SLEEP SOLVES PROBLEMS.

Northern Advocate, 15 March 1922, Page 3

SLEEP SOLVES PROBLEMS.

WORK OF THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND J A certain proverb h:is it that "Night brings counsel.'' In colloquial language we say of sonic plan that we'll "sleep on it"—that is, we shall •postpone our decision. But these phrases may very well, and quite seriously be, taken in their literal sense, a nerve specialist, writing in the "Daily Mail,'"' states. It is not simply a matter of consciously thinking the scheme over again, ranging tl 1 p-'s *.and cons on either side, and a decision according to a preponderating balance. "Sleeping on it'.' really signifies leaving it to the subconscious, and that means that our subconscious minds work on and with the material supplied, and then present . us with the finished article. It is well known that complicated ?iiental operations are performed during sleep. The subconscious never sleeps. There are many instances on record of certain famous men who have found the solution of a puzzling arithmetical or mathematicalproblem ready to han 1 011 suddenly wsking during the night or at a first thought immediately- on waking in the morning. Some poets and writers, hard put to it last thing at night for - an idea, have . quitted the work maybe in disgust, and gone to bed, only to find precisely what Ihev wanted on suddenly waking. And so with more humble individuals like ourselves, we may find some question or circumstance puzzling us when we go to sleep, but with the morning -comes the disppcarance of the i!ilii c-ulty and the right answer. The subconscious mind has done the work, and, moreover, done it much better than we consciously would have done. A join, wlrtit is easier for most people than to wake at a certain unaccustomed hour when they so desire The only condition needful is that they ■should drop 0$ to sleep with the wish ::nd expectation definitely formulated in the mind. It may then safely lie left, to the subconscious, to see that the instruction —as it were —is carried out; and carried out it is, often with the greatest exactitude. These things are well enough known, but they are apt to be passed over .simply as strange and unusual phenomena. Is there any good reason, however, why they should not be made use of and turned to good account? Suppose yon are in. a dilemma an J do not know whether to turn to the. right or to the left. You have looked at the position from all sides, and ex-; "ha-usted, as far as you can sec, fill the pros and' cons. Well, then —now resolutely quit the subject, give it a rest. Simply take the assured attitude that the fuller powers of the --subconscious can be left to tackle the •conditions, then "wait and see." 111 other words, "sleep on it"—leave it -to the subconscious. The result will "be in the majority of cases, the course ■made clear,