Authentically Mine

Hamlet:
"To sleep, perchance to dream-
ay, there's the rub."

Sleep. We all know the basics. Sleep on a good mattress. Get a good 8 hours of sleep a night. Go to bed at the same time. Wake up at the same time. Keep the room on the cool side. Stomach sleeping is not really the best for you...etc. etc.

How can something so simple as closing one's eyes to rest become so complicated? Why... because we live in fast times. 8 hours of sleep is considered a luxury and napping, especially in this country is considered by many as slothful. I, by the way am a happy indulgent sloth who savors a good, under the covers nap quite often.

Sleep can become even more complex. Sleep to escape, to avoid, to deny. But, consider this. If we sleep for any reason other than to rest and replenish do we really sleep well? Chances are it is not a restful sleep but rather a fitful one filled with tosses and turns. As Hamlet says "To sleep, perchance to dream-ay, there's the rub."  Truth be told we cannot escape our inner most demons not even in sleep (at least not with a natural sleep).For many those demons, whatever they be arise with vigor in dreams, unable to be squelched out but the hectic pace of a day or the demands of being awake.

Sleep as with many other things we are born knowing how to do it and it comes easily to us early in life and it is only with the complexities of living that it can become something that we have to work at rather than a rest from our work.

Here's to a good night's sleep to us all.

This post was written for Sunday Scribblings. Go check out all the other Scribblers

~ written for Writer's Island

Do I dabble or do I dive? Do I skip the surface or do I plunge in and go for it with gusto? I am referring to school and classes. Starting this summer I will be eligible to take Graduate level classes for $40 at the University I work at and I am chomping at the bit.

What I cannot decide, is which tine of the fork in my road of decision making should follow? I can take classes here and there as they interest me or I can get another Master's Degree. Whichever I choose, I am not doing it to enhance my job skills to move on; I would be doing it because I thrive in academia, I love the way it makes me think and it keeps me out of trouble at least one night a week because I am in class.

So do I go for the gusto (as I always have in the past when it comes to things like this) and commit to a Master's Program part time evenings (I can take either one or two classes a semester) or do I just dabble? A class in this and a class in that?

Once that fork is behind me, there is of course there is another decision to make. If I do go for my Master's degree that what discipline do I get it in? Two months ago I would have said Master's of Liberal Arts in Creative Writing, but now after looking at some of their courses in Psychology, combined with my fascination with the mind and how it works, I am torn.

I am also interested in one or two courses that are offered in Buddhist Studies, but a degree in that is definitely out. As I write this I have two thoughts.

If I am going to do a Master's it will probably be in Creative Writing. I really do not want to take all of the required statistical and research methods courses for a Master's in Psychology. I am just fascinated by course descriptions for courses such as: "The Meaning of Madness", "Why People Change: The Psychology or Influence"

Secondly, I have to take 3 pre-requisite courses in my field of expected study before I can apply to the Master's program. Maybe I take three Writing Courses and see what I think, then if I like it enough I apply to the program, if not I become a dabbler in things that interest me. As I said I don't NEED another Master's it would just give my studies focus.

Then there is the one outlier there is also a Master's Program in Educational Technology which would be fantastic for advancing my career, but I really don't have that much passion for it....sad considering that is my job. I love my job, but I want to take classes that inspire me to be more creative and learn something of interest to me.

There are a lot of forks to figure out here. Someone....just stick a fork in me I am done trying to decide it all tonight.