A Thursday Afternoon Nap

Istijlál (Majesty), 2 Asma (Names), 165 B.E. – Thursday, August 21, 2008 about 3:07 PM PDT

I can always tell when I need to take a nap in the afternoon. I get so tired that I can hardly move, so I lay down on the bed for a few minutes. It doesn't take long for me to be rested and ready to go again, but I need those few minutes to rest my body and mind.

Normally, I just sit on the couch and close my eyes, but when my body feels all tired out I lay down on the bed. I take my prayer book, prayer beads, a notebook and a writing pen with me. I put the items on the bedside table and then lay down on the bed and close my eyes.

I take the notebook with me just in case I have a dream or come up with a line of poetry. The prayer book and prayer beads I take with me out of habit. If I take them with me when I go to bed, then I pick them up when I get out of the bed and I always know where they are. Some people have a security blanket or a stuffed animal; I have my prayer book and prayer beads laying there on the bedside table.

I lay down for about thirty minutes, which was enough. I didn't have any dreams and I didn't come up with the line to a poem. However, if I hadn't had the notebook right there beside the bed I would have dreamed or came up with a verse. Then I would have had to look for something to write on and forgotten the dream or the verse in the process. I have learned this from experience.