Thoughts on Dogen Reading (The Practice of Meditation)

Out of this whole Dogen reading, this was the part that i understood the most. it explained how to meditate, which to me, doesn't seem like its too hard to do. I haven't deliberately tried it, but i think i might have done it before unintentionally. Maybe not full meditation... like i wasnt sitting like they said you should sit, or i wasn't in a necessarily clean room lol. but it was quiet (of course) and my mind was clear.

I think that in a way, i do this most nights when i need fall asleep. It use to be that if i couldnt fall asleep, it'd worry me, and that would keep me awake even longer until i was jus exausted. And then after that phase was over, i went through this phase of it being hard to sleep because of little noises i'd hear through the house. I'd hear cracking (like the house settling), or i thought i was hearing movements in my room.... kinda scary! I think sometimes i'd let my imagination get outta control because a couple nights, i could hear someone walking in the hallway, as if they were creeping around, but really it was no one. I'd sometimes feel like as if there was a presence in my room, and one time it was so strong that i got up and went into my parents room and slept on the floor. Can u imagine? i think i was 18 or 19... Omg... there's just so many stories, and i dont think they're all my imagination, if u kno what i mean..... But anyways back to the story lol.

So i figured out one nite, (after many nights of restlessness lol), that if i clear my mind of ANY thoughts, (thoughts of what happened that day, hunger thoughts lol, even thoughts of being somewhere pleasant, like a field on a nice summer day, or out on the water just floating on a raft), that i would just fall asleep. And it worked. And now i do it everytime i fall asleep. (Sometimes i still hear stuff, or feel like someone's there, but i just try not to think about it, and i hurry up n clear my mind so i can fall asleep faster lol b4 its starts to worry me lol)