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

Can't Sleep With Racing Thoughts

"As long as you are aware of your breathing and follow it you're not thinking."
Eckhart Tolle

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I was speaking with a neighbour this week and our conversation wandered, as conversations do, from the buds in her garden to her occasional trouble sleeping. She couldn't understand why this happens as she feels that she's generally a 'laid back', easy going person.

What's with those PESKY THOUGHTS? And why are they so hard to SHUT OFF?

We've all been there, some more often and others, and it's not pleasant, it raises our stress levels, messes up our sleep and generally affects every function in our body.

Back to my neighbour, she says that following her breath helps sometimes and she's occasionally TRIED MEDITATION which doesn't really help.

I don't know about you but when my mind is racing, jumping into meditation and sustaining the calm is VERY TOUGH. 

I've always said that meditation is a path, a journey, a practise, that helps to build inner strength and connection over time. The more you do it the easier it is to access inner peace. 

So, back to that busy brain, what to do?

You may already have tools to help you get through it and get back to sleep and you may also find that sometimes they work and sometimes they don't.

Over and over the ancient wisdom teachings point to the same thing and as I begin to embrace and practise it I have access to my deeper, calmer, self.

Okay, consider this:

You are the THINKER, and as the thinker you are the one doing the thinking, and since you are CREATING the thoughts YOU are not your thoughts.

Now, we've all heard the saying, 'What you resist, persists', so, it's time to stop resisting the thoughts. Turn to them when they run wild, and ACCEPT them and EMBRACE them and LOVE them.
I know, it seems counter intuitive but with practise you'll find that it helps you to access your true self, your deeper connected calm self.

HOW to access this practise? I always use my breath. With each breath I visualize Love and Acceptance filling my body and my brain (thoughts) and then gently release RESISTANCE on the exhale. Calming the nervous system down helps to knock yourself out of the fight or flight mode and you may go back to sleep. 

You may use other techniques like listening to a recorded meditation, or music, or getting out of be to read or watch a movie. Whatever you do, send acceptance and love to your busy mind and it will learn to calm down.
To get started, grab my printable, meditation cheat sheet HERE.
If you can, start a meditation practise of 5 minutes a day you will gradually build your concentration and resilience muscle so that when the busy mind tries to take control you'll be better able to keep it down. 

"Another Step on Your Path" from Michele