Getting Great Restful Sleep

Last night I had a profound experience. 

As I was getting ready for bed, Dixie, our dog, was laying on the carpet at the foot of my bed. And so I decided to take a moment and I laid down on the carpet right beside her. We were nose to nose and hands to toes. I was watching her as she was just relaxing. As I was gently petting her head and her chest I watched as relaxation came into her body. The rest, and the peace and how easily she slowly slipped into sleep and slumber, how her eyes would gently close, how the lids would slowly open only halfway and then close again, and then how she just effortlessly drifted off to sleep in the matter of minutes.

 How would you like to be able to fall asleep just like that?

Now what makes us different from our pets is all the worry, the stress, the monkey brain, the chatter that's going all the time, which never seems to shut down or to quiet, or to allow us to come to that rest. And that peaceful calm, following the animal model of our pets, of playing with our friends, sleeping when we are tired, eating when we are hungry, drinking when we are thirsty and only those four steps sleep, eat, play, and drink water truly brings you to balance in life.

 So that led me to thinking about sharing this with you. I do have a bedtime routine that I do every night to bring myself to that place of calm and peace and rest. And that's what inspired me to share this message with you today was just watching Dixie on the floor as she was just gently going to sleep for the night to have a restful sleep, a peaceful sleep.

 So some suggestions that I would give to you to help you have a better sleep is to implement a bedtime routine, to step away from the chaos of your day, to step away from the challenges, to step away from the stress, to bring in some peace and relaxation and bring down that monkey chatter and bring calmness to the mind.

There's many, many ways that you can do that. Perhaps you already have some routines that you use in your bedtime routine. I would love for you to share what is your favorite way to de-stress, to bring peace at the end of your day. Please reply or comment below so that we can share some of your ideas too, with our community.

 So some of the things that I do every single night as I'm getting ready for bed, the first thing that I do when I climb into bed is I write my gratitude's. I write at least five gratitude's. Going to bed with gratitude in your heart really brings joy into your day. Even if it's the smallest things.

 If this is a new exercise for you, just think of the pillow behind your head, the blanket that you have covering you, the roof over your head, wherever you may happen to be, the tiniest things, the ability to brush your teeth, whatever it is that you need to start with. As you start experiencing and recording your gratitude's, more things will show up that you are grateful for and this shifts your energy.

 The next thing that I do is to always make sure that I'm off my screens. Off my phone, off my laptop. I have all that shut down at least two hours prior to bedtime because the blue light stimulates the pineal gland in your brain, which tells you it's daytime when really it's nighttime. The light tricks your brain into thinking you should be awake when really it's time to be going to sleep. So shut off your screens two hours before bedtime.

The next thing that I'll do is some stretching. Just stretching in bed. If you have any pets at home, cats or dogs, the first thing they do when they wake up is stretch their body. If you live a sedentary lifestyle, you may spend a lot of time sitting, you are on zoom meetings, or whatever it is that you're doing, and you're not moving much. Then your body will love the stretch to elongate the muscles, to reduce physical tension in the body before you are going to sleep. And this will help you to wake up in a more relaxed state and to get a better sleep as well.

 Next I'll read a book. Right now I'm reading “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle, and the importance of being in the now. Keeping your mind present, not focused in the past of things that you can't change, or stressing about the future of things that haven't even happened yet, and most likely won't happen the way that you imagine them, but focusing on the now and remaining present and experiencing life with those around you right now. Reading before sleep helps me to shift my mind from what I have to do the next day, what the grocery list is, who needs to go where, who needs a ride, you know, all of those things that chatter in the brain. All of that, busy-ness that stress. So to help reduce that, I focus my attention on a book and reading.

 So those are some of the things that I do. You could also have a nice warm bath with dim lights or candles lit carefully for a peaceful, calming, quiet, also add maybe some gentle music, maybe do a relaxation yoga exercise to quiet the mind and body. There are many, many things that you can do. So these are just some suggestions that I'm sharing with you today so you can begin to have better rest and fall asleep, effortlessly and quickly, and have a sound sleep just like Dixie does and just like I do. So go ahead share with us some of the strategies that you use to ensure a restful sleep.