There's nothing like messing with your brain to make the sleepless fog of insomnia even stranger. Here are two diversions that can do just that.The first is the puzzle of the
dancing lady. Which direction is she turning in? Most people see her going counterclockwise. Initially, I saw her going only clockwise; now, I can get her to change direction pretty much at will. I always thought of myself as fairly logical, so she surprised me. Some of the people who left comments were convinced it was at trick, since they could only see her going one way. It's all about perception.
The second diversion is designed to challenge our perception of time. One of the more curious aspects of insomnia is that it affects how we experience the passage of time. I may think I've been awake for two hours, but I've probably been sleeping lightly for part of that time. Each check of the clock is a surprise (although not usually a pleasant one). You never really know what it will read. There's a Chinese proverb that says, "Only when one cannot sleep does one know how long the night is."
But what if the way we experience time, during the night or the day, is just a result of cultural conditioning? The web site Grasshopper Enterprises has an interesting exercise, How to Stop Time. Can you make the second hand on the clock slow down? If so, what does that mean? Click on "Why Did Time Stop" for a very trippy explanation involving time, perception and consciousness.
