If you struggle to go to sleep and stay asleep and are woken up with the inability to get your mind to stop going, try a practice of thinking of 3 things before bed that you are grateful for right now in your life.
Write them down even.
I know for a lot of us sleeping has been pretty shitty the last few days and months with all that’s going on in the world. There is so much to be done and positive thinking is unfortunately not going to solve it all. It leads us to drink, to eat crap, to feel snappy and down right hopeless sometimes.
To be able to help anyone, we have to be in functionial condition ourselves. There’s a reason they tell you to put your mask on yourself first in those emergency plane videos. You can’t help anyone until you help yourself.
But how do you help yourself anyway? Gratitude is the enemy of contempt. When your mind is preoccupied with grateful thoughts, there’s less room for the anxious ones that keep us up and get in the way of restful sleep. Restful sleep helps in brain function and problem solving. So whether you’re fighting the patriarchy, planning a tough conversation with your partner, or mapping out a song format- you are going to need access to that brain space. Allowing yourself to look for what is working in your life will help you prime your brain to continue to look for viable solutions in other aspects of your life.
NOW GO TO SLEEP.