One of the Greatest Secrets of Falling Asleep…
One of the Greatest Secrets of Falling Asleep:
Enjoying the Present Moment
BYSTANDER TO BASEBALL LEGEND YOGI BERRA; Hey Yogi, what time is it?
YOGI BERRA: “you mean now?”
You may have heard of the importance of being in the present moment. And maybe you’ve tried to be more “in the moment.”
But as Yogi Berra perhaps inadvertently intimated, it’s impossible to be anywhere but now, in this present moment.
So, rather than trying to be more in the moment, a more fruitful imquiry might be, “is there anything you we can do to more fully enjoy being in the present moment?
Dr. Amishi Jha has a powerful suggestion. Her research focuses on how we attend to our experience, and she provides a readily available way of effortlessly feeling the ease, peacefulness and tranquility that is always available to us in each present moment.
Her suggestion is to simply, “Drop the story and come to our senses.”
The “story” she’s referring to is the one created by the compulsive activity of our minds, which for much of the day pulls us back to things that happened before, or pulls us toward things we either fear or hope for in the future.
But what does all that have to do with helping us fall asleep?
The “Stories” That Keep Us From Falling Asleep
You know what it’s like when you lie down to sleep, and your mind keeps churning?
You know there’s no benefit to having the thoughts whirling in your mind. You may even have taken some time before lying down to write your concerns down on a piece of paper (a practice often recommended for setting aside your concerns before sleep). Perhaps you’ve taken a warm bath, read something relaxing, done some deep breathing, or engaged in some other practice recommended for sleep.
And yet the mind keeps churning.
But what if you didn’t make any efforts to get to sleep?
What if you simply allowed yourself to enjoy whatever you were experiencing as you lay in bed?
Here’s a little something you can try at night, as you’re lying down for sleep. But you can also try it any time during the day to let go of the stress and tension that come with being absorbed in the stories of your mind.
Why not try it now?
Just get into a comfortable position and read the following words very slowly, taking time to really feel what they’re describing:
Notice sounds in the environment………. No need to label what you’re hearing (though if your mind labels the sounds, just notice that too)
Notice the flow of your breath, without making any effort to control it….
Notice the sensations in the body — your head, neck, shoulders, arms, torso, legs and feet, without making any effort to change them
Notice the colors and shapes in your environment……. No need to label what you’re seeing (though if your mind labels what you see, just notice that too)
Notice the feelings — unpleasant, pleasant, neutral — arising in your awareness . . .without judging, commenting on, or analyzing the . . .without making any effort to control or change them. . . just notice
Notice thoughts coming and going. No need to focus on, control, or change them . . . just notice
Notice the space between the objects in your environment.
Notice a sense of spaciousness in your body. The more clearly you notice your sensations, the more you’ll begin to feel them more like movements of energy mixed with space
Don’t worry if you don’t have a sense of what it means to notice space. Just notice whatever is happening in your experience
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If you’d like to do this practice as you lie down and let go into sleep, just start to effortlessly notice whatever you’re experiencing, without any attempt to control or change it. Efffortlessly notice sounds, notice the feeling of your breath, notice colors and shapes, notice your feelings, notice your thoughts, notice the space around you — all of this without any effort or attempt to control or change any of it.
Try this for 30 seconds to a minute at various times of the day. Try it briefly as you lie down to go to sleep. Try it briefly if you wake up in the middle of the night. And try it briefly as you wake up in the morning. You’ll find, if you practice this regularly over several weeks, that more and more it brings a sense of relief, ease, peacefulness and calm.