I came across something interesting in my meditation workbook last night. The author was discussing how sleepiness interferes with meditation practice. According to the author, some people cannot stay awake during meditation because they have feelings they are unable to face head-on. When their minds start to calm and those feelings emerge, they simply fall asleep. My wife thought this was obvious, and she reminded me that she occasionally sleeps off the blues. I know that some depressed people sleep long hours, but I hadn't made the connection between depression and sleep as a subconscious avoidance mechanism until last night.

Recently I've reflected some on the topic of anger. A relative is going through a period of intense and totally justifiable rage at the moment. My instinct here is totally the opposite of how I tend to be. I try to smooth everything over with everybody and keep things calm, pretty much at any price. In this relative's situation, however, my instinct is to be a sounding board and to help him vent vicariously via sending videos of my favorite televeision show. I may even drop my copy of Fight Club into the next care package. Reflecting on this, I realize that there are times we need -- even deserve -- to be angry with others.

Of course, I love everybody who reads my little blog.