Hi,
I'm Paula and I'm very happy to have you here with me on this journey to live lighter and sleep better.
Today we are going to reflect a little on what do we do when worries,
Anxieties and afflictions are disturbing our sleep,
Or even excellent ideas which we do not want to forget at night.
An idea or concern comes to your head and keeps hammering to the point where you can't sleep.
One technique that has helped me a lot is to leave a notebook next to the bed on the night stand.
When an idea comes to my mind,
Instead of getting out of bed and do it before I forget,
As I used to do before,
I just write that idea down in the notebook and leave the idea there for the next day.
Thank you so much idea,
You were fantastic,
But now it's not time for that.
Stay there and tomorrow I'll come back to you.
This works for anxiety and concerns as well.
I actually learned this technique when I was helping my daughter deal with her worries when she was very young.
I learned and taught her to keep a worry notebook where she wrote or drew the worry that arose in her little head so she could take the worries out of her head,
Put them in a notebook and leave them there.
If you want,
Try to see if that works for you.
As we were talking about worries,
Today we are going to do a practice that helped me to deal with my apprehensions.
I think we all had,
At least once or several times,
To deal with people who for whatever reason push our buttons and make us distressed,
Worried,
Irritated,
Sad.
This compassion technique helped me to deal with people like that and it even allows some of them to become great friends because it made me change the internal state I felt when facing this person.
I invite you to try this practice with me,
If you want.
So let's go.
Sit in a comfortable position or lie down,
Whichever is best for you.
If it's comfortable for you,
Close your eyes or keep them with a soft look without fixing on anything.
And maybe take a few deep,
Slow breaths.
Inhale slowly and deeply and exhale deeply and perhaps even more slowly.
Observe how your body is.
See if you have any areas of tension that you can relax.
Now visualize this person who for some reason is challenging you.
Put a slight smile on your lips and say to yourself,
In your mind or out loud if you want,
This person,
Like me,
Is on his or her own journey.
He or she has joys and difficulties,
Just like me.
Look at this mental image of that person and see if you can imagine good things happening for that person.
What do you think this person needs?
Maybe see he or she getting it.
Stay with this image for as long as is comfortable for you.
When you feel ready,
Say goodbye and thank that image and gently return your attention to your breath.
Breathe in and out and with each inhalation bring along with the air love.
And with each exhalation breathe out along with the air compassion.
Inspire love and exhale compassion.
Stay breathing in love and breathing out compassion for as long as is comfortable for you.
When you feel ready,
Slowly bring your attention back to your body and to the present moment.
Feel the contact of your body on the surface you are on and the sounds around you.
And when you are ready,
Slowly open your eyes and have a good night,
A good day with more love and more compassion.
Namaste.
