I agree with Dahl that the brain tends to move to self referential thinking when not better occupied including to be off duty. I find that tendency to be worst when I wake up in the middle of the night and am awake enough to slip into thinking about things to do, worrying, regretting. When I succeed in focusing on what I am experiencing in the present and let go of the thinking, I move into a semi-meditative state that is calm and I fall back to sleep. Sometimes the mental chatter dominates and I don't fall back to sleep. Some activities that help me cultivate the habit of present awareness include paying attention to what I am experiencing in the moment, paying attention to what I am feeling in my body, allowing myself to let go of tension where I find it, focusing on my breathing, saying a mantra. When awake during the day, I'm pretty good at present awareness, and I have valued that and practiced that for a long time.
On Aug 29, 2025 David Doane wrote :