Sleep, gentle sleep, how have I frighted thee?
Shakespeare.

Not long ago I heard a young lady say that it was simply impossible for any woman to look charming or to be agreeable right after getting up in the morning. The Rev. Dr. Bushnell declared that "a man must be next to a devil who wakes angry." The way we feel when we awake in the morning depends on how we were feeling or thinking when we went to sleep.

If we retire holding a grudge against a neighbor, with a resolve to "get square" with somebody who has injured us; if we have hatred or jealousy in our heart; if we are envious of another's success, and if we go to sleep nursing these feelings, we awake in a depressed, exhausted state, feeling bitter, pessimistic, irritable, unhappy, about as nearly like a devil as it is possible for a human being to feel. The destroyer was at work all night, running amuck among the delicate brain and nerve cells, furiously tearing down what beneficent Nature had taken such pains to upbuild. But, when we take pleasant, kindly, loving thoughts to bed with us we awake refreshed, in a happy, contented frame of mind. Our sleepless faculties spent the hours in upbuilding, performing friendly offices for us during the night.

Few people ever think of preparing the mind for sleep, yet it is even more necessary than it is to prepare the body. Most of us take great pains to put the latter in order; we undress, take a warm bath, massage the face with some sort of refreshening salve, cold cream, or oil; we make sure that our sleeping room is properly ventilated and that our bed is clean and comfortable, but to the matter of preparing our minds we don't give a thought.

Instead of making our subconscious mental processes build for us in the night, we allow them to tear down much of what we have built during the day. Many of us grow old, haggard and wrinkled in the night, when just the reverse ought to be the case, for Nature herself has ordained that night should be the building, the renewing, time of life.

If we were only to prepare the mind for sleep with the same intelligence and care that we prepare the body; if we were to give it a cleansing mental bath, wiping from memory's slate all black, discordant pictures, all the worries and fears which vexed and perplexed us during the day instead of having the nightmare panorama passing and repassing before us during the night, robbing us of needed rest and neutralizing our upbuilding, recuperative forces, what a difference it would make in our achievement, in our lives!

I know men whose lives have been revolutionized by adopting the practice of putting themselves in a harmonious condition, getting in tune with the Infinite before going to sleep. Formerly they were in the habit of retiring in a bad mood, tired, discouraged over anticipated evils, worrying about all sorts of things. They would discuss their misfortunes at night with their wives and then fall to thinking over the unfortunate conditions in their affairs, their mistakes, and the possible evil consequences that might result from them. Naturally, their minds were in an upset condition when they fell asleep, and, as might have been expected, the melancholy, black, ugly pictures of the misfortunes they feared, vividly exaggerated in the stillness of the night, became etched deeper and deeper on their brains and did their baleful work, making real rest and reinvigoration absolutely impossible. When they reformed their habits, changed their thought, and retired in a peaceful frame of mind with the intention of going to sleep, instead of tossing about thinking of their troubles, their business straightway began to improve. They were stronger, fresher, more vigorous, more resourceful, better able to cope with difficulties, to make plans and to carry them out than when they were depleting their physical and mental resources by robbing themselves of their best friend, Nature's restorative,—sleep.

Many people tell me they cannot stop thinking after they go to bed. Their brains are so active, doing their next day's work, that they cannot stop the mental processes for hours.

Of course you cannot stop all thinking the first night you begin to form the new habit, when you have practiced the old night-thinking habit for years; when perhaps as far back as you can remember you have gone to bed every night worrying, worrying, thinking, thinking, planning, planning ahead for days, for weeks, for months, planning ahead perhaps for the coming year. But if you persist, and make it a cast iron rule to allow no anxieties or fears, no business troubles or discords of any kind to enter your bed chamber, you will succeed in accomplishing your object.

Think of your chamber as the one place sacred to rest, where the things that trouble and harass and vex during the daytime shall find no entrance. Put this legend over the door, or in some conspicuous place where you can see it. "This is my holy of holies, the place of supreme peace and power in my life from which all discord must be shut out." When you undress and lie down, say to yourself, "I have done my best during the day. Now I am going to drop thinking, drop worrying and planning, and get good, refreshing sleep to prepare me for to-morrow's work."

Clear your mind not only of all anxious, worrying business thoughts, but also of all ill will or hatred toward another. Resolve that you will not harbor an unpleasant, bitter or unkind thought of any human being, that you will wipe off the slate of your memory everything you have ever had against any one; that you will forget whatever is unpleasant in the past and start with a clean slate. Just imagine that the words "Harmony," "Peace," "Love," "Good Will to every living creature," are emblazoned in letters of light all over the walls of your room. Repeat them over and over until that other self, that personal secretary just below the threshold of your consciousness, becomes saturated with the ideas they convey, and after a while you will drop into slumber with a serene, poised mind, a mind filled with happy, joyous, creative thoughts.

Of course, until the new habit is fixed, thoughts will intrude themselves in spite of you, but you needn't harbor them. You needn't allow yourself, under any circumstances, to go on thinking about business or any discordant thing after you retire any more than you would allow a madman to slash you with a knife without making any attempt to defend yourself. You can, if you only persist in the new and better way, fall asleep every night like a tired child, and awake in the morning just as refreshed and happy. Your subconscious self will, after a while, carry out your behests without any conscious effort on your part. This sleepless subconscious self is, in fact, one of the most effective agents man has to help him accomplish whatever he desires. Insomnia, for instance, which is the curse of so many Americans, may be entirely overcome by its aid.

If you are a victim of insomnia, and go to bed every night with the thought firmly fixed in your consciousness that you are not going to sleep, you are, to a great extent, the victim of your belief. The conviction in your subconscious mind that there is something the matter with your sleeping ability is largely responsible for the continuance of your trouble.

We know by experience that we can convince ourselves of almost anything by affirming it long enough and often enough. The constant repetition, after a while, establishes the belief in our minds that the thing is true. We can establish the sleep habit just as easily as any other habit.

It is perfectly possible by means of affirmation, the constant repetition in heart to heart talks with yourself to regain your power to sleep normally. Your subconscious self, that side of your nature which presides over the involuntary or automatic functions during sleep, as well as while you are awake, as, for instance, walking, and other things which do not require volition of the mind or especial will power, can be made to obey your commands, or rather suggestions, to overcome insomnia. Say to this inner self: "You know there is no reason why you should not sleep. There is no defect in your physical or mental make-up which keeps you awake. You ought to sleep soundly so many hours every night. There is no reason why you should not, and you are going to do so to-night."

Repeat similar affirmations during the day. Say to yourself, "This sleeplessness is only a bad habit. If you were ill physically or mentally, if you had any serious defect in your nervous system which would give any excuse for insomnia, it would be a different thing, but you haven't anything of the sort. You are simply the slave of a senseless obsession and you are going to break it up. You are going to begin right away. You are going to sleep better to-night, to-morrow night, and the next night. You are going to get through with this bogie you have built up in your imagination which has no existence in reality. Nothing keeps you awake but your conviction, your fear, that you are not going to sleep."

Prepare your mind for sleep in the way already suggested by emptying it of all worry and fear, all envy and uncharitableness, everything that disturbs, irritates, or excites. Crowd these out with thoughts of joy, of good cheer, of things which will help and inspire. Compose yourself with the belief that you will go to sleep easily and naturally; relax every muscle and say to yourself in a quiet drowsy voice, "I am so sleepy, so sleepy, so sleepy." The subconscious self will listen and in a short time will automatically put your suggestion into practice.

It is needless to say that if insomnia is a result of bad or irregular habits, the victim must first of all change his habits before he can expect any relief.

Man is a bundle of habits. We perform most of our life functions with greater or less regularity, so that they become practically automatic. Regularity, system, order are imperative for our health, our success and our happiness. This is especially true in regard to sleep. We must keep regular hours, be systematic in our habits, or our sleep is likely to suffer.

If you play as hard as you work, refresh and rejuvenate yourself by pleasant recreation and a jolly good time when your work is done, and then at a regular hour every night prepare your mind for sleep, just as you would prepare your body, give it a mental bath and clothe it in beautiful thoughts, you will in a short time establish the habit of sound, peaceful, refreshing sleep.

Whatever else you do, or do not, form the habit of making a call on the Great Within of yourself before retiring. Leave there the message of up-lift, of self-betterment and self-enlargement, that which you yearn for and long to realize but do not know just how to attain. Registering this call, this demand for something higher and nobler, in your subconsciousness, putting it right up to yourself, will work like a leaven during the night; and, after a while, all the building forces within you will unite in furthering your aim; in helping you to realize your vision, whatever it may be.

The period of sleep may be made a wonderful period of growth, for the mind as well as for the body. It is a time when you can attract your desires; it is a propitious time to nurse your vision.

Instead of making an enemy of your subconscious self by giving it destructive thoughts to work with, explosives that will destroy much of what you have accomplished during the day, make it your friend by giving it strong, creative, helpful thoughts with which to go on creating, building for you during the night.

There are marvelous possibilities for health and character, success and happiness building, during sleep. Every thought dropped into the subconscious mind before we go to sleep is a seed that will germinate in the night while we are unconscious and ultimately bring forth a harvest of its kind. By impressing upon it our desires, picturing as vividly as possible our ideals, what we wish to become, and what we long to accomplish, we will be surprised to see how quickly that wonderful force in the subjective self will begin to shape the pattern, to copy the model which it is given. In this way we can correct habits which are wounding our self-respect, humiliating us, marring our usefulness and efficiency, perhaps sapping our lives. We can get rid of faults and imperfections; we can strengthen our weak faculties and overcome vicious tendencies which the will power may not be strong enough to correct in the daytime.

If, as now seems clear, the subconscious mind can build or destroy, can make us happy or miserable according to the pattern we give it before going to sleep, if it can solve the problems of the inventor, of the discoverer, of the troubled business man, why do we not use it more? Why do we not avail ourselves of this tremendous mysterious force for life building, character building, success building, happiness building, instead of for life destroying?

One reason is that we are only just beginning to discover that we can control this secondary self or intelligence, which regulates all the functions of the body without the immediate orders of the objective self. We are getting a glimpse of what it is capable of doing by experiments upon hypnotized subjects, when the objective mind, the mind which gets most of its material through the five senses is shut off and the other, the subjective mind, is in control. We are finding that it is comparatively easy while a person is in a hypnotic state to make wonderful changes in disposition, and to correct vicious habits, mental and moral defects, through suggestion.

There is no doubt that so far as the subjective mind is concerned we are in a similar condition when asleep as when in a hypnotic trance, and experiments have shown that marvelous results are possible, especially in the case of children, by talking to them, during their sleep, advising them, counseling them, suggesting things that are for their good.

Parents should teach their children how to prepare their minds for sleep so that the subconscious self would create, produce something beautiful instead of the black, discordant images of fear which so often terrorize little ones before they fall asleep and when they wake up in the dark hours of the night. How often have we noticed the troubled, fear-full expression on the face of a sleeping child, who was sent to bed with anger thoughts, with fear thoughts in its mind after a severe scolding or perhaps a whipping.

A child should never be scolded or frightened, or teased, especially just before bedtime. It should be encouraged to fall asleep in its sweetest, happiest mood, in the spirit of love. Then its sleeping face will reflect the love spirit and the child will awaken in the same spirit, as though it had been talking with angels while it slept.

Children are peculiarly susceptible to the influence of our thoughts, our suggestions to them during sleep. Their character can be molded to a great extent, their ability developed, their faults eradicated, and their weak points strengthened during sleep. In some ways the suggestions made to them in that state have more effect than those made to them when awake, because while the objective mind often scatters and fails to reproduce what is presented to it, the subjective mind gradually absorbs and reflects every suggestion. Many mothers have found this true, especially in correcting bad habits which seemed almost impossible to reach while the children were awake.

If you want to make your child beautiful in character, in disposition, in person, think beautiful thoughts into its mind as it falls asleep; speak to it of beautiful things while it sleeps. I believe the time will come when much of the child's training will be effected during sleep. Its Æsthetic faculties, the love of music, of art, of all things noble and beautiful, special talents, and latent possibilities of all kinds will be developed through suggestion.

In the marvelous interior creative forces lies the great secret of life, and blessed is he who findeth it. Doubly blessed is he who findeth it at the start of life.