Odd thoughts that are strangely comforting

[Swoopy]

When I can't sleep at 4am, I find it oddly comforting to imagine a woman thousands of years ago- Paleolithic era, say- who also couldn't sleep and lay awake worrying about similar sorts of things- how to get her DS to get up and go on the mammoth hunt rather than sleeping in or what to feed everyone in the morning when her family had eaten all the nuts last night that were supposed to be for today (possibly giving away my lack of knowledge of the Paleolithic here).

Does anyone else take comfort in odd things like this?

Love the idea of breastfeeding mums around the world being up. We can also hear the trains from our house so I know the train drivers are at work already. A random bird has just tweeted so they're waking up too.
I'm up and have been wordling, drinking tea and cuddling our cat who was delighted with a 4am breakfast! He possibly also thinks he's in for double breakfast as DH may try to feed him again before he leaves the house so I'll have to warn him!

Oh, when I can't sleep I imagine I am a little bird, so busy with the kids in the nest. Feeding them and tidying up. And always happy, singing as I work, and chatting to the other birds. Enjoying all the weather.

That when I'm dead I'll know nothing. Sometimes I think this preferable.

@Mariannelovesconnell then your mum and my dad were very wise people x

During therapy for agoraphobia, I went outside in my thoughts where I couldn't physically go. One of the exercises was to visualise a place and time where you were completely happy and at peace. When I am anxious, I close my eyes and pull up the memory of a May morning in a little wooded lane in Derbyshire, the scent of hawthorn blossom and the distant sounds of the sheep, the birdsong, the early sun flickering through the boughs as I walk and all the promise of a fine Spring day ahead.

@Theraininspainfalls unfortunately no one heard from him again, but that was not unusual as labor camps were tough places and his life expectancy would have been only a few months. So he was keen for my grandmother to have a chance.

Could be. I am aware of some previous lives, or moments from them. My granddaughter, when she began to speak, announced 'Grandma! I must tell you this! When we were all here before, you were a man!' She was two, no-one had talked to her about past lives, she just remembered. She also remembered several of her previous deaths.

One of my own previous life memories is of a man I've met in this life, who was my partner then, going off to ambush some enemies and not surviving. I was very resentful, and still am! He could have stayed at home.

@StopStartStop you should try the regression, it was so interesting. I was an older lady in the 50s and lived through the war and before that I was a Spanish sailor estranged from my family. A lot of things make sense now to me in my current life, it was all very intriguing.

I think I might be very strange then because my relaxing, happy place which sends me off to sleep each night, is where I imagine I live at Southfork with the Ewings mixed in with Colbys and Carringtons and all the drama.
Sometimes I'm a Roy in an episode of Succession
Or
I'm the number one seed in women tennis and I've just won the Wimbledon ladies singles championship and I'm receiving the trophy and being interviewed by the lovely Sue Barker.

Absolutely this! Even just listening to a recording of the Shipping Forecast makes me feel calm.

This is a particularly weird one but here goes. Sometimes I imagine I’m a sausage roll; the duvet is the pastry and I’m lined up with all the other sausage rolls. Sometimes for a change, I’m an apple turnover. I figure that sausage rolls and apple turnovers don’t think and they certainly don’t worry about anything so I can’t do those things and therefore I’m free to go back to sleep. It does work (for me anyway) but I’m aware it sounds quite mad.

In Italy, we saw the mummy of a man, thousands of years old (subsequently named Otzi) who was found preserved in the mountains . If I'm fretting I think WWOD? (What would Otzi do?) 😳

😂😂😂

@Cardiganwearer this is one of my faves. Loving this thread though!

@Cardiganwearer so good ty

For me, when days are hard, i have this comforting thought that i will fall asleep and never wake up. Or if I do wake up, that I'll be in an afterlife of sorts where i will see all the people who were meaningful to me

It is 5:19am and, with the clock change, 4 in old money. I just walked through my grandparents houses and gardens at your suggestion. What a fantastic idea. A bit teary, but so comforted and at peace. Thank you.

That I will be dead one day and all the worry will end.

I'm an inveterate atheist but I often think if there is a heaven, my granny is there. Because she was pure good. As long as we're remembering them, they are there. Sort of.

we are all unique and all the same

That has been a comforting thought in my life for decades.

I often worry about family members and it can get a bit much. When it becomes a recurring thought and difficult to handle I start working out the statistical chances of my fear happening (no true facts, I just estimate what I think might be reasonable)

So if, for instance, one of my family is doing a long car journey and I'm worried about them crashing, I will estimate that there are 20 million cars on the road in the UK today but there may only be 4 fatalities which means a 1 in 5 million chance of my family member getting killed . . . this calms me down immensely

Another thing that helps me . . . .

A few years ago I lost someone who was exceedingly precious to me

A friend sent me a beautiful card with a poem about watching a ship sail away. As you watch the ship sail away over the horizon and disappear from sight, you know it's still there but you can't see it anymore.

I often imagine my LO on that ship, sailing away out of view and know that, although we can't be together anymore, they are still there in a sense because of all they taught me, the happy times we shared etc

Writing this has made me cry, but hope it helps someone else . . . . .