Letting Go Of Our Responsibilities
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Hi, 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 everyone for being here.

You know, I banked a bunch of episodes before the holidays, so I haven't been in the booth for a while, and I just want to say I've missed you. It feels so good to be here, so good to be spreading this vibe into the world again. Happy New Year, again. Before we get started, let's hear a quick word from our sponsors who make this free content possible.

Hey everyone, it's me, Jessica. I'm here to extend a warm welcome to any new listeners we might have here. This is where you can come after a long day, get a little selfish and relax. I'm also excited to let you know that we're offering a special one-month free trial of Sleep Magic Premium to celebrate our new listeners and thank those of you who've been with us for a while.

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I want to give a shout out to some of the great reviews we've gotten lately. Two people from New Zealand have written. I think my first review from India, thank you very much. A fellow hypnotherapist gave me a good review. A Canadian drag queen has said hello. And the 12-year-old whose online handle is Bagel Kitty, which I love. I might have to borrow that.

And that's just a few of the comments and reviews and episode ideas that we've gotten from people. So please keep them coming. I'm sorry if I can't mention everyone and everything you guys say, but know that I read them all and I really appreciate them. So thank you. Just so you know, our next episode coming up for subscribers only is called Taking Care of Others. It's designed to help you be present.

for caretaking in a way that's sustainable and enjoyable. So if you're interested in that, please consider subscribing. All right, tonight, letting go of responsibilities. A lot of people have responded really positively to that suggestion I sometimes make about letting go of responsibilities, letting them fall from your shoulders, if you know what I'm saying, if you've listened for a while. And I totally relate to that. I mean,

I always joke there's nothing I like more than a good cancellation. I love my free time. I really love to feel that delicious expansion of freedom when I have no responsibilities. And of course, freedom from the yoke of responsibility feels best after you've carried that yoke for a while by being responsible, just like a vacation feels best after hard work.

And likewise, after a really good vacation, I feel an appetite to tuck back into work, to push forward again. So responsibility and freedom go hand in hand, sort of feeding off of one another. And we play out this rhythm in every 24-hour period, toggling between our waking and sleeping lives. We pick up responsibilities in the daytime, and we let them go at night.

And sure, some people feel so responsible that they experience guilt if they let go of their worries and concerns and responsibilities, even at night. And they feel they should take them to bed with them. But worry and deep sleep can't really exist at the same time, in the same place. It's only by dropping your worries that your subconscious mind can do its dreaming and healing work.

and provide you with intuitive solutions that you bring into tomorrow. So yeah, I love sleep because it is utterly irresponsible. After a long day of going to a job or taking care of others or just ticking off your to-do list, it's time to let go. So let's embrace this irresponsibility. Let's dig in.

to this lazy, shiftless, selfish, and free experience that we have every night of our lives. Yay! So get yourself into a safe and comfortable position, and let's begin. Allow your eyes to close easily and gently, and just bring your awareness to your breathing. Just gently pulling the awareness back from the day.

Pulling it back from the world of thought and ideas and concept. And just letting it settle for a moment on the breath. Bringing the awareness home to your body. Bringing your awareness home to your being. Good. Now I'd like you to bring your awareness up into your eyelids. And imagine that the little muscles in your eyelids are feeling heavy and comfortable and sleepy.

Just imagine that your eyelids are feeling heavy and sleepy. And as you imagine that, they become heavy and sleepy. Good. Now, I'd like you to accept the suggestion that your eyelids are so heavy and sleepy that they won't open. Now, of course, your eyes could open if you wanted to open them, but let's just imagine that they can't. And in a moment, I'm going to ask you to test your eyelids to make sure they won't open by wiggling your eyebrows.

Just giving them a tug. So let's do that now. Imagine that your eyes are so heavy and sleepy that they will not open and now test your eyes by tugging your eyebrows while your eyes remain shut. Perfect. You can stop testing now. And this lovely, delicious relaxation that you have around your eyes, that's the same quality of relaxation that you will soon have throughout your entire body.

So let's imagine that relaxation now moving back into your head. Let's imagine the warm mist of relaxation moving back from your brain. The relaxation taking over every single cell of your brain. Causing your scalp to relax, causing your head to sink deeper into the pillow as your head feels nice and heavy. As you feel the warm waves of relaxation,

lapping up against the beach of your mind as all mental tension disappear. Good. The muscles of your face are becoming soft and relaxed, your jaw letting go. As we imagine this relaxation moving down into your neck and into your shoulder. Oh, just allow your shoulders to let go. Like every single little muscle in your shoulder is becoming loose and limp.

and relaxed. As the relaxation moves down your arms and your arms are becoming nice and heavy. It feels so nice to let your arms just be heavy. They're done for the day. And the relaxation moves down into your hands and the palms of your hands are feeling warm and open. Perhaps the palms of your hands even tingle a little. As the relaxation moves down now into your fingers, every finger feeling full,

and completely relaxed. Beautiful. As you listen to this recording, you may be aware of sounds going on around you. Sounds from within your environment. From this moment on, no sound that you hear will bother or disturb you in any way. Because your body is so relaxed, your mind is relaxed, and because your mind is relaxed, you allow sounds to simply enter

your mind and take you deeper and deeper into relaxation. Sounds that may have irritated you in the past are now taking you deeper and deeper. Bring your awareness now to any sounds going on around you and let them take you deeper. The only sound you're paying any attention to is the sound of my voice and the sound of my voice is also taking you deeper and deeper.

And soon you'll let go of my voice as well. As you imagine that relaxation that began up inside your head moving down now into your chest. Your whole chest releasing and relaxing any tension you carried during the day around your heart letting go. Any defenses you carried in the world are releasing.

As you go deeper and deeper, and the relaxation moves deeper and deeper down through your torso, down into your pelvis, the lower part of your body feeling nice and heavy, heavy on the bed. And any tension you carry deep in your body during the day has disappeared as the muscles of your lower back let go.

muscles within your abdomen softening, your buttocks relaxing. As that warm mist of relaxation moves down your legs now, your legs are feeling heavy on the bed, heavy like they're made of marble. And your legs too are done for the day. They can lick completely. As the relaxation moves down now into your feet,

The soles of your feet feel warm and open. Perhaps the soles of your feet even tingle a little as the relaxation moves down now into your toes. Every single toe feeling full, heavy, and relaxed. Good. Imagine now that you are standing on the edge of a valley.

and below you see a river running along the floor of the valley. It's a warm evening, and the stars are coming out, and as you look down at the river, you see that it's a strange river. It's glowing with a magical phosphorescence. It's beautiful. Just looking at it makes you feel peaceful and relaxed.

you are attracted to this river. So you begin walking down the side of the valley and as you go down, going deeper and deeper into relaxation, I will count down from 10 to 1 and with every number that I say, you will go deeper and deeper into the valley until you reach the river. 10, 9, going deeper

And deeper. Seven. Six. Five. Moving down into the valley. Four. Three. You're taking yourself in deep. And at one, you arrive at the river. This is the river of sleep. It's glowing. A bluish gold with sparkle and shimmers.

And it's flowing at a soft and gentle speed to the south. The river of sleep is magical. It is creative and healing and transforms things. Tethered to the shore of the river is your raft. It's big and comfortable and perfect for sleeping on. You will ride on this raft

down the river of sleep, getting a deep and restorative rest. Just thinking about rafting down the river pulls you deeper and deeper into relaxation. On the riverbank are a series of sandbags. Some are big and some are small. These sandbags represent the feelings of responsibility that you carried

Before you get on your raft, you will open these sandbags and let their sand fall into the river, which will feel wonderful. And it's important for you to know that when you drop something into this river, it doesn't disappear. It is absorbed and transformed by the warm glowing water that's so full of life, full of energy.

The sand that you release into the river tonight will be returned to you tomorrow morning as pure positive energy. The first sandbag on the riverbank is marked "People I Love." It contains the feelings of responsibility you feel for everyone you care about in your life. The support

that you bring to their well-being and success, and the disappointment or guilt or codependency you may feel about their problems. It contains your longing for them to be happy or even to behave in certain ways that suit you. Now look around you. Every person you love is standing on the banks of the river near you,

preparing to get on their own sleep raft tonight. They are being taken care of by nature itself. While they sleep, they will be safe, pain-free, and peaceful. While they ride on their own raft, they too will be in contact with the magical healing power of the river. You notice a pair of scissors

sitting on a rock nearby. Pick them up and cut through the top of the burlap sack, mark people I love. Push the sack over and let it spill its contents into the river. Watch as it spills and you feel lighter and lighter. Watch as it spills out everything. Control everything.

support, love, disappointment, all that sand dissolving into the river, flowing away from you. And now the bag is empty. You feel light and calm and relaxed. The second sandbag has the word WORK written on it, and it's filled with the weight of responsibilities you feel in your work.

Notice how big it is. Notice its level of fullness. It will feel good to let go of this tonight. Pick up the scissors and cut through the top of the burlap bag. Push it over and let it spill its contents into the river. And as it spills, you feel... and lighter. As it spills out everything. Pressure.

Timelines. Product. All the sand dissolving into the river. Flowing away from you. Now the bag is empty. You feel light and calm and relaxed. The next sandbag says, The World. This bag contains the sand that represents your feelings toward the world. Your desire to change it. To control it.

to take care of it, your profound and sincere desire to make it a better place. The world will be okay while you rest tonight. The world was here long before you, and it will be here long. Every single person on the planet requires rest tonight, and the planet needs a break from us

So take out your scissors and cut open the burlap sack that says the world. Tip it over and let it spill into the river. Watch as it spills out everything. Politics, climate, the news, the future. Watch as the sand dissolves into the river. Flowing away from you is empty.

You feel light and calm and relaxed. The last sandbag on the riverbank is marked "ME". It contains all the pressure you may feel to be your best, or to succeed, or to continually improve. It contains any guilt you may feel about mistakes you've made, or ways in which you feel you haven't measured up.

But sleep is a time for relief, even from self. So as you cut the top of the burlap sack marked "me," you feel relief. Tip it over and watch as the sands of self dissolve into the river, flowing away from you. Fear, pressure, worry is empty. It's time to step onto your raft. It's large.

and safe and well-built. There's a comfortable bed in the middle of your raft with a fluffy duvet on it. You lay down on the bed, get under the duvet, and look up at the stars. You take a nice deep of the warm evening air and smell the night-glooming jasmine. Your raft pulls away from the riverbank

And you're now floating down the middle of the river of sleep. This magical river, glowing, full of healing. And all of the people you love have also stepped onto the raft. And they too are looking up at the stars floating down the river of sleep as you let go.

You feel the gentle rocking of the raft and forth and forth and forth as your inner expands. You are part, you are connected to the star as you enjoy this release, this freedom every night, every night, every night.

So