Wrestling the Sleeping Giant?
To be clear I bloody
love sleep.
. . . but it doesn’t always love me.
The Slip Stream of Sleep
Had another one of those nights (or weeks) when no matter what you do you still can’t manage to clock up those life affirming ZZZ’s? No “pitter pattering” off to slumberland with gentle ease. For some the “middle of the night” can be the loneliest place on earth. A land where time stands still and the mind opens to all sorts of crazy imaginings.
If you have never had an issue with sleep I say quite confidently that you are very lucky and in the minority. I have written many times on this topic as sleep continues to fascinate and elude me more often than I care to admit.
In fact, I started writing this blog late last year but I never finished it because my relationship with sleep resettled and I guess I just parked it. Yet there I was at my desk last night at 2.11am pondering yet again how I got myself in to this situation, because make no mistake I have done it to myself. I thought I had my sleeping patterns all worked out, my regular rising time and bed time, my early morning sunlight, my preparations, potions and positions. I was easing my body and mind into the slip stream of sleep - so why when I know what I know do I still find myself wrestling the Sleeping Giant?
Why does sleep refuse to submit? . . .
Having spent considerable time studying the sophistication of sleep in all it’s many guises; I keep coming back to one thing . . . there is something under the hood that is simmering unresolved. I am bothering myself about something or I have allowed myself to become overwhelmed by the “doings” and didn’t meet my own expectations of “done’s” which then begins to compound insidiously until the soul is quietly tormented. Sound familiar? Yeah and I am a Coach and I teach strategies around this but shizzle when you are in it you are in it!
“Make no mistake nervous system agitation will be caused by either an emotion, a belief, a value, a situation of some sort that has entrapped you and you cannot free yourself from. In fact you are probably not consciously aware of it. Getting caught up and unsettled with happenings “out there” especially with the pressures of recent interest rate hikes, inflation, looking after loved ones, our work; well life basically. "
It is one thing to encounter challenges during the daylight hours when we are resourced to understand and resolve them, but quite another to be ambushed in the deepest darkest hours of the night. If this happens to you the odd night that’s fine. Nothing to worry about. If it is a pattern don’t ignore it, it won’t go away and it is scientifically proven that apart from all the life affirming benefits of sleep wait for it . . . it also makes you more attractive - so let’s face it who wants to look haggered and tormented even on a bad day!
So let me remind you of some tips and tools that are included in my E-Book Sleep - Bringing Sleep Out From Under The Covers. I put sleep firmly in the centre of a healthy lifespan and as so, it is the first place I enquire into with my clients. Take these resources and explore what a healthy sleep pattern can look like.
It is jam packed with interesting things you may not know about sleep and offers new perspectives and lots of tools.
This book has two pages full of Sleep Resources alone from some of the greats in sleep science.
Becoming objective to your subjective experience brings clarity and awareness. The Tool Kit to accompany the E-Book contains the implementable take outs for you. - download these to help you work through awareness and reflection exercises. “Awareness is in and of itself curative.” Fritz Perlz.
A Daily Digest Journal - prompts to get it all “out of you” before bed.
A Sleep Factor Tracker - Visually expanding the many components of your sleep.
Daily Thoughts Emotions & Ideas Prompts - creating awareness around anything that may come up for you
Weekly Sleep Reflection Tool - to gain a greater perspective of your sleep patterns through time.
Most of all forgive yourself when this happens. The quicker you can get your body back in to the rest and restore state by calming the nervous system the quicker you will float away. Give yourself a hug, breathe and remember on some level it’s just an earlier version of you still trying to grow you up and protect you.
If you are struggling with your sleep patterns why not reach out and we can explore what may be simmering under the hood for you too. Developmental coaching can reach inside and fast track you to a path of clarity and personal growth.
Much zzzzzzzz’s
Sandra x