Sleeping Rituals

If you do not suffer from insomnia, OCD or some other mental illness you might not understand this post. Since as long as I can remember I have dealt with sleep issues, I have been to a sleep clinic, tried several medications and have even had sinus surgery all in my search for that illusive night of perfect sleep. So, here I am now 45 and I have amassed an amazing amount of rituals that I do every night.

Here is sampling of what I do every night just to ready myself to chase the dragon called sleep:

1. Make sure all exterior doors and windows are locked.
2. Make sure there are no knives laying out on the counters (why would anyone ever use a knife block!)
3. close the blinds in the living room
4. close the blinds in my room, close the drapes, and pin the drapes shut with a cloth pin.
5. Make sure the black underwear are still covering the LED clock numbers (Why black underwear you ask? They were handy and dark enough to drown out the light.)
   
6. fill my water bottle up and sit it on my dresser
7. turn on the humidifier or ceiling fan or both
   
8. close the two doors that lead into my room
   
9. Make sure there are NO wrinkles on my side of the bed or anything else that might drive me nuts (Did you ever read "Princess and the Pea"?)
10. make sure I have no razor stubble on my legs, if I do shave them
    
11. place two pillows on the edge of the bed and one at top for my head
12. spray my pillow with Lavender spray
13. put chamomile essential oil on pillow ( I think I will stop this it stinks!)
    
14. rub calming oil on my feet
    
15. put 5 drops of Bach Flower sleep remedy under my tongue
16. Rub Icy hot or Ben-Gay on my knees unless I just shaved them (learned from experience!)
    
17. lay down and read for awhile
18. turn off the lights
    
19. stick one leg out from under the covers but make sure the rest of my body is covered up to my ears
    
20. take several deep relaxation breaths
21. Say my prayers
    

Then I lay in my bed and hope I will fall asleep on my own with out taking meds. Last night I listened to my husband do this snore-poof thing. He would snore than blow out his mouth with a "poof" sound. I started laughing and woke him up. I wonder if he would like to use my calming oils?