“The funny thing about sleep is you can’t instruct it to happen. Your mind knows the facts and repeats them to you – it is late, only five hours when you have to wake up again, you need rest. Your mind also has a million options on what it can think about; stars in the clear moonless sky, the beautiful flowers at the Nungambakkam flower shop, the smell of incense in Ananya’s house, your best birthday party. But somehow, even one negative thought will crowd them out. Maybe it is an evolutionary mechanism so we can focus on the problem at hand rather than rejoice in all things wonderful. But it makes life a bitch, as good memories have to make space for the next pain in the neck item. And what does one gain by losing sleep? I hope our genes mutate ASAP so we can evolve out of this.”
- 2 States: The Story of My Marriage by Chetan Bhagat.
Isn’t it a conscious decision that one makes to continue entertaining the negative thought? I agree that negative thoughts creep into the mind sometimes (happens to all of us). But after that, it is our decision to continue thinking about it or shift our mind to something more positive. At least that is what I believe, and I refuse to believe anything otherwise. Only the weak blames it on things such as evolution and hope for mutation to help us. :)
Haha, while I agree with you, I think the point the author is trying to make here is when your mind consciously decides to resolve any problems in life in the middle of the night rather than falling asleep and getting much needed rest.
You can't possibly tell me you haven't had a sleepless night where you stayed up planning and plotting lol.
Anyways, you should read the book, it reminded me a lot about you and the lengths you had to go for the big date this year.