Numbness Before Awakening

For the last four or five days I have felt my upper chest to be numb. I was fairly concerned about this. I asked the rehab lady if this was normal. She responded, "Yes. It means "it" is waking up."

I remembered how in my twenties and thirties it seemed like someone had given my heart and soul a huge shot of novocaine. I was pretty much "numb" to everything and everyone, with the possible exception of the students I taught. I guess what I'm saying is that numbness is precursor to waking up. Numbness then is perhaps a good sign.

The rehab lady said "waking up may take months." I think it takes a lifetime but that crisis, losses, transitions and change may be fast tracks to sloughing off the deep spiritual, emotional and mental sleep that I know I lapse back into from time to time and sometimes for a very long, long time.

I think often of the Persian poet Rumi's words, "...Don't go back to sleep..."

Question: What did it take to "wake" you up a little bit or a lot?