Insomnia
Ed Rockey
One of the most fascinating testimonials on the use of visual imagery for
insomnia appears in an autobiography. Perhaps it fascinates because of the
vividness of the account-its freshness and simplicity. Perhaps it captivates
because a famous individual wrote it. Perhaps it intrigues because that
individual achieved fame as a hard-nosed entrepreneur, not as a right-brain
practitioner of healing arts.
In his life story, "Grinding It Out," Ray Kroc tells of the exhausting
days he spent selling McDonald's franchises when he first started what has
probably become the most famous food establishment in the world. Typically, as
he tried to get to sleep at night-having stayed up after midnight, expecting to
rise early for more business appointments-he dared not allow anxieties to
keep him awake. He devised a clever system for combating sleeplessness.
Here it is in his own words: "I think of my mind as a blackboard full of
messages, most of them urgent, and I practiced imagining a hand with an
eraser wiping that blackboard clean. I made my mind completely blank. If a
thought began to appear, zap! I'd wipe it out before it could form." Then he
would relax his body from crown to toe and fall fast asleep.
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