Dear friends,
Welcome to this meditation which will help you put any worries to one side so you can relax into a restful sleep.
An opening quote from Charles Spurgeon,
It has been well said that our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows but only empties today of its strength.
So take a deep breath in,
Relax,
Notice yourself supported by the chair or cushion or bed for this meditation.
As you notice your breathing in and your breathing out,
Give thanks for the fact that you are here now and in a position to allow yourself this time for reflection.
Remember that this moment,
This quiet time is for rest and for your renewal.
This is not the time for problem solving.
It's not that you or I don't have concerns.
We all have issues that concern us,
That is part of life.
Neither is it a case of sticking our heads in the sand,
Procrastinating and refusing to deal with something that needs our attention.
In the course of this meditation you will learn to make an appointment with yourself,
An appointment where you have allocated time to deal with this issue,
If indeed you still need to.
For now,
Gratefully accept the fact that all these concerns can wait.
Your thoughts can wait.
Your to-do list and your worries,
These can wait as well.
You have done your bit for today.
You have done enough.
You are enough.
Sometimes as we settle down for the evening,
We can find ourselves agitated by worries of one kind or another.
Yes,
There may be big issues that need our attention,
But we can even be worried about simple things,
Such as emails to be answered,
That overdue phone call to be returned.
We can even be bothered by the fact that something has crossed our mind that we would like to remember,
But we are afraid we will forget it by morning.
To overcome that particular distraction,
It's a good practice to have a notebook and a pencil at your bedside.
Equipped with these,
You can take a note of something that you fear you might otherwise forget.
What pops into your mind could be a simple job that needs to be done,
Or it could be an inspirational idea that you fear might be lost if you fail to take note.
So have the notebook and the pencil ready so that you can take note.
But for the bigger concerns,
The worries,
There is a technique which will allow you to more easily fall into restful sleep.
It's very simple.
You make an appointment with the worry.
This may sound counterintuitive,
But believe me,
It works.
You set a date and a time when,
If you still need to,
You will direct your attention to whatever it is you are worried about.
Time and time again,
I have offered this advice to people,
And invariably they find it helpful.
If you fix a date and a time when you will deal with something that needs attention,
You will remove that nagging feeling that's upsetting your peace of mind.
If you make an appointment with your worry,
You can relax in the knowledge that you have fixed a time and a date to deal with whatever the challenge is.
If the concern still pops up,
If it's calling for attention as you're about to fall to sleep,
All you have to do is remind the worry that the two of you have a date.
You don't need to get into discussion with the worry right now.
Firmly and gently remind the worry that the two of you have a date and you will get together then.
Another technique if you find yourself still troubled by the worrisome thought,
Even though you have made the appointment,
Just imagine yourself writing its name down on a piece of paper and dropping it into a box marked appointments and leave it there until the due date.
I'm sure you will have heard the frequently quoted words of Mark Twain.
I've had a lot of worries in my life,
Most of which never happened.
When I look back over my own life,
I can think of many times spent pointlessly worrying about future events which never came to pass.
Now this is not to say that we don't need to work on situations that need our attention,
Of course we do.
Action will help cut off the problem,
But simply worrying about it will do nothing at all for us.
An approach which will bring us great peace of mind is to do what you can,
When you can,
Rather than waste time worrying when we should be acting.
So now with your appointment fixed,
You can relax in the knowledge that you have a plan which will be given attention at a decided time.
With everything under control,
You are now in a position to give thanks for the work of today and allow yourself the gift of rest and maybe sleep,
But most of all the gift of an untroubled rest.
So please take a deep breath in,
Relax,
And as you breathe out realise that all is well,
All is well.
Another deep breath in,
Breathing out and feeling a sense of gratitude for this moment.
Another deep breath in,
Breathing out with a feeling of greater relaxation.
You can continue this restful breathing during the music that follows.
You can let the music play on until you find yourself totally relaxed and at peace.
Remember nowhere to go,
Nothing to do,
All is well in the here and now.
This is time for rest.
You might like to close your eyes,
Bringing you to a place of deeper relaxation.
Let go of the day with gratitude and look forward in hope to a new tomorrow.
You might even find yourself falling asleep before the end of this recording.
That's just fine,
In fact that is the idea.
The Dalai Lama tells us sleep is the best meditation.
So rest well and wake refreshed.
Namaste
