Confessions Of A Former Night Owl

The Sufi Mystic Poet Rumi wrote a verse that has stayed imbedded in my mind since the first time I read it:

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep.

Like anything said by a mystic, it is subject to interpretation. For me personally, though, it has a specific meaning.

As a teenager I gravitated into becoming a night owl. I loved the wee hours of the morning, when most of the world around me was fast asleep. Cable television did not begin to sprawl across my hometown until the late seventies. TV went off the air back then after the late movies played out, usually by 2 a.m. Still I lingered in those late hours dissapating and worrying about the cares of life. Sleeping in until 11 a.m. or later was my habit, yet I never felt rested.

Perhaps you've heard the old saying that as you get older you become your parents. I've found that true in many instances - my sleep habits, for example. Franklin's "early to bed and early to rise" is something that slowly began to take hold of me in my middle-age years, and even when I'm off from work I still keep an early schedule. My normal waking up time is between 3 and 3:30 a.m., and on the weekend between 5 and 6.

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you, don't go back to sleep.

It is in these precious early hours, after a good night's sleep and with rested brain, when I am able to think so far-reachingly. The longer the day wears on, the more constipated my mind gets with the countless details of a busy life. But in the stillness of early morn I can think powerfully and deeply.

You must ask for what you really want.

To me that suggests that there does exist a key to understanding, but it is up to us to use it. With all the outside distractions which exist in our modern age, is it surprising so many people have hang-ups and are dependent on drugs to soothe their troubled minds. Might not there be a better way?

People are going back and forth across the doorsill, where the two worlds touch.

I can't say with a certainty what Rumi had in mind when he jotted down those words, but my personal interpretation is that these two worlds are the dream world and what we think of as "the real world." The morning breeze refreshes me to the introspection of the previous night's mindwork, as my dreams reveal to my conscious mind the secrets of my deeper pysche.

Looking back on my former night-owl days, I awoke to meet a day well underway. People were up and rushing about, the noises of the city were in full force, the phone was ringing, I found it necessary to situate myself into an already emerging picture, as if I had walked into a movie well after the beginning, when the groundwork had already been laid.

No time for introspection in all that.

By the time the day had wound down and the pace of life slowed, when the quiet and darkness allowed my mind to embrace its deeper thoughts, my brain was already tired from overuse. The dreams of the night before had mostly faded into the ether.

Everyone is different, I know, but I'm the type of person who thrives on regular down time. A time for meditation and reverie is a must. This time is best for me in the stillness of the early morning, when I am invigorated and receptive to fresh perspectives. I think that is more in keeping with our natural circadian rhythm.

In fact, this blog exists because I don't go back to sleep when I first stir in the early mornings.

Does the breeze at dawn hold any secrets for you?