You're awake before you want to be.
That's not ideal,
But it's going to be okay.
We will get through this together to help you get the rest you need.
The first thing I want you to know,
Is that you don't need to do anything right now.
You don't need to change your breathing.
You don't need to relax your muscles,
You don't need to clear your mind,
And you don't need to fall asleep.
I know that might sound strange,
Especially if that's exactly what you're hoping to do.
But sleep isn't something we can force.
In fact,
The harder we try to make it happen.
The more difficult it can become.
So,
For the next few minutes.
.
.
Let's take sleep completely off the list of things you're trying to accomplish.
You can just be here.
Sometimes,
When we wake up in the middle of the night,
Our minds immediately want to get to work.
We wonder why we're awake.
We think about tomorrow,
About how tired we're going to be.
About how many hours we have left before the alarm goes off.
And before we know it,
We're trying to solve the problem of being awake.
But being awake isn't necessarily a problem that needs solving.
It's something that happens.
Our sleep isn't always one uninterrupted stretch from bedtime until morning.
Sometimes we wake up.
Sometimes we fall right back asleep.
And sometimes we don't.
And that's okay.
You haven't done anything wrong.
Now perhaps there's something on your mind tonight,
Something that happened yesterday,
Something you're worried about for tomorrow?
Maybe a conversation you wish had gone differently?
Or a responsibility that's weighing on you?
Or maybe there's nothing in particular.
You don't have to figure it out.
If something is bothering you.
You can acknowledge that it's there without needing to do anything about it.
You might even remind yourself that whatever it is.
.
.
It can wait until morning.
Not because it's not important.
But because you deserve to have moments when you aren't responsible for figuring everything out.
There will be time to think,
To plan,
To make decisions,
And to take action.
But none of that needs to happen right now.
For now,
Just notice where you are.
You're lying in bed.
There's something beneath you,
Supporting the weight of your body.
You don't have to hold yourself up.
You don't have to keep everything together.
You can allow the bed to do what it's already doing.
And your body can do what it already knows how to do.
Your heart is beating.
Your lungs are breathing.
So many things are happening without you having to think about them to make them happen.
You don't need to manage any of it.
And if your mind is still busy,
That's okay too.
Sometimes we approach meditation as though we're supposed to stop thinking.
The thoughts happen.
They come and go,
Often without our permission.
You don't have to chase them away.
You don't have to follow them either.
And if you find yourself caught up in a thought.
There's no need to correct yourself.
There's no right or wrong way to be here.
You might hear my voice.
You might drift into your own thoughts.
You might miss entire parts of what I'm saying.
That's all perfectly fine.
There's nothing you need to keep track of.
I want you to consider something.
What if you didn't need to fall asleep?
What if,
For right now.
.
.
Simply resting was enough.
You could spend these moments lying comfortably.
Allowing yourself a break from everything that normally asks for your attention.
No expectations,
No deadlines,
No responsibilities to manage.
You don't even have to make good use of this time.
You can just let it pass.
And if sleep comes,
Wonderful!
If it doesn't.
.
.
You can still give yourself permission to rest,
Because you don't have to earn your rest by successfully falling asleep.
Sometimes the kindest thing we can do for ourselves is to stop trying so hard.
Stop trying to feel a certain way.
Stop trying to make our minds behave.
Stop trying to control something that happens naturally when the conditions are right.
And perhaps tonight.
One of those conditions is simply allowing yourself to be awake without fighting it.
You don't need to convince yourself that you're tired.
You don't need to wonder whether this meditation is working.
You don't need to check whether you're any closer to sleep than you were a few minutes ago.
There is no finish line here.
So I will leave you with this.
Whatever happened today,
It's already happened.
Whatever tomorrow brings,
You can meet it when it arrives.
And whatever is happening in your mind or your body right now,
You don't need to change it.
You can be a way out.
You can be tired,
You can feel a little restless,
You can be comfortable,
You can simply be exactly as you are and that's enough.
There's nowhere else you need to be.
Nothing you need to accomplish.
Nothing you need to prove.
Now you can simply rest.
You
