Take three hairs of the sleepless one.
Lightly coat them with olive oil,
smooth them together, then braid them
with two thin threads, cotton & wool.
Don’t think of when your grandmother
picked cotton on the farm, instead
simplify. Cotton is just clouds.
Leave the home, wait, and then return.
Eat something warm and something cool,
something soft and sweet, or something
bland. Pretend the days have been dreams.
Imagine the dreams were your days,
imagine there are dreams you’d dream
again, willingly. Imagine.
Listen to rain. If there is none,
you know what to do. Play soundtracks
of old memories, when you were
safe, when you thought everyone was.
Rosefire Rising 
nothing really works in the end which is why there have to be so many sleep aids. who can sleep when we’re killing the planet and nuclear armageddon is as close as it was during the Cuban missile crisis
Yes, yes, yes, yes. If someone is awake enough to see, it’s impossible to feel safe, and thus you stay awake, or give up. Or something.
The fate of everyone not sleeping. I suspect I have tried most of these when I am tired but cannot sleep. I wonder if this is like trying to start a stubborn gasoline engine – you pull and fiddle and pull again. Memories can be a great comfort and might the reason dreams are the brain at play.
Memories can be a comfort. Memories can be torture. It’s choosing the memory to replay before sleep, and focusing willfully and intentionally on a path that leads toward sleep. Or, as I always say, “It’s complicated.” LOL!