Sleep

Sleep is the one spiritual practice you cannot perform. You can only make the conditions and stop interfering.

What arrives at the edge of sleep — the worries that queue up, the conversations replayed — is honest material. The mind files the day's unfinished business at night. Practice that ignores sleep is building on sand; even the moon rests.

Nights that actually restore, and a mind that trusts itself to switch off.

Treating exhaustion as a badge, or scrolling as rest.

• Write tomorrow's three worries down before bed — file them deliberately.

• Keep the last half hour screen-free, dim and slow.

• Note your dreams on waking, before speaking to anyone.

• What keeps arriving when I lie down?

• What am I refusing to finish during the day?

• What would make my bedroom feel like a place of rest?

The Dream Work and Rest subjects; Howlite, Lepidolite and Moonstone; Lavender and Chamomile; Four of Swords.