We’ve all been there at one time or another, wide awake at 2am with no sleep in sight. Insomnia is frustrating, sometimes confusing, and mostly exhausting. Generally the reason for sleepless nights is an overactive mind. Fortunately, the same mind that causes insomnia is the same mind that can help you to sleep like a baby.
In my Hypnotherapy practice I’ve listened to countless clients share their struggle with
insomnia as an afterthought, believing there was no hope for their endless sleepless nights. In
fact they had often resigned themselves to dealing with chronic exhaustion and the other side effects of insomnia (decreased immune system, delayed reflexes, irritability, decreased memory, trouble concentrating) as part of their life now. Imagine their pleasant surprise and relief when after only a few hypnotherapy sessions they were snoozing away, all night long!
Before I share with you how to use self-hypnosis to get these results, let’s talk about why
your subconscious mind is doing this to you in the first place. A priority of your inner mind is to
keep you safe. Back in the day, as in ‘primal’ days, if there was any danger to be had, sleeping
was a sure way to find it. Therefore at times like that, the inner mind deduced that staying
awake was the best way to keep you alive.
Fast forward to our modern world of constant pressure and stress, is it any wonder that our mind still feels the need to keep you awake? It could be from pressures from work or home, being overwhelmed with too many things to do, lack of confidence – thinking your efforts aren’t enough to be worthy of acceptance (another primal issue, but I digress…). The constant barrage of bad news, in the news, could also be the culprit. Worrying about what could go wrong could easily take your peaceful sleep.
The common denominator here are the thoughts and ideas going into your subconscious mind.
Luckily, what the mind can cause, it can un-cause. Think of your car accidentally going nto reverse and continuing until it seems like this is the only direction it will go. Then you receive information that says you can actually change gears and move forward. Suddenly you are moving in the right direction.
It’s the same way with your mind. You can tell your mind, it’s ok to sleep – you are safe. You can tell your mind you like sleeping all night. You can tell your mind all is well and it’s ok to ‘stand down’ and get some rest. You can tell your mind someone else is in charge at night, therefore you are free to sleep like a baby. There are endless
messages you can activate to move you in the right direction, but it does take practice and trust.
Trust the process. Here’s why. Your subconscious is what’s keeping you awake. The good news is that it is designed to accept what you focus on consciously. Therefore you want to focus on what you want, a good night’s rest, vs. what you don’t want, sleepless nights. But, how often do you talk or think about not sleeping during the day?
Off-hand remarks like “I didn’t sleep a wink last night” or “I never sleep” will reinforce your insomnia. Instead try “I like getting a good night’s sleep” or “I like sleeping like a baby”, etc… This will start revving up a new neural pathway that doesn’t need to keep you in a fight or flight mode during the night. Once you start the new pathway, reinforce it with repetitive statements or affirmations to help it grow stronger.
These affirmations will gently bring you the restful sleep you desire, especially when you combine it with this peaceful night time routine:
This nighttime routine will start you moving in the right direction. Trust the process.
Add a daily affirmation (repeat 25x a day or more) to increase the speed of the new neural pathway.
EX: “I like sleeping all night, all is well’. Commit to this self-hypnosis system for a few weeks to
give your subconscious mind time to make the shift. Remember, it’s not a matter of ‘if’ it will
work, it’s only a matter of time before your inner mind accepts what you focus on.
Sleep well……
Nancy J Chase
Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist