Assignment begins below. Please take the course of your week to complete. If it takes you longer, that is okay. Be patient with yourself as you thoughtfully think through it all.
Goal
What’s your evening routine? Do you have one? Or do you go and go and go until you can finally pass out sleeping?
I know we’ve talked about morning routines, quiet time, and goal setting but just as important as the morning routine is definitely the nightly routine! This is the time you spend preparing your body to REST. However, if you go and go and go until you just pass out, then you don’t give your mind the opportunity to start to shut down peacefully. Think of it as unplugging your external drive from your computer or laptop before hitting the actual eject button. My laptop let’s me know right away i’ve messed up! “drive not ejected properly” errors appear the next time I try to use it. Welp…BLANCH…the same is true for your body!
This week, the goal is to develop a nightly routine. It doesn’t have to be elaborate! It just needs to be routine and rest triggering.
Identify
What gives your rest already? Let’s be sure to include that thing that already works! Example, when I take a piping hot shower just before bed, I sleep very well. I literally climb into bed damn near still wet and my eyes and body automatically shut down and go into a beautiful sleep. So I incorporate that into my nightly routine.
Now let’s add just one more thing to that one thing that we already know works…try something new like having a cup of herbal tea each night before bed, or maybe shutting down phones and electronics and just turning on jazz music every night. Again, it doesn’t have to be elaborate…it just needs to be restful and routine. Your body will pick up the cues after doing this routine for a days and weeks. Especially if you do these things faithfully. Let’s try it for the next few months. After all, with all that you are trying to accomplish, you need REST more than anything!
Affirmation
Please turn on your insight timer mediation app (or whatever mediation app you’ve chosen) and turn your timer on for 15 minutes. Turn on a background noise option in the app. Spend 15 minutes meditating about resting your body, your mind, your soul. Let go of all that troubles you over your day. All anxiety. All bills. All arguments. LET IT ALL GO…prepare your mind to just…REST.
Understand that you are deserving of rest and peace.