If any disturbing images come to mind, just think of your mind as a stream. Think of the bad images or ideas as dirty twigs and dead leaves that have floated into your mind. Don’t pick them up and look at them; just let them float out again. They are nothing.
You know, you might find it useful to pray the before-bed prayers of the Liturgy of the Hours, because they are very relaxing and comforting.
Here is one of the ancient hymns of the Church that is used for Compline during Ordinary Time. You can recite it as a prayer or
sing it as a song. You can also use different tunes that you know.
Here’s an older setting by Thomas Tallis, turning chant into polyphony.
Te Lucis Ante Terminum
O Thee, before the close of day
Creator of the world, we pray
that with Thy wonted favor, Thou
wouldst be our Guard and Keeper now.
From all ill dreams defend our eyes,
from nightly fears and fantasies:
tread under foot our ghostly foe,
that no pollution we may know.
O Father, that we ask be done
through Jesus Christ Thine only Son,
who, with the Holy Ghost and Thee,
shall live and reign eternally.
Amen.
The Nunc Dimittis (“Lord, Now Let Your Servant Go in Peace”) from the Gospel of Luke is also part of Compline, transferring St. Simeon’s prophecy to the more mundane idea of going off to bed! It is joined to an ancient antiphon praying for the Lord to guard us while we sleep and keep us while we are awake.
Here’s a chant version with all the lyrics.
So you see that you are not the only person in the world to have trouble at bedtime, and like a mother, the Church is thinking of you. Monks and nuns and laypeople have been praying for you every night, whether or not you knew it. You can join with them, and pray for them and for yourself. Hope this helps.
