“Sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.” – Thomas Dekker
How do you want to feel when you wake up?
I love it when I wake up naturally, before the alarm shocks me awake. My favorite mornings are the ones when I bounce out of bed excited to start the day!
Do you believe this is possible for most mornings? It totally is!
You can transform your sleep struggles with these three serenity strategies. Applying these basics could buy you some time and space to release a distressed sleep pattern.
Here’s how to fine-tune your routine to create total morning bounce:
1. REFOCUS. What you focus on expands.
Set a positive intent for your mind to focus on before you drift off. Overnight our mind connects to our deeper selves. Write a nurturing affirmation for yourself to consider when you’re awake and in rest times throughout the night. Choose to redirect your thoughts away from the adrenaline-creating midnight worries, and towards positive, nourishing, melatonin-maintaining thoughts.
2. REDEFINE. How you word it.
How would it feel if someone asked you, “How did you rest last night?” as opposed to “How did you sleep last night?” You rested all night, sleep or not. The word sleep builds temptation for counting hours missed, and anticipating future daytime fatigue. Replacing the word sleep with the word rest in any conversation with yourself or others, may transform the amount of stress experienced around how you assess your rest- time success.
3. REMIND your body to belly breathe.
Our busy daytimes encroach into our night. The habitual shallow breathing pattern of busyness and distraction must be rewritten in order to switch on the relaxation response. Deliberately breathing through your nose switches on the vagus nerve within the diaphragm, slowing the nervous system from busy to calm. This is key in switching on the rest-heal-digest response of the nervous system.
Perception creates a story of rest, or unrest. Deliberately choose your nightime experience to be nourishing and healing for your body and mind.
