Hmmmm...I think I'm going to try this!

[LuckyCharms]

[gab13by13]

1. That's what I do,

I either read it in a Buddhist book or in an Ekhard Tolle book.

At night before you go to sleep, try and see how long you can go without thinking a thought. The longer you can get the better.

[marked50]

2. Sometimes I just sits and think.

Sometimes I just sits.

[Ptah]

3. How can you think about not thinking?

[Maraya1969]

4. If you close your eyes and watch the space that is there; looking for where your next thought

is going to come from you will stop thinking. It is such a relief.

[Marthe48]

5. I know that I'll sleep

If when I lay down, close my eyes and see patterns with a lot of black stripes. Then I start having faint audio hallucinations. As the patterns shift, I listen to the audio. And I sleep.

Not sure if it's the same as not thinking, but it gets me where I want to be!

[Maraya1969]

6. Where does the audio come from?

[Marthe48]

8. I take Ambien

Learned recently you can have audio hallucinations, as well as visual. I have a fan on when I sleep, and I remember hearing similar noise before I ever took sleeping pills.
What I hear now sounds like sports commentary on a radio. Go figure.

[LuckyCharms]

10. Hi Marthe...

I have audio hallucinations whenever a fan is running.

I've just recently heard about this phenomenon, and there is a reason for it.

Sometimes when a fan is running, I hear the most BEAUTIFUL music...it is not something I have heard before...it's like I'm composing it. Sometimes I hear people talking to me.

It's normal. Here's an interesting article:

https://thedebrief.org/auditory-pareidolia-the-voices-in-your-head-may-have-a-rational-explanation/

I sometimes wish that I was a musician, so I could replicate these songs via musical notation...but alas...once I no longer hear the fan, they are gone for good.

[Marthe48]

11. Back then I wrote a short story

Called it Fan Music. What i heard those 40 years ago was beautiful and I wished it was real. I'm so glad you mentioned your experience.
I'm heading for bed, but I'll check the link you posted tomorrow.
Sweet dreams!

[LuckyCharms]

12. Sweet dreams, Marthe.

[Dem2theMax]

13. Oh My Gosh! Thank you, Lucky Charms!

This happens to me almost every night.
I run a fan to keep me cool,
plus a white noise machine to try to drown out the idiot neighbors who live next door to me.

I don't know how many times I have gotten up in the middle of the night, and turned off the fan or the white noise machine, to see if I could hear the noise that I absolutely knew I was hearing. It was either music, people talking, or the sound of someone pounding on something, like hammering a piece of wood. Of course there's nothing there when I turn off the fan and the noise machine.

Now I know I can roll over and go back to sleep!

[LuckyCharms]

16. I used to think I was going crazy, until I read about this phenomenon!

Now, I look forward to it!

The music that I hear is amazing! And the voices are interesting because they are so random...sounds like a conversation of many people.

Pretty cool stuff!

[Iggo]

7. It's just crazy enough to work!

[some_of_us_are_sane]

9. Try this!

It worked for me at a stressful job for many years. I played it softly from my computer and when I retired, a co-worker came over to me to ask if he could have the URL so he could continue it when I was gone.

It calmed my soul and still does. Soooooooooooo soothing. Like velvet for the soul.

[Donkees]

14. Buddha: Be aware of the second arrow

[LuckyCharms]

15. This is perfect. And helpful. Thank you.

[some_of_us_are_sane]

17. So happy to be able to share it!

That track has been a soothing background for MANY MANY hours in my life. At six hours- and so unobtrusive, it's like a light feathered sound massage.

[some_of_us_are_sane]

18. Spoken like a true Buddhist

Amen, Donkees.