Insomnia Tip: Soothing the Gotta-Do Mind During the Holidays
Work To-Dos-meeting agendas, contacts to call, re-writing your resume.
House To-Dos-old magazines on the coffee table, the broken burner on the stove, the oak leaves in your yard all demand attention.
Family To-Dos-rearrange the orthodontist appointment, find a sub for the basketball carpool, make posters for the game.
Personal To-Dos-buy an outfit for your company party, take the car in for service, exercise!
The To-Dos bug us and don't let go. Unless of course we give in and get them done. But that doesn't completely calm the mind. When one To-Do is gone, another one arises. Our minds say I'll be satisfied with one more thing, one more task. (Could be a cookie, computer game, or folded laundry.) It's rarely true. Our minds want more. MORE!
Sometimes we want more creativity. That's right, even creativity can bug you at night. You stay awake designing for a sweater to knit for your sister, a dating website for historical fiction fans, a novel with detailed characters, settings, and plot twists. I call these Creativity Storms-your mind in overdrive even if your body has an empty tank.
The holidays intensify a nightly buzz of To-Dos and Creativity Storms with perfect gifts for your in-laws, mental searches for the box of ornaments (did I leave them in the attic?), scheduling when to bake the ribbon cookies.
You could wait until January to rest. Or use Restful Insomnia techniques to rest and renew-even in December. Here are some tips to try.
Create a structure so your Conscious Mind knows what it needs. Then you can let go.
Make a list of what you want to remember (use a dim light or a lit pen to keep you in a sleepier state). Set it aside and you'll see it in the morning.Use mnemonics to remember. Create a word with the first letter of each item on your to-do list (ROOMS--Rake Ornaments Orthodontist Magazines Stove). Or picture a giant rake in your living room with the stove, ornaments, braces, and magazines on the tines.Outline your novel's key plot twists, then write a few bullet points about each twist. Use a book light or lit pen to keep the room darker.Focus on your body to pull energy back from your busy Conscious Mind. Let your attention float to your skin, your stomach, your breathing, your throat. Keep coming back to your body when your thoughts act up. Imagine colors, sounds, sensations for your body. It calms your mind to experience rather than react to sensations. Inquire about the underlying reasons for the mental buzz. Ask yourself (and your body wisdom) why are you a manic now? Note your answers, no matter how odd. Perhaps you think a perfect house would make you feel successful and happy. Or you imagine your brother and hope your creative streak will outshine his accounting degree. Or you're worried what your new boss will think of you. Then use writing, energy tapping, or noticing body sensations to take the charge off of those answers. You'll be more in touch with yourself when you're using your body wisdom to move through the problems. Less can mean more. Less thinking means more rest, and better doing.
Related Tags: insomnia, sleep, thinking, mind, article6, gotta-do, calm, restful
Sondra Kornblatt is a freelance writer and developer of Restful Insomnia, a program that helps you renew during sleepless nights and greet the morning refreshed. Get a free e-book on How to Renew at Night when you sign up for the newsletter at http://www.restfulinsomnia.com.
Sondra is the co-author of 365 Energy Boosters (Conari, 2005).
Copyright 2006 - Sondra Kornblatt. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as you leave all of the links active, do not edit the article in any way, give author name credit and follow all of the EzineArticles terms of service for Publishing.
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