When sitting down to read a book or an article my mind has a tendency to wander off into other thoughts while still reading the words, but not "taking it in" at all - lately, when this attention span breakdown happens, I've been doing a 10 second countdown where I stop reading and try not to think about, or visualizing, anything else but the number 10 counting down in my head, and I've been amazed at the effect that this has had on my concentration when my mind gets distracted. So what has this to do with dream(b)log?
Lately I've been impatient about falling asleep, because I have so many dream adventures I want to try out. I thought about different ways one can do to help yourself fall asleep faster - listen to calm music, binaural sounds, breathing exercises... then I thought about "counting sheeps". I remember trying to do that when I was younger and it didn't help, so these last couple of nights I've been doing a different version.
Closing my eyes in bed, I visualize the number 1. It's colored in bright white on a black background. I notice other thoughts in a transparent manner behind the number 1, but I try to focus hard on the "1". Then I start counting: "One... two... three... four..." always visualizing the number I am counting out loud in my head. I have no goal. No number "destination". I just count. At different times - sometimes at 150, sometimes around 300 - my mind starts to "flicker". I fall off the wagon and start thinking about something else, but I try to recuperate as fast as I can and resume the counting. (I've noticed this flickering occurs when I'm getting close to falling asleep, since I feel it is a product of my will giving up its control and surrendering to the sleep session ahead.)Eventually I fall asleep, and when I wake up the next morning I can't remember which number I stopped at.
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