Calm Obsessive Thoughts For Sleep

A relaxing and practical bedtime meditation that will help you find stillness in your body and peace in your mind. This practice will help you ease obsessive thought patterns by gently working through them until the mind is clear, and you can fall into a restful night's sleep.

Transcript

Hello,

My name is Lou Redmond and I will be guiding you into sleep this evening.

Go ahead and begin by just making yourself really comfortable in your bed.

Embracing the warmth of your sheets for a few moments.

Allowing your body to settle and allowing it to relax.

I'd like you to welcome all of you here.

And that means the parts of you that want to go to sleep and get some rest.

And also welcome the obsessive mind that may have its own agenda.

Trying to give you a bunch of different things that you need to focus on.

And so we'll be working with this obsessive mind this evening.

And right away let's not make this thinking the enemy.

As we'll find out that it's not.

It's very supportive.

We need our minds to think.

But before we get into that,

Let's really allow ourselves to get into the body.

So feeling your whole body weighing down into your bed.

Inviting in a few rounds of your breath.

Creating some space within with each inhale.

And letting your body relax and further release with each exhale.

And we're going to first work to find stillness in our body.

Because if we find stillness in our body then maybe we have a chance to find stillness in our mind.

And so asking your body here,

Is there anything else that it needs to do?

Any last shift or itch before it can fully find stillness?

Doing what you need and then allowing yourself to really find that sense of calm and that sense of stillness in the body.

And then thank your body for moving you through this day.

Whether it was an active day,

Whether you were sitting at a desk for most of it.

The body was the vehicle for your mind and the vehicle for all of the things that you accomplished,

Didn't accomplish,

For all the connections that you made today.

So just thank the body for its job that it did.

And then I'd like you to give your body permission to turn in for the evening.

Almost like if you are its boss and you're saying,

Good job today.

Now go get some rest.

Just that act of giving permission can help the emotional body start to relax.

Feel another good breath in and let that go.

And now that our body is still,

We're going to see if we can find a stillness in the mind.

To do that,

We will work with the obsessive thoughts that our mind can so often bring into our awareness.

And that's often the hardest part to turn off before sleep.

And so we're going to work with our mind in a similar way that we just did with our body.

And first just bringing your awareness into your imagination as you lay and as you continue to relax.

And I'd like you to imagine that you are standing in the middle of an empty street.

It's a street that goes on for a long distance ahead.

It might be one that you know,

It might be just made up one that is in your imagination.

And as you stand and look,

You start to notice that there emerges all of these people that look just like you walking around in circles.

And what these people represent are different aspects of yourself that is trying to get their words in through your thoughts.

They're always kind of working for you in the background.

You may have the achiever,

The mother,

The father,

The self-critic,

The perfectionist,

All of these different voices in your head,

Maybe different roles that you play.

And so you see in the street that they're all just shouting because they all want to be heard.

However,

There's no order.

They're kind of just yelling and it's just causing frustration,

Causing restlessness.

And I'd like you to know that all of these people on the street,

All of these thoughts that you're having,

They're just looking out for you.

They want you to be safe and do well.

They have good intentions.

They're trying to clear a path for you,

But they don't always know the best way to make that happen.

And so as you're looking at them,

Send them thanks.

Thank them for their intentions.

Thank the mind for what it does.

The nose smells,

The ears hear,

The eyes see,

And the mind thinks.

So send it love for its ability to do its job.

And just notice if thanking the obsessive thoughts changes anything.

It may or may not.

And then I'd like you to call out to one of these people,

One of these thought loops.

And have them stand in front of you and ask them if there's anything important that they need to say before you can go to bed.

And maybe you called out the self-critic.

Is there anything that the self-critic wants to say before you can let them turn in for the night?

Maybe you just let them tell you all the reasons why you messed up today or what you should have done or should have said.

Letting them just get all of their thoughts out.

Whenever they're done,

I'd ask them if there's anything more.

And then when they give you the okay that they have said everything they wanted to say,

Again,

I'd like you to thank them for looking out for you.

And then if you want these thoughts to come back for tomorrow,

If they will help you in some way,

You could say,

I'll see you tomorrow.

Or if you'd like them to be gone forever,

You can kind of send them on a vacation.

And so either way,

You can tell them that you can be dismissed for now.

Your job is done for the day.

And release them from their duty and watch them just walk down the street until eventually you can no longer see them anymore.

And then I'd like you to find the next person,

The next thought loop.

Maybe it's the voice of anxiety that's having you worry about something coming up tomorrow or this week.

And do the same thing that you did with the self-critic.

Have them come over and ask if there is anything that they need to tell you.

And take a moment to listen what they have to say.

Maybe they're reminding you to get something done.

Maybe they're causing you to worry about something happening in the future.

Let the voice of anxiety just get all their thoughts out.

And then when they're done,

Thank them for looking out for you.

Notice if you want them to come back to remind you of that thing tomorrow or if they can take a longer trip.

And then dismiss them from their job for the day and watch them walk down the street and away.

Starting to bring a little bit more clarity into your mind,

A little bit more stillness.

And we'll take another minute to do this with any other parts of you that need to be giving their final word.

Maybe it's the voice of your parenting.

Maybe it's the voice of your boss.

What other thought loops need to have their final word?

Waiting them for their duty,

Whatever,

Whoever it is,

And continuing to dismiss them for the day or dismiss them for the week,

Watching them walk away,

Continuing to clear the street.

And you're going to do this with any thought loops that are in your mind,

Seeing them as people and then continuing to dismiss them of their job.

And do this with all of your thoughts until eventually you are left with a clear and clean road.

There's nothing left to be discussed.

Everyone has had their say.

You've turned everyone in for the evening.

And as you look at this clear street,

Can you feel a spaciousness that has come from it?

Maybe,

Maybe not.

We're now going to see if we can unite this stillness in body and in mind,

Seeing if this body and mind can rest together so they can act in harmony with each other tomorrow.

So again,

Feeling the legs,

Feeling the torso,

Feeling the head,

Whole body way down.

Embrace the hug of your sheets.

Embrace the warmth.

You can sleep now.

It's all been said.

I get to say that to yourself silently a few times.

I can sleep now.

I can sleep now.

I can sleep now.

And then take out the can and repeat silently to yourself,

I sleep now.

I sleep now.

I sleep now.

Repeat that for a few on your own.

And then go ahead and take out the I and repeat silently to yourself.

Sleep now.

Sleep now.

And lastly,

Take out the now and just repeat sleep.

Sleep.

And if you're still awake,

I offer you to continue this word and this mantra after this session ends until you end up falling asleep.

Just repeating sleep,

Sleep,

Sleep.

Reviews

This concept is really helpful to me for letting it go with some of the obsessive thoughts before I go to sleep and I really wish different language. I’ve been used than walking all the time because I am a wheelchair user sometimes I just like to think of people moving , especially if that parts of myself thanks.

Finally able to relax my thoughts. Thank you so much

Didn’t fall asleep this time however feeling more relaxed. My thoughts have been recognised and processed. Thank you 🙏

Feel asleep quickly and easily, thank you for walking me through it!

Thank you Lou! I like how you calm all the voices and critics down, that are in my head, in this meditation. Funny tho, listened to it this morning and will try it at night to help me sleep if the committee is active. Your voice is calming also. Thank you so much!

Loved this! I had never thought of my running mind as a good thing before. Thank you!!

Grateful for another calming, encouraging practice from Lou. Thank you for sharing your perspective and wisdom. 🌌

A wonderful meditation for settling the mind. Thank you.

That was a wonderful mediation! That's exactly what my mind is like when I try to fall asleep. I know we are supposed to invite anxiety to come in and sit with us for a while; I had never considered telling my anxiety "say everything you need to say and then go away until tomorrow." I did the meditation sitting upright the first time but now I'll try it lying down and see what happens. Thank you very much!

Really helpfull. I already listned to it several times in the middle of the night when my mind kept swirling. This meditation helpt me accept, ground myself and fall asleep again. Thank you so much 🙏

This actually works! I use this track when I awaken in the middle of the night and my thoughts start haunting me. I like how it feels to have some power over my thoughts rather than having them control me.

Thanks, this helped me fall asleep and u slept all night without waking up too 🙏💜😁

That was a good approach to really observing your thoughts. Thank you!

Never made it to the end; very soothing. Thanks Lou 🙏🏻🌺

Wow, first I was not sure was this for me but this was one of the best meditation to calm my mind. Thank you!

Thank you for this journey into sound and blissful sleep.

New way (to me) of letting your thoughts say goodnight

This thought loop awareness/release approach is so helpful. Thank you. 🙏

What a perfect way to say 'goodbye' or 'see you tomorrow' to all those busy thoughts. Thank you. 🙏

Feel calm and released stress before fall asleep 🧡