Try This to Sleep Better

Okay, you may not be ready for a nap right NOW but do feel like getting a little more sleep would be helpful?

Studies have shown that practising gratitude helps with the quality of your sleep by slowing down your pre-sleep cognitions, which just means it helps us to STOP worrying so much.

We all do it. We're REALLY GOOD THINKERS.

We think that more thinking will solve everything.
But, OVER-THINKING can turn into a hamster wheel that takes us nowhere, and it keeps us awake.

Using a guided relaxation meditation can help to build a really good pre-sleep routine and cut out the habit of thinking at bedtime.
One of my most popular audio relaxation tracks, called the Deep Deep Relaxation Meditation, can be found here in The Calm Shop.

In my PREVIOUS BLOG-Build Happiness Pathways in Your Brain, we focussed on gratitude to activate happiness and now HERE I'd like you to keep it up so you can potentially benefit from a better night's sleep.

• Daily "Thank-you's"

• Gratitude journaling or lists

• Showing gratitude

Make it a habit, and it gets easier and easier.

You're rewiring your brain ALL THE TIME,

SCIENCEY STUFF*

"Hypothalamic regulation, triggered by gratitude, helps us get deeper and healthier sleep naturally everyday. A brain filled with gratitude and kindness is more likely to sleep better and wake up feeling refreshed and energetic every morning (Zahn et al., 2009)."

so let's CHOOSE to rewire it in ways that help us to thrive.

“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions.
The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.” -Zig Ziglar

Until next week...keep thriving!
Take care.
Michele

*Gratitude influences sleep through the mechanism of pre-sleep cognitions

Caregivers-How Heavy is Your Worry Load?

"If you have someone who has many things going wrong and one thing going right, beat the drum of what's going right, and let that be your point of attraction." Abraham-Hicks, San Diego, 2003

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When I look beyond the headlines and examine humanity, at the ground level, I'm truly in awe of all the caregivers among us. For some it's a vocation or calling, while for others it's just 'what they do'. Sometimes the need is great and very demanding and other times it requires the subtle moments of a look, smile or presence. 

Even when you don't have all the answers, solutions, or next steps, you have enough energy and compassion to sit with the problem, and when you can do this without the WORRY THOUGHTS about tomorrow, you can begin to activate a very strong vibration of LOVE. When your mind (thought) activity gets calm, your heart can feed YOUR energy.

I know that you're constantly 'giving care', of one kind or another, to your family and others in your life, and while we often talk about exhaustion and OVERWHELM, and the need for self-care, part of that should include our mental experience. I know that a big part of caring is DOING but another big part is THINKING.

Who ever THOUGHT that THOUGHTS could be so exhausting? But they are, and they can keep us up at night too.

By tapping into your heart energy you can begin to find a way to FUEL UP.
How can you access this fuel?

I've been re-reading a lot of Eckhart Tolle these days and practising stepping out of my thought storms so I can WITNESS the habitual nature of OVER-THINKING. I try to gently feel the aliveness of my hands, my body, and my breath. When I do that I can momentarily escape, or rather, take a break from thought, and re-fuel.   

If you're looking to calm down your worry thoughts check out my quick, printable meditation cheat sheet HERE.

Another Step on Your Path - Michele