Man, sometimes I thought Siobhan couldn’t get any more oblivious, but apparently her thirteen year old self can.
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Hilariously clueless.
Honestly, it was hilarious watching her childish deductions while she thinks she’s so mature. It’s so typical of teenagers as well 
Dream magic can’t just be dream magic so they’re hiding things from me which must mean it’s sex.
(And poor Rory, oh dear.)
So, we know that Claudio is terrible at lying low. We know the Red Guard is probably the one after him. And interestingly, Aimee seems to be in the know, unless I miss my guess. They spoke quite freely in front of her.
He “rubs his eye in his sleep” hmm? It’s very interesting that it’s not healing. And even more interesting that he’s refusing a healing potion. I wonder if it’s because he doesn’t think it will work.
So, Siobhan’s been dreaming troubled dreams and now her treehouse has turned into incense? A familiar one which her mother used to burn. And the sand is there once more.
For troubled sleep, I tend to get my room very cold and my blankets thick. A few drops of lavender on the pillow is usually quite soothing. I also tend to need noise so I put on music (timed to switch off after an hour) to help me drown out my thoughts. It’s not meditation as such because I find it doesn’t work for me, but focusing on my senses - cold room, warm bed, soothing smell, familiar music - helps and I’ll end up drifting off.
I know some people need the sound of a fan or listen to YouTube videos as they fall asleep. Almost like a bed time story.
I hope you find something that helps!
Yeah. This was so funny reading her deductions. Even without the internet, the answer is always porn.
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Considering the nature of the spirit world, the given dreams may actually induce something like fate or luck if they help form symmetry with reality from qualia of the spirit world .A spell close enough at times to make reality see a lie as truth. Its a clever method in a way, within the spirit world the qualia to simulate and facilitate all kinds of dynamics may exist all squished together in roiling pods of aligned quality and nature. And what better a place to attain those values and possibilities that exist beyond someones locality as in a dream than such a place?
Its understandable what conclusions Siobahn went to considering what she observed given her role models. I actually enjoy a lot how you can see how their examples bias her and how their she tries piece together things based off of how they in turn have modeled experiences to her.
I wonder if his eye remained irritated because it has already been altered or if its because he is literally rubbing and interacting with it in any dream walking delves to try and map out things. The ironic symmetry with his other activities would amuse me or maybe be sad considering the context. I suppose in a way whats happening now is the same to a degree a dream being built into Siobahns waking mind, enough that aspects blur and are overtaken. I am curious how much of this happened then due to Claudio and Grandfathers meddling compared to the links of memory and dreams allowing a altered nature to trickle in ever more.
Sleep for me the key is mostly preperation. No devices for a hour before, box breathing(essentially breathe in hold for five seconds, out hold for 5 seconds, ). I personally find water calming so I tend to close my eyes while doing so and really really trying to think of how the water moves as it goes through a river and imagine the land as it goes past terrain, different levels of light, biomes, and weather as it goes to the sea. Dont try to make yourself ignore outside noise just acknowledge it as a part of what you are doing and it tends to rapidly become background noise to what you are focusing on.
When doing the visualization it may help to directly ideate your own emotions, worries, and problems as part of the flow and moving away or breaking apart even as you examine them as the stream flows on. It can also help to think of non related things as your mind drifts, like go from thinking of apples to why a cows spots are where they are on a individual or how many shadows could the moon throw at once technically.
There are also some weirder bits I have noticed, if you specifically say and kind of act like you will stay awake while there sometimes it helps you crash. Thats for me though, enough time and its not that hard to fall into yourself.
The foundation seems to mostly be priming your body(darkness so part of your brain is primed for sleep, room, bed,pillow etc a degree or so cooler than otherwhise for a resting state,focused recollection of some kind to make a pattern that can dip to sleep). Using scents or particular patterns of sensory movements, like rubbing a given shape along their arms in sequence at that point in time or putting out a scent, also help prime the body to sleep at that time.
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Relaxation method (and story)
Story part:
When I was at University, there was a time I found myself preparing to sleep next to a girl who I liked a whole lot, and it was all very exciting. We’d been sharing in some very pleasant activity. After, we had spent some time talking, and we were both pleased with ourselves. But, it was very late. So, she invited me to stay over in her apartment and sleep in her bed.
Lying next to her, my mind did not want to shut up. I was thinking about what we talked about, and of course, the feeling that she’s right next to me in the bed, and then thinking how much I liked her, but I was also worried about saying so because this was very new relationship.
We had class at 8AM. We both needed to sleep, and I couldn’t.
If I’d been back in my dorm, I would just stay up, but I absolutely did not want to do that. Just imagining waking up next to her was filling up 3/4 of my brain. Yet my brain also did not seem to care that to wake up next to her, I’d first have to fall asleep!
Obviously I was anxious, and she noticed. This wasn’t hard, because the sleeping accommodation was a waterbed and every little excess motion will keep both parties awake (and seasick) all night long.
I told her I couldn’t sleep, and she told me how—when she was a little girl—they had nap time in elementary school, and the teacher would talk the children through a relaxation exercise to get them to calm down.
So, while I was wired up like the famous electric toy bunny selling batteries, she whispered a guided relaxation to me so I could fall asleep. This one.
The Relaxation Method:
Find a comfortable position to lay still: On your back with a nice straight spine, and a well supported with a fluffy pillow is good. This exercise is harder if your neck is bent unnaturally or on your side. It can be done in just about any comfy position though.
Breathe slowly and close your eyes. Nice full breaths.
Feel your body: Your lungs filling with air and letting it out. Your diaphragm moving down, pulling the air in, and then it relaxing and letting the air out. Your bones and muscles laying on the bed. The pull of gravity on everything, and the bed holding you up.
[Don’t be surprised if you realize there are aches and pains: Tight muscles, minor injuries that you don’t even recall. That’s normal.]
Adjust your posture until any major discomfort is settled.
For the next part, you won’t move much, so settle into your best resting position. Laying on your back, rest your hands on your belly or hands at your sides.
Now, without moving, try to feel your body doing its thing, just being alive. Get a sense of how your muscles feel. [At this point, I usually realize that just about every muscle in my body has tension]
The goal here is to relax all your muscles, but slowly, one small group at a time, and starting with your toes.
Feeling the muscles in your little toe on your left foot, relax the muscles in the toe. Feel it relax, letting all the tension in toe go away. The toe isn’t doing anything, so just relax it.
When that toe is relaxed, go to the next one, each toe relaxing, all the way the big toe. Take your time; it’s not necessarily easy and it takes some focus.
Once all the left toes are relaxed, relax your right toes.
Once all your toes are relaxed, you’ll go back to your left foot, and now you’ll relax the muscles in your arch, and then the top of your foot, and then your heel.
Then back to the right foot to do the same.
I hope you’re starting to get the idea?
Relax your ankles, calves, shins, knees, thighs, and hips. One of after the other. Feel the muscle, and then relax it.
Just let the muscles relax, they are not holding anything up. They don’t have anything to do, so let them just rest.
Feel the muscles relax. Don’t move on to the next muscle until the muscle you are thinking about relaxes. If you feel like a muscle is still tense in your legs after you’re done, go to it and relax it.
Don’t worry if the muscles stop relaxing in the exact order. Just find the tense ones and relax them.
Now, it may happen that you’ll find a muscle has re-tensed. Just be patient and start from your feet and relax any muscle that has tensed.
You might start having your mind wander, just remind yourself which muscles you are relaxing and go back to it.
Now, you’ll move on to your hands and arms. Just like your legs, you’re going to relax each finger, starting from the tip of the finger, and moving down through your hand.
Left side then right; each finger, knuckles, palm, back of hand, wrist, forearms, elbows, bicep and tricep, shoulders.
Now, you relax all the muscles in your lower abdomen, your lower back, chest, upper back, neck, face, jaw, and then finish with the muscles under your scalp.
…
That first time, my girlfriend got me all the way through this, and I went right to sleep. These days, I usually don’t get much past relaxing my legs before I fall asleep. That doesn’t mean I sleep well, but that’s a different problem.
When you find someone patient enough to help you fall asleep in your first waterbed, I think you can say they are pretty special. Even more amazing when they are willing to sleep next to you in a waterbed.
We’ve been together for 26 years.
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