Oh,
You're wondering if you've turned the TV off.
You're checking if you've done enough.
You're not wondering,
You're performing a ritual of anxiety.
It's a very cute little show you're putting on for yourself.
The TV is off.
Tomorrow will come whether you stress about it or not.
Stop acting like you're the pilot of the planet.
You're just a lump of meat.
Trying to recharge.
Breath is not a tool you use to get sleep.
Is just what the meat does.
If you're trying to breathe to get relaxed.
You're just adding a layer of performance.
Stop managing the breath.
Let the lungs do their job.
They've been doing it since you were born without you needing to supervise them.
Imagine an octopus.
It's got a brain in every arm.
It doesn't have a centralised management crisis where it worries about what the other arms are doing.
It just moves.
On the other hand,
Have one brain.
You're using it to run around in circles like a headless chook.
Disassociate.
Treat your racing thoughts like they belong to a different organism.
Ah,
That's just a thought.
Isn't that interesting?
Now go away.
Why do you think your thoughts are so important?
Stay on.
They're just firing neurons.
They're like static on a radio.
Stop turning the volume up!
Just turn the radio off.
You're negotiating with your own nervous system.
I'll relax if I can just solve this one problem.
That's not relaxation.
That's a bribe.
And your nervous system knows you're full of it.
Stop bargaining.
You don't deserve sleep.
Sleep is just the biological consequence of being tired.
If you're tired,
You'll sleep.
If you're not.
.
.
Stop faking it.
What if you stay awake?
So what?
You'll be tired tomorrow.
You'll survive.
The universe will keep spinning.
The pressure you're putting on yourself to fall asleep is actually.
.
.
What's keeping you awake?
It's a self-fulfilling prophecy of your own making.
Stop trying to influence the internal environment.
Stop trying to regulate your heart rate.
It's a bit needy,
Really.
Your body knows what it's doing.
Trust it to shut down.
If it doesn't.
That's just life.
Relax into the possibility of being awake.
Watch how quickly the sleep comes to claim you anyway.
I'm finished.
The circus is closed.
The lights are off.
If a thought pops up.
Just notice it and treat it like a stray cat.
Don't invite her inside.
Don't feed it!
Just let it wander off.
You're not here to solve the world's problems.
You're here to rest.
Now be quiet,
Stop performing and let the darkness take you.
You don't need to do a thing.
