Henry Sugar

I'm not sure why, but I always think of this story whenever stress mounts.  I actually didn't even remember the name of the story until I just looked it up so I could title this post; in my mind, it's just been that Roald Dahl story I read when I was younger, the story that was part of a collection of stories.  Apparently it's not even a children's story, but one of his adult stories.

But as ew and I struggle to figure things out, inevitably we lie awake at night with a million things going on in our heads.  I read an article somewhere, I think in NYTimes, that talks about how we don't let our minds rest anymore and process information, how every waking second is really stimulated from technology, especially with these mobile devices that allow us to stay connected.  And I think to some extent, maybe our minds do suffer from information overload.  I spend all day at the office in front of a computer, processing information, or just surfing the web, then come home and use the computer some more, checking more internets.  Ew loves her share of celebrity gossip, me sports and movies.  Sometimes it's hard to slow the brain down until it's time to sleep, and once we're off the stimulation, we begin processing and get overwhelmed.  It's hard to sleep like that.

So that's when I always recall the story of Henry Sugar, a guy who somehow could clear his head of all thoughts, which then allowed him to have some psychic abilities, which allowed him to clean up at casinos.  I remember reading the story as a child and trying my hardest to clear my head so I could predict which cards would come out of the deck.  I was never able to, but I think the story stuck with me because as I've grown older, I've begun to understand the importance of some type of meditation, to get away from everything.  And now it helps me think about nothing, to just hear my breathing.  It doesn't always work, but I try, because maybe at the end of the day, I'll be able to garner a higher state of being and maybe I will harness psychic abilities, or maybe I'll just be able to get a good night's rest.