic and noise, as he
didn’t have anything to lose. But can anyone sleep at a place that can threaten
life? Has he never seen vehicles ramming into the divider? The gap between the
cup and the lip could be filled any time. Is he happy or reckless?
The man triggered a chain of
thought about sleep. I had read that sleep and health were closely related but
many interesting things unfolded in this analysis. Earlier, I hadn’t found
anything striking in my sleep. It was normal like any other person. There were
days I would be tired waiting to hit the bed and again some days I would be
struggling to get it. But sleep never disturbed me to an extent where I would
reflect over it. This analysis of sleep opened my eyes. It has more to do with
you than your health and happiness, I realised.
There is a close connect between
sleep and a person’s age. Young need it more and old less. This is what
analyses of scientists, psychiatrists, thinkers and philosophers say. Still
irrespective of your age, gender and nature of work, it’s your upright
attitude, honesty and above all, control over mind that determine sleep. When
you do something wrong, you can never sleep peacefully.
To me, sleep is not about keeping
eyes open or close but stopping the chain of thought in your mind at will.
There must be some such knob in the mind to make it go blank and this man
seemed to have found it.
- KanChan
Comments
Post a Comment