Practical Counsel — Midnight Rising, Hisbodidus, and Breaking the Sleep

[Yiddish:] "My dear friend — listen to me and begin once more to renew yourself in the service of Hashem — only with joy! And the former days will fall away. Begin to engage with enthusiasm in the service of Hashem, and forget everything [i.e., leave behind all the accumulated failures] — my intent here is: you have an alarm-clock [זייגר — a watch or clock] — set it to rise at midnight [חצות — midnight, the hour Rabbainu and R' Noson emphasize for prayer and hisbodidus] — and pour out your heart before G‑d, blessed be He, in wholeness and simplicity [בתמימות ופשיטות] — for this is among the greatest things — like a pidyon [פדיון נפש — redemption of the soul]. And break the sleep two or three times [i.e., wake up and go back to sleep and wake again — each interruption of sleep is a small spiritual victory]. It will be difficult for you — and afterward even the evil inclination itself wakes you up. And fulfill: 'I remembered my music in the night' [Psalms 77:7 — cited at the end of Torah 54, part one of Likutay Moharan, as the verse of midnight song and remembrance] — see the end of Torah 54, part one, there. And have every day a special hisbodidus — with the intention of coming, etc." "As R' Noson, of blessed memory, said: how bad it is to come in reincarnation [גלגול — transmigration of the soul; to be reborn in a new body because the previous lifetime's task was not completed] — but it is worthwhile even to come in reincarnation many times, as long as one once merits to be at the Tzion [Uman]. What can one do when it is an impossible thing — like climbing to Heaven? At least, under no circumstances must one abandon the longings. And one must exert oneself in prayer — for the obstacle is because of the longing [המניעה היא בשביל החשק — a Breslov teaching: the greater the longing, the greater the obstacle; the obstacle is actually a sign of how much the longing matters]." [Hebrew translation of the above follows in the original, with the same content — here omitted to avoid full repetition]