So much of the perennial wisdom points to the importance of shifting our perspective on the things we ordinarily take for granted or simply accept as is. Take the wee-hours wake up call that, for so many of us, feels like a curse. Why is it that, for so many of us (particularly as we grow older), are we routinely roused from sleep?

Turns out the perennial wisdom touches on this quite a bit. In a nutshell, these early wake up calls are recognized as the soul’s chance to be heard – prime time for spiritual insights to burble to the surface. The day’s hustle and bustle is behind us, the body is at rest, the mind has quieted and at long last the soul’s cry for our attention can be heard or at least acknowledged.

“The soul is often wakened when the world sleeps, for then it may hear.” – Julian of Norwich

The Sufi mystic-poet Rumi likened these hours to “the time of secrets,” when what matters most rises to the surface. It’s no secret that mystics and their followers routinely engaged in late-night vigils, meditations, and prayers. Joel Goldsmith, as just one example, routinely rose long before the sun to meditate, often for hours.

Far from seeing these early-morning wake up calls as a nuisance, Goldsmith and other mystics welcomed them as an opportunity for the ‘still small voice’ to be heard.

It’s also worth noting that most of these folks were renowned for requiring little if any sleep, the absence of an ‘I’ no longer demanding rest. Or as Meister Ekhart put it, “When the ‘I’ disappears, where is the one who grows weary?”

Studies of individuals in advanced states of meditation reveal profound states of parasympathetic activation (deep peace, calm, etc.), brainwave patterns that overlap with deep sleep (they’re awake when they’re asleep), and cellular restoration.

“The soul may be more refreshed in prayer than the body in sleep.” – Teresa of Avila

For most of us, however, these early hours are deemed critical for rest. Our sense of being responsible for these lives leaves us exhausted by day’s end. Which is why those wee-hours wakeup calls are considered such an annoyance.

But what if, the next time we’re awakened by an unseen force, we shifted our perspective, sat quietly, and asked for that deeper self to reveal itself? What if we welcomed this as an opportunity to learn something new about ourselves, our lives, the universe itself?

“God leads the soul by night so that it may not mistake the way for itself.” – John of the Cross