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Hi there, I'm Jessica Porter, and welcome back to Sleep Magic, a podcast where I help you find the magic of your own mind, helping you to sleep better and live better. Thank you everybody for being here. It's so good to feel people from around the world. I recently heard from a woman named Farah in Kuwait, and she's a
heard from someone named Joe on social media who is currently deployed in the armed services and he said
I'm currently deployed and have struggled with my mental health for many years of my life. I have my ups and downs, but I can already say that incorporating the meditative exercises that you facilitate soothes my mind and helps remind me that I too can breathe and be calm. Before we get started, let's hear a quick word from our sponsors who make this free content possible. Well, thank you, Joe. Thank you so much for saying that and for being...
a model to other people who, you know, we can use these techniques anywhere because no matter what, until AI like completely takes over, we are living our lives in these bodies and how we experience our consciousness in our bodies matters. And we have more control than we think.
And when you tap into your subconscious mind and see what you can do with your subconscious mind, things get really interesting and fun and powerful. So thank you everybody for your feedback and please consider subscribing if you can. If you can't, please just spread the word. Okay, tonight, finding joy at work. Somebody reached out to me on social media recently and requested an episode about enjoying work.
And I thought that was an interesting topic. I've been playing with this concept in my own life recently, actively cultivating good feelings in places where I don't normally have them. And it's a great exercise. I first practiced this technique in another realm altogether, shopping for food. I used to hate grocery shopping.
Oh my god, all the schlepping up and down the aisles of some stupid store with the horrible lights and the muzak and all the choices. And one day, I was standing at the bulk bins, dispensing barley of all things, and I was sitting there having all my anti-shopping feelings. And I caught myself, like, why am I feeling so negative, so heavy?
I had taken my own nervous system to this horrible, dark, resistant place. And it was just so dramatic. And I couldn't just turn it around on a dime. I just had to acknowledge the feeling and the incredibly disproportionate response that was happening inside of me. No one was making me have it.
Like, I'm standing here dispensing barley, feeling heavy and irritable. And that was it. I just noticed. And then I relaxed. And then I really took a look at what I was doing. Like, it's just barley. And it was sort of ridiculous how dramatic I was being. I looked at the barley, and I saw that it was just barley. And I was just at the store. No big deal.
Now, I couldn't lift the heavy feeling in a day, but the next time I went shopping, I could relax and just feel a little bit lighter about it, and then a little bit lighter. And, well, slowly, the heavy feeling burned off, and I actually turned my whole body-mind-spirit around. And now I love shopping. I find it relaxing and kind of fun.
I presume that most of us have developed some of these sort of habits. Whether you work at an office or from home or do the 24-7 job of raising a family, you may have developed habitual actions and more importantly, negative thoughts, opinions, and feelings about your work, whether that's the actual tasks involved or the environment or the individuals you work with.
A long day may have you bump up against dozens of unconscious reactions and opinions. And with time, these reactions get stronger, not weaker. You see, the subconscious mind is a learning machine. And just like when you learn a new language, you get better and better at it. And you're learning your negative habits, getting better and better at them, doubling or tripling down on them, unconsciously.
So tonight we're going to work with the worst of them, the heavy moments, and start to relax into them. Slow them down a little and begin the process of turning them around. If work is a real challenge for you, I suggest you listen to this regularly and bring this practice into your life. And this practice can work on any situation, not just work, even with evil barley.
So get yourself into a safe and comfortable position and let's begin. Allow your eyes to close easily and gently and bring your awareness to your breathing. So nice to come back home to your breath. So nice to come back home to your body. Good. And if you've been listening to sleep magic for a while, you're already taking yourself deeper and deeper. It's become automatic.
So bring your awareness up into your eyelids now and imagine that your eyelids are feeling loose and limp and relaxed. Allow your eyelids to get nice and heavy, sleepy and comfortable. And now I'd like you to accept the suggestion that your eyelids are so relaxed that they simply will not open. Now this is a pretend suggestion. It's like a magical suggestion. I know if you wanted to open your eyes, you could. But I want you to pretend that you can't.
So now I'd like you to test your eyes to make sure they won't open by wiggling your eyebrows. Good, just wiggle them and play pretend with me. Oh look, my eyes won't open. Now this relaxation that you have around your eyes is the same relaxation that you will soon have throughout your whole body. So let's imagine this relaxation around your eyes now. Moving down your face. Let that heaviness move down into your cheeks, into your jaw.
you want to allow your mouth to open. Imagine the relaxation around your eyes moving up into your forehead, taking over your whole forehead. As it continues up into your scalp, imagine your scalp relaxing as your head feels heavy on the pillow. And now let's imagine that relaxation around your eyes moving back inside your head, falling back into your brain, that relaxation like a warm
Syrup moving down through your skull. Warm and relaxing. Taking over every single cell of your brain. As all mental tension disappear and your mind is still good. Now allow this warm syrupy relaxed feeling to move down into your neck. Your neck feeling warm and soft like you've gotten a massage.
As that warmth moves down into your shoulders, the muscles of your shoulders releasing and relaxing. And the warm syrupy feeling moving all the way down into your arms, your arms feeling so heavy, so heavy on the bed. And as that warm relaxed feeling moves down into your hands, your hands are feeling heavy, your fingers feeling full and heavy and warm.
Just allow your arms to be on vacation. Beautiful. And now the warm, relaxed feeling is moving inside your torso, into your chest. Imagine that this warm relaxation is really softening and opening up your whole chest cavity. If you've been carrying tension today, if you've been protecting yourself, tensing your chest like a shield,
Allow yourself to relax. You are safe. The day is done. This time is yours. And any emotional tension that may have built up around your heart is evaporating. As that warm, relaxing feeling moves down deep into your belly. And your pelvis is feeling heavy on the bed. And the muscles in your belly are softening and letting go. You don't need to perform anymore.
or keep things together. You relax with the billions of other people and creature relaxing right now. And any sounds that may be going on in your immediate environment are taking you deeper and deeper into relaxation. As the warm relaxing feelings moving down your legs, your legs are feeling nice and heavy, heavy, like they're made of marble. And your legs, legs that have
held you up all day, worked for you all day, moved you. They're getting their vacation now. They're getting their vacation. And your whole body is slipping into the parasympathetic nervous system mode. And you are healing, healing from the depths of your being. Your body doing what it does so beautifully, so perfectly, so naturally. As you take yourself deeper,
and deeper and the warm relaxed feeling moves down into your feet, down into your toe. Your toes feeling full, heavy, and completely relaxed. Good. We're going to be doing some exercises tonight to help you feel better at work. But if you're not interested in following what I'm saying, the sound of my voice will simply take you deeper and deeper as you drift and float
A part of you will be listening to me. You will continue to relax and let go. You don't need to pay any attention per se. I'd like you to allow yourself to imagine that you are at your place of work and you are in a moment where you're feeling uncomfortable. It's a moment you're not enjoying and maybe you've had this feeling for a while. You know this place
In this moment, you've been here before. Allow yourself to feel what you feel in this moment. Allow yourself to feel any heaviness or frustration or boredom or negativity. Just be here. Just be here. And now I'd like you to relax into this moment. Let every single part of you relax. Every nerve, every cell.
Every single part of your being becoming loose and limp and relaxed. And as your body is relaxing, it's relaxing. And as your mind is relaxing, your body is relaxing. You may want to resist relaxing into this moment or this place, but you're sinking right into it. Sinking deep into this moment, even deep into your own resistance.
Just let it be. Just be here as you take yourself deeper and even deeper. Very good. Now from this deeply relaxed place, I'd like you to ask yourself, what is actually happening in this moment? What are the mechanics of this scene you are in? Where are you? Are you in a car? In a meeting? At your computer? Talking with someone?
Examine this moment and break it down into what is actually happening. And now you relax even more, letting yourself go deeper and even deeper. And now that you've slowed the scene down and you're perceiving the actual elements of the scene, the drama has drained out of it and you're just here. Good. So now I'd like you to notice what might be
good in this scene? What is going on here that may be positive? Are you healthy in this scene? Are you able to do your job at this moment? Are you supporting yourself or others by doing this job? Do you like what you do? Sometimes at least. Do you like the people around you? At least some of them.
Do you get to leave at the end of the day? Are you able to take breaks during the day? Can you relax in this moment instead of tensing up? What is positive in this moment? As you begin to appreciate the most basic things, you are breathing air. There are things in this life you enjoy. Imagine one of them.
There are people in this life whom you appreciate. Imagine one of them and feel that appreciation. Are all these things true even as you experience this moment at work? How do you want to feel? You get to choose as you bring your awareness back to this moment. How are you handling it now? What has changed? Notice yourself in this moment in a new way.
Well done. Now we're going to visit one more moment at work that feels heavy or difficult or annoying. Let yourself be here and feel the annoyance, the heavy feeling, and notice that it's in you. You are bringing this feeling to the situation. It is happening in you and that's good because that means it will change. So now you relax
Going deeper and deeper into this moment. Every single cell, nerve, every fiber of your being is becoming loose and limp and relaxed. And because your body is relaxing, mind is relaxing. And as your mind is relaxing, your body is relaxing. And as your body is relaxing, your mind is letting go. And your heart is relaxing.
any feelings you're having in this moment are releasing and letting go. It's okay to let go and simply be in this moment. Simply be and now perceive what is actually happening. What are the mechanics of this moment? Is someone talking to you? Are you working at your desk? What is actually happening? Just notice the mechanics of the moment without judgment.
without tension, as the drama drains out of this scene. Good. As you take yourself deeper and even deeper. Just be. Just be. And now notice, is there anything good happening in this moment? Are you healthy? Are you free to say your piece? Are you good at your job? Are you free to be creative? Are you free to move forward?
Do you get to go home at the end of the day? What if you let yourself feel good in this moment? The same mechanics, same situation, but you decide to feel good in it. And just as you brought those heavy feelings before, you now bring good feelings. Because you can. Because you're a powerful person. And now the scene is playing out from this moment.
relaxed place, this positive place inside of you. And notice what happens. You are bringing energy to every moment, every day of your life. And the energy you're bringing is getting more and more positive, more and more powerful with every day that passes. Everything's getting better and better. You have a powerful, magical mind and you use it
in positive ways and your life is getting better and better and feeling good feels good and feeling good feels good. Feeling good is gaining momentum and you are bringing positive energy everywhere you go. Good. And now it's time to rest as you feel your body against your bed and you feel so good inside.
so good inside. Then you take yourself deeper and even deeper as you drift and dream.