Perhaps sometimes you may wish that there was enough button for your mind.
An overly busy mind can halt us in many ways throughout our lives.
And one of the main things a busy mind interrupts for millions of people around the world is a good night sleep.
Every single night.
Why is it so?
To answer this,
Let's relax your mind just a little bit right now.
Imagine that your mind is represented by a river with waters that sometimes flow by slowly when there's a lack of rain or sometimes very quickly depending on the weather and the time of year.
Your mind is the river.
Your thoughts are the water.
How quickly is your river in the mind flowing right now?
How fast are the thoughts represented by water flowing in the river?
Just watch this flow as if you are sitting on the riverbank.
Enjoy it.
Good.
Now just allow for the seasons to pass and the weather to change and watch your river change along with it.
The seasons represent your overall happiness in your life.
Are you achieving quarterly goals you set for yourself?
Seasons change but each one of them can be viewed as beautiful.
Seasons can be tough or they can be mild and enjoyable.
The waters of the river represent your thoughts.
When you focus your thoughts on your gold and desires,
Your river slows and becomes crystal clear.
The birds and the wildlife are able to see fish that they will catch to feed themselves and their offsprings.
The fish can find sources of food because the waters have slowed enough to allow for bits of plants to settle on the water and soften and live bugs can land on the water for them to catch.
Now for a moment,
Imagine a storm of thoughts is coming for your river.
See the water rise and the animals scurry.
The fish hide in safer areas and there are no bugs flying around.
It's only rushing by little faster now.
Yet the storm is building.
The more thoughts you let into your mind,
The more the waters rush by.
It becomes a threatening river so quickly that you cannot sit on the bank watching your river any longer and observing the beauty.
You must seek shelter from the storm.
This storm of thoughts has taken the ability to observe away from you.
It takes a while for the storm of thoughts to pass and even longer for the after effect of the storm to calm.
The waters continues to rush at high speed for several days or so.
This is what happens when you allow a storm of thinking to enter your mind.
It disrupts you for some time until the waters can naturally settle.
We want to always remain on the bank of our river observing abundant nature and clear calm waters.
We all know sleep is necessary and rejuvenating.
So why do so many people suffer to achieve restful sleep?
Because they do not take charge of their busy mind,
Moving it from worry to relaxation.
Like I mentioned before,
Allowing a busy mind to go free is like never training a great horse.
The mind needs you to be in control and needs you to train it.
How to work for you.
A calmer state of mind allows for you to not only sleep better but eliminate anxiety,
Increases focus,
Treats depression,
Stop circular thinking,
Improves your memory,
Betters your relationship,
Satisfies the body,
And increases emotional intelligence.
The key to attaining all these things is actually very simple and natural for all of us.
The key is to bring into your mind the awareness of all physical sensations and bring into your mind your emotions and bringing into your mind your thoughts.
This is meditative and simply doesn't allow for bothersome thoughts to have any power over you.
Your ability to emotionalize and feel things is much more powerful than a busy mind.
Your ability to create and ponder new ideas and a new self-image supersedes a noisy mind.
All a noisy mind is good at is distracting you.
It doesn't achieve anything.
It doesn't build any new ideas.
It doesn't emotionally connect with others around you.
In fact,
An overloaded and out-of-control mind acts to disconnect you from others and from yourself.
A bustling mind is tiring yet it doesn't allow for you to rest.
Giving up control of your mind is like feeding your child nothing but bread and sugar and candy.
They are going to lose control because of the unhealthy information they are taking into their system.
Let's put our mind now in the beginning mode right now by implementing positive affirmations.
Say to yourself now,
Thoughts are only thoughts.
I live in the present,
Not in the past or in the future.
I draw my pass when I need to plan for my future but I always live in the present moment.
I take notice of my body often throughout the day,
Easing and relaxing my body by doing so.
I take notice of my surroundings to ease my mind.
When thoughts begin to swirl in my mind,
I have compassion for them and acknowledge them,
Knowing they are simply thoughts.
My thoughts come and go.
Everyone's thoughts always come and go.
I am no different.
When I watch my thoughts like the water of a river,
I never get caught in a thought.
I am just a witness.
Stopping my thoughts is impossible.
Instead,
I observe them arriving and leaving.
Instead of jumping into thoughts emotionally,
I observe which thoughts I want to cultivate more of.
I know the thoughts I put my energy to is what I create for myself.
By taking the time to practice these methods,
I really feel a difference.
I have the patience to retrain my mind.
I retrain my mind so that I can get rest when I need it.
I have patience when I am training my mind,
Just as I would have patience training the most magnificent horse.
I am kind to myself with this new way of being.
I am kind to others and I never allow overthinking in the form of judgment to cloud my relationships.
I am persistent because I know the rewards are well worth the effort.
I see benefits right from the very start of my practice.
Good.
Now remember that each day you practice mindfulness techniques,
The more restful and deep sleep that you receive each night.
Just relax down even more now,
Letting your body make any last adjustment it needs so that you get the most restful sleep every night of your life.
Good night.
