I've noticed a pattern. My thoughts are much more melancholic and much less rational late at night. It's not that late night musings can't be helpful. It's that late night musings can often be riddled with anxiety, worry, doubt and discouragement. It seems that the later the hour after the sun drops behind the horizon, the more likely it is for these dark thoughts to creep up behind me. It is for this reason that I am often wary of late night worries. I usually find that in the morning my mind is much clearer and my attitude is much more optimistic. Sometimes we just need to set a problem on the shelf for a while until we are calm and wise enough to tackle it.

Today I realized that this isn't just about night time - it's a certain state of mind we get in, sometimes at night, sometimes during the day. It's often when we are struggling with important questions we don't know the answer to and can't seem to make headway with. It's like your mind is endlessly swinging like a pendulum between choices, never quite able to figure out whether it's facing the sunrise or the night. These thoughts can creep up when you fail a school assignment, when you are late for work, when you say or do something you regret, when you are unsure whether a choice is right or wrong, when you feel demands from all around you, but are unsure where to place your energy.

Since these thoughts are not limited to late night musings, I decided to watch out for this late-night discouragement mindset, in general. I have taken the liberty of dubbing it my 'midnight madness'. I think many of us get midnight madness. If it doesn't happen for you late at night, it probably happens at other times, or when heated or confusing events seem overwhelming. When you feel the 'midnight madness' coming on, whatever the time of day, I think it is usually wise to take a moment to be still, and then if you are unable to calm down and be clear-minded, you ought to wait until a later time when you are more prepared to think it through.

Now I am not against all late night thoughts. Occasionally a contemplative state late at night can be very insightful and inspirational. I also think that occasionally we will have to work through problems immediately, simply because the circumstance demands it, even if we are feeling anxious, but even then it's good to take a moment to be still. However, I am against allowing ourselves unnecessarily to play mental pinball while we allow ourselves to be emotionally tortured with suffocating anxiety or frustration. When you find yourself doing that, just stop it. Come back to the problem later. Be positive. Know that you can sort it out, if not alone, with the help of wise people. When you are ready, counsel with trusted people about it. Counsel with God in prayer as well. Even if you are not a religious person, I am simply inviting a simple prayer of faith. Answers often come in a way and at a time we least expect them, but when we ask with confidence that we will find an answer, as far as I have been aware in my experience, I have found that they do come.