You've heard the saying, "You made your bed, now you get to sleep in it!" Countless people can't get to sleep in the bed they made; and worse yet, they don't know it's the bed THEY made, so they don't know they are the ones who can change it. Now assuming that the physical bed you own is good enough, and you haven't been drinking caffeine or eating anything that causes acid reflux before going to bed, you can easily change the mental and emotional "bed" that you sleep in. Here are 5 simple ways: 1) Progressive Relaxation. Most people do not have an adequate reference point for relaxation. They lay there in bed, tense and sore, and think they are relaxing. They are trying to relax, but they haven't learned to let go of physical stress and strain. Mental and emotional stress causes physical stress. One way to counteract physical stress is to tense up all the major muscle groups on purpose. Start with the big toe of one foot, then the other big toe, then all the toes, up the foot, ankle, calf, thighs, buttocks, abdomen, lower back, solar chest, upper back, shoulders, upper arms, forearms, wrists, fingers, neck, face, and scalp muscles. Make sure that when you tense the neck you do NOT hold the breath in the neck. Continue to breath from the chest or abdomen because holding the breath in the neck or throat area while tensing those muscles can cause excess blood pressure in the blood vessels of the neck, and some of them could pop. Rapidly let go of all the tension, starting from the scalp all the way down the muscle groups, all the way down to the big toe, relax in a rapid wave of relaxation. With practice you will be able to do the entire exercise quickly, and you can also do it to relieve physical stress while in a class lecture or meeting or at work. If there are any muscle groups that have not yet "let go" of the tension, tense those muscles again on purpose and then let go. 2) Another method you can use is to recall pleasant, relaxing memories. Maybe a fishing trip or a time you were on the beach or camping on a mountain. Remember what you saw, what you felt, the various sounds and smells of the environment. Or if the stress is from anxiety over an upcoming task, remember a time when you were relaxed and successful and did a good job. This method works best when you first obtain physical relaxation and then do the mental relaxation drill. It's easier to relax mentally after you relax the physical body. 3) Many people have trouble sleeping because of unfinished business from earlier in the day. A technique I learned from Dr. La Tourrette has also been used by many other mind control experts and helps to complete "unfinished business." Get in bed, do the relaxation drill, and pretend you have a video of your entire day in front of you. Click the remote control to play it in reverse from the time you got in bed. Do you notice anything you'd like to change or do better next time? Play that memory back again in your imagination with the new resources and outcome you'd like to have the next time something similar happens. Or better yet, examine the steps that led up to the event and learn to re-create that event again, on purpose, but with the newer and better resources instead of just sitting around waiting for "something" to happen again. 4) If your mind is flooded with thoughts at night, instead of trying to fight it, let the thoughts flow and record them or write them out. Do mind-maps of your thoughts along with possible questions and solutions. Your mind might have been trying to give you answers all day long, but you were too busy, so it waited until you weren't doing anything else to give you answers. Often, those answers help you move toward new opportunities and new projects that can relieve some of the stress and strain that's been keeping you awake at night. Those ideas could be the building blocks of an ebook or home study course that catapults you to financial freedom so you can leave a stressful job. 5) Focus on solutions instead of problems. Focusing on problems sets up an attractor field for stress and more problems. When you turn those problems into projects and set your creative abilities to work on finding solutions, you can relax and sleep at night and work on those solutions in your sleep and wake up in the morning after having a dream about the solution or you might just wake up with sudden inspiration where solutions "pop into your head". So instead of accidentally using the power of your mind to worry and keep you awake all night, you can beat insomnia, be more productive, and Sleep Well! |
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