My husband snores lightly, and it seems to start about a half hour after I go to bed. It’s unexpected, and uneven. I can’t fall asleep.
A couple of weeks ago, I asked my audiologist to make me a pair of molded ear plugs. He stuck a small cotton wad attached to a thread into each ear, then injected soft material that hardens in five minutes–red for the right ear, blue for the left. In fifteen minutes, I left his office delighted, earplugs in hand.
I headed to bed that night looking forward to trying them out, sure they would make a huge difference.
Here’s what I learned: even fitted to my specific ears, plugs block very little, because ears hear. That’s what they do; that is their nature, whether we are awake or asleep.
In the same way, consciousness is always awake. That’s its nature. Our bodies may be in deep sleep, but awareness–which is unlocated–remains ever-present, eternal and infinite.
© Amrita Skye Blaine, 2016
the heart of the matter 
This made me laugh big belly laughs because Hasan snores too, and I have the same difficulty. I have been doing a breathing practice where I keep my thumbs covering my ears to block hearing individual sounds and concentrate on the one flow of sound like a waterfall. I never tried it in bed though! Meanwhile, I also like the analogy between consciousness and hearing.
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We’re hunting for good earplugs as giveaways for Writing in the Redwoods. Maybe we’ll get lucky and so will you.
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