One of the first questions I ask someone who comes to me struggling to fall asleep is “What thoughts are keeping you awake?”. Because more often than not, insomnia is not a sleep issue per se, it’s a symptom that reveals that there is a greater imbalance occurring in the body or mind. 

And for some people, they are dealing with thoughts that create such a tension in their mind that it won’t let them fall asleep. Usually these people are very bright, analytical, and strong willed. If a question in life bothers them, they perceive injustice or they cannot make sense of something, these thoughts will literally keep them up at night. 

But how do we deal with this? At the end of the day, there are tough questions, many which our mind cannot fully comprehend. How do we make peace with the situation and allow ourselves to surrender to a seemingly imperfect world?

I believe Lag B’Omer, Rebbi Shimon and the famous story of the cave gives us a powerful insight that can help answer this question and allow us to create an inner Meunchas Hanefesh. Because Rebbi Shimon struggled with this as well. 

After spending 12 years in the cave with his son Elazar, learning all of the secrets of the Torah and gaining deep spiritual insight, his integration........

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