Sleeping With Your SELF :
You Are the Same Person Sleeping / Waking
As a general rule: Quality of Sleeping mirrors Quality of Waking Life.
Caveat 1 : No doubt there are exceptions to the rule. I simply have not yet encountered this in my 40+ years as a healer integrating psychotherapy with meditation and somatic disciplines.
Caveat 2: There are important , valid sleep hygiene protocols and practices that make a real difference in quantity and quality of sleep and wakefulness.
Still , something to consider when facing sleep challenges.Quality of Sleeping mirrors Quality of Waking Life. As with so very much of health and well being , we do a disservice to ourselves and advancement of understanding when we overly compartmentalize arenas of experience; mental vs medical health, spiritual perspective vs cognitive perspective, art vs science …et cetera. Short of drugging yourself into a pseudo sleep-like stupor , all the sleep protocols, routines , comfort tools, feng shui, tech aides and apps in the world do not, cannot , in and of themselves, make a lifetime habit of worry, embodied trauma, self loathing , guilty conscience, go away.
Rather than: How can I get better Quality Sleep, reverse this and explore: How can I have better quality Waking life? How can I live in better balance and harmony with myself for the 12–18 hours of being awake…rather than focus on the couple few hours leading up to sleep?
Sometimes — SOMETIMES , the quest for resting easy requires a waking life review and inventory :
IS there a wrong you need to right (or amend?). How does my diet all day long effect me? …not only diet of of food, but also of beauty, of visual input, sound , thoughts (thinking is also sound…subtle sound). Are my attitudes, actions, relationship and choices in alignment with my core values and essential life purpose?
There is so much -SO MUCH- visual and audio stimulation all day everywhere possible. JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD. Just because screen time (in all it’s forms and varieties of content) is available does not mean it serves you to view.
What old wound, grudge , trauma , grief… is waiting for your self-caring attention? I have worked with 1000s of of people dealing with insomnia. For most everyone insomnia was not THE problem or even a symptom of THE PROBLEM. Insomnia was the doorway, gateway motivator to look into the face of grief and trauma (and habits of complaint or grudge) and at long last give these stuck stuffed energies breathing space and compassionate attention so that they, too might be well -digested and put to rest.
This is sometimes — but not always — -the case EVEN with clear medical issues present (like sleep apnea). Body and Mind are not separate. Sleep apnea does not arise out of the blue anymore than does a heart attack (EVEN with genetic component..the new science of epigenetics echos old wisdom — that we carry old wounds from our Ancestors. Old healing wisdom also holds that , similarly we can heal backward in time too.!)
If you have seemingly tried everything to improve your sleep quality and are still struggling, find a TRUSTWORTHY /SKILLED guide /mentor/healer/therapist to help you more effectively address your quality of waking life.
www.drhannachusid.com Mindful-SelfCare™ Online healing /therapies/meditation /yoga coaching & skills training for your best ever sleep , best ever waking life, best ever you.
