The optimistic pessimist in me often reasons that life is just a series of problems, one after another.
This might sound like quite grim view of the wonder and miracle of life, but I promise you, there is great comfort in it. Accepting that bad shit can, does and will happen, involves a kind surrender that, over time, minimises the shitty knock on effects unexpected shit when it inevitably arises.
The first challenge, I think, is in learning how to observe, reflect upon and (to the extent that we can), resolve each problem as it arises, and by extension, how best to do this whilst also doing as little harm as possible to the planet, other people and ourselves. So when you get a flat tyre, your tooth breaks, your cat dies or you get fired, instead of thinking, ‘WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK? WHY ME? WHY NOW?’ You might instead have a more quiet thought along the lines of: ‘Right. Okay. Well. This sucks.’
Then, instead of raging and throwing things around the room, flinging yourself off a bridge or getting so drunk you can’t speak then sobbing a river of hot tears while shaking your fist at the heavens, instead you might just go home and sit quietly for a while breathing and listening to the pounding of your own heart thinking, Shit, shit, shit.
And then a few minutes or hours later, you might think, ‘I’m going to get through this day and go to sleep. And when I wake up tomorrow, I’ll get through that day and go to sleep. And maybe on that day or the day after that, I’ll make a plan for what to do next.’
But what if you can’t get to sleep or stay asleep? Well then you have a whole other problem.
Because being unable to sleep — either get to sleep or stay asleep — diminishes your ability to put life into perspective. It drains your energy, your physical health and cognitive function. Sleeplessness makes all the shit life has to throw at you much, much shittier. And once bad sleep becomes a habit, it not only prevents you from resolving the problems you have, it becomes The Problem.
As a hypnotherapist I’ve treated many clients for sleep problems of all kinds, from chronic insomnia to broken, intermittent and restless sleep patterns. Bad sleep is probably the issue I’ve had the most consistent success with as a therapist, perhaps because it’s one I’ve struggled with on and off for most of my own life. Sleeplessness was what brought me to hypnotherapy in the first place. After a few treatments, I was able to effortless fall to sleep and — most crucially — stay asleep. The results were so transformative, I decided to study and practice hypnosis myself.
This week’s audio is intended to help you fall to sleep and stay asleep. It was made for a client who’d tried everything before she arrived in my shed. She’d been to sleep clinics, taken melatonin, sedatives, tried meditation, cut out caffeine and alcohol for periods, scrubbed and polished her sleep hygiene ritual to a gleam — but in the end, nothing helped. She had no other deep underlying problems, unhealthy habits or traumas she could connect her sleep problems to in talk therapy. Bad sleep was her primary problem and it was severely and negatively impacting her life. We had three sessions and, last time I checked, her sleep had improved dramatically — just as mine did, at a time of my life when I was in a full fledged crisis.
So if you’re struggling with sleep try this free audio. If it works for you, that’s great. If it doesn’t you always book a one-to-one session via Zoom or in person via my website and we can work on your specific problem in a more personalised way.
Enjoy and sweet dreams.
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