Welcome to your evening wind down.
Now this wind down is a great way to not only get a good night sleep but also motivate yourself to get up in the morning and we all know that can be a struggle.
Now we know that sleep is an integral part of our health but that doesn't mean it makes it easy to do.
Sometimes it's just a little bit harder to get to bed than others but having a good night time routine can really help all of those things.
So all you need to do is grab yourself a pen and a paper and then we're going to get started on a stoic wind down activity.
Press pause if you don't have that pen and paper but if you do then let's get into this.
So a big part of what we're going to do today is get thoughts from inside of our head out and that's really going to help with our anxiety.
So often we have the same thoughts bouncing around in our head and as a result we feel like we're under threat from that thought over and over again.
We also think about planning our day ahead of us tomorrow and the combination of these two things can make sleeping very difficult.
What I want you to do here is grab that pen and paper.
So the first thing I want you to do is get into a nice calm state.
The stoics were all about being rational with our thoughts by not letting emotion overtake our lives.
They thought the best decisions could be made from a calm place where we're not triggered.
Of course we also know that breathing correctly and deeply is going to help us get into a more calm state.
That's also going to help our sleep so there's a double win here.
So let's start with some nice deep breathing.
Deep breath out here until there's nothing left in your lungs and then slowly inhale and slowly exhale.
Deep in and deep out.
Inhale and exhale.
Inhale see if you can inflate that belly as big as possible and as you exhale can you bring that navel all the way back to spine emptying out the lungs completely.
Once again deep inhale.
No rush to finish that and when you're ready exhale out.
A few more here.
Inhale and exhale for a bit longer here.
Breathe out.
Keep breathing out.
Inhale just like that again and last one.
Sigh out the mouth.
So in this lovely calm state grab your pen and paper.
The first thing I want you to write down in a very calm way is what you don't think you did very well today.
Now remember the key is to stay calm.
Be honest about the day you just had.
Be honest about the things you did that you weren't so proud of.
Now the point here is not to make you feel bad about it.
It's just to reflect on the day in an honest way and I want you to be compassionate too.
So it's not a judgmental thing.
You just got to write down the things you thought didn't go as well as you would like today.
So often these are the thoughts that bounce around on our head before we go to bed and we jump between engaging with those thoughts and reliving those times and trying to make them better.
Trying to find the solution in our head and then when it gets too much we just pull out of that thinking altogether.
Just for long enough for the process to start again.
So let's get ahead of it.
Let's confront this head on as we start to reflect on the things that we don't think went so well.
It allows us this ability to see them coming the next time we're in those same situations.
There's a famous saying that those who don't study the past are doomed to repeat it and that applies for us too.
Alright if you need more time you can always pause but let's move on.
The next thing you're going to write down are all the things you did well today and I mean all the wins that you had.
You made the bed,
You brushed your teeth,
You had a great breakfast,
You were super kind to your partner.
Whatever that thing is just think of all the wins that you had.
All the things you think you did well.
This is so often a neglected part of our lives.
We're so busy worrying about how we're not doing well enough that we forget that we're doing pretty well but there's things you're doing correctly.
In fact there's things that you're doing really really well and because we never congratulate ourselves then we never get that positive emotion that comes with it.
So don't rush this.
Take your time.
Just relive your day once again and think of the things that you could be proud of.
That future you would look back at and say hey nice job.
Again you can pause here if you need more time.
We're going to move on to the last bit which is how could tomorrow be the best day possible?
What are the things that you could do in your day that are going to make it a life that is a good life?
The Stoics were forever reminding us that we have limited time on this earth.
For some reason even though we have today we choose tomorrow and their point was that we should take nothing for granted.
Not even the day that is ahead of us.
As such we should make the most of every single day that we have and that means starting before we even get there.
So as you're thinking about the ideal day for you tomorrow,
Think about what you can do that will improve the chances of that being a successful day.
Also think of the things that you can avoid doing that will make it a unpleasurable day.
A day that you're not proud of.
Just using this little time that you have to give it some thought is going to really increase your ability to recognize situations,
Triggers,
And know which way to turn when you get to these junctions in life.
All right that's it.
Thanks so much for joining me.
Get into bed now safe in the knowledge that you've reflected on the day in an honest and compassionate way and you're ready set to make the most of tomorrow.
I leave you with this quote from Marx Relius.
Each day provides its own gifts.
Sleep well.
