We Go to Sleep as Children

Clarissa Pinkola Estes, prolific storyteller of folklore and Jungian psychotherapist likes to say… that when we sleep, we don’t sleep as adults. No, we sleep as children and wake up as children just before putting on our adult suits. So pop out of bed, make a beautiful cup of coffee, fill up a jar of water and make your way to the journal, breakfast, a walk, a hug, a moment of meditation hiding in bathroom, a crayon on a pad of paper because you just had to see that color of orange… anything that keep you from putting on the adult suit for as long as possible.

Creative process seems to require a lot of no thinking space. Our adults brains are full of judgements and stops, fears and ruminations. There is duty to a role in life we/you/me may not have ever thought through or would have agreed to if we had. Children are expressing how life really is - as are animals and gardens, trees and rocks, water and salamanders…

Don’t be surprised if in moving through your morning naked of that adult suit you don’t find yourself in flow again without even thinking about it. Suddenly you are doing things with joy and the anticipation of the day… because in this space it is guaranteed to be magical. And, while others have their adult suit on they will likely barely notice, except they want to drink the same Kool Aide and curiosity is peeked.

When we sleep we don’t sleep as adults. Do we really need that adult suit? I personally am experimenting. At this stage in life I know the motions of the practical matters. Relying on habit isn’t a stretch. Joy is not a luxury. It’s essential. Children know this.