Detaching From Our Worries For Better Sleep
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Hi, I'm Jessica Porter, and welcome back to Sleep Magic, a podcast where I help you to find the magic of your own mind, helping you to sleep better and live better. So, hi everybody. You know, I've recently gotten sort of addicted to this website called Chartable, which charts podcasts all over the world. And I just want to say that Sleep Magic is

is like spreading all over the world it's crazy there are people sleeping better in turkey in the philippines in ireland in south africa in columbia like just know that you're part of a global group of people falling asleep tonight to my droning voice going deeper and deeper

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Detaching from worry for better sleep. Someone asked me recently to do an episode on worry, and I think it's a great topic. So let's begin at the beginning. What is worry? Well, obviously we have concerns in our lives about ourselves, loved ones, and even the world at large. And those thoughts of concern cause us to secrete stress hormones, which make our bodies tense.

And that tension generally causes us to have more thoughts or concerns. So your body and mind begin to play off one another, reinforcing the tension. Hang out in this loop for a while and you're experiencing full-blown worry. And remember that your subconscious mind is a learning machine.

a habit-forming machine, and it never sits still. So when you worry a lot, you get better and better at, bingo, worrying. Your subconscious mind is just refining it into a habit, just like it refined walking and talking, and you may even begin to identify with anxiety or worry. It's like a motor inside of you with real momentum, and it can feel difficult to stop.

at least from the level of the conscious mind. But wait, Jessica, rewind. Aren't we supposed to worry about things? Isn't it a sign that I'm a good person if I worry about things? Well, this is a fair question. I think it's perfectly natural to have concerns about the world and our lives and the people we love. It makes a lot of sense to care, but caring is not the same thing as worrying.

It's possible to care deeply without getting yourself tied in a knot, or at least an endless growing knot. And although it will require some practice to undo those knots that you may have gotten yourself into, you can. And maybe you have some resistance to that, some belief system that relaxing when there are problems in the world or when people you care about are suffering is unethical or cold.

But it's not a sin to practice relaxation when you or someone you love has a problem. With all respect to you, worry, complete with your tense body and whirling obsessive thoughts, probably isn't helping to solve the problem. If anything, it may just prolong things. What I want you to know is that the subconscious mind is not only a habit former, it's also a healer and a problem solver.

So the more relaxed you become, the more your subconscious mind can get creative and sort things out. By relaxing, you can get needed perspective, hear the whisper of your intuition, or conjure positive energy to send to your loved one. Like I said, detachment from the problem is not a crime. In fact, it may help.

All that said, sometimes we simply get gripped by fear and we don't have some magic wand we can wave to switch off the nervous system. And that's okay. That's just life. I'm just trying to introduce the idea that it is possible to relax around that intensity instead of feeding into it. It is possible to set your worries aside for a while.

to allow your subconscious mind and those of others to work things out. Most of the things we worry about end up okay in the end. It's good to remember that. So tonight we're going to forge a new relationship with our worries. So get yourself into a safe and comfortable position and let's begin. Just allow your eyes to close easily and gently. And now bring your awareness to your breathing.

Just let your breath be normal and natural. But your awareness, we're reeling in your awareness from the day, reeling it in from the outside world and just bringing your awareness to your breath. Just to rest on your breath for a moment. Good, good. Now let's bring your awareness down into your left hand. Specifically, your left hand.

You're becoming very good at focusing your awareness. So it feels easy to bring your awareness down into your thumb. Just imagine your thumb now is getting nice and relaxed, nice and heavy. Now bring your awareness to the tip of your thumb, pad of your thumb. There's a lot of nerve endings at the end of your thumb. It's actually a little spiral. Every fingerprint is a spiral.

And we make an energy exchange with the world through our fingers. Energy moving in, energy moving out as we feel and sense and touch the world. So just imagine that spiral at the end of your thumb opening up, opening up. Now bring your awareness into your index finger and down into the fingertips.

as your index finger becomes nice and heavy, relaxed and heavy. Good. As you bring your awareness now down into your middle finger, opening up that little spiral in the fingertip of your middle finger. And now as your awareness moves down your ring finger, down into the fingertip of your ring finger, and now into your little finger. Just bring your awareness all the way down into the fingertip

of your little baby finger. Good. And now I'd like you to bring your awareness into the palm of your hand. The palm of your hand is a bigger vortex or spiral of energy. Your palm opens to the world and receives energy from people and things. Your palm is always sensing, touching, connecting. And tonight we're going to release energy

from your left palm as you imagine all the tension that may have built up in your body today releasing through your palm any tension you may be carrying in your head any worries or troubles you may have been carrying in your mind just imagine them traveling down into your left arm and down into the palm of your hand and releasing out into the world

Now, any tension you carried on your shoulders today, burdens you carried, responsibilities you felt, imagine them dissolving and running down your left arm and out through your palm, into the bed and down into the floor, down into the earth. If there was any tension you carried in your chest today, emotional stress or protection

or withholding. Allow it all to come together at your heart and now imagine it pouring down into your left arm and out the palm of your hand. It feels so good to release all this energy as it moves down through the bed, into the ground, and deep, deep into the earth. Notice any energy you carried in your gut today, any holding or doubting.

or attempts to control the world, attempts to control the people around you. Let all of that tension in your gut move up and then over into your arm and down into the palm of your hand, where it releases down through your bed into the floor, deep, deep into the earth. And any tension you felt in your legs today, the pressure to move quickly,

to adapt to your environment, to keep up with other people. Let it all come up, over into your left arm, running down into your palm, out your palm into the bed, the floor, down deep into the earth. And any tension that may be hanging out in your right arm, perhaps you felt you needed to carry things for yourself, for other people, physically or metaphorically.

Allow that energy to move over into your left arm as it goes down, down, out through your palm and into the earth. And as you imagine this energy moving down, your left arm is feeling heavier and heavier. It feels so nice to allow your arm to get nice and heavy as you notice that your torso is feeling heavy on the bed, your pelvis particularly heavy on the bed.

your head sinking further and further into the pillow. And your arm is feeling so heavy, in fact, that it feels as if you couldn't lift it if you tried. Of course, you could lift it if you really wanted to. But just like you used to do with your eyelids, I'd like you to imagine that you cannot lift your arm. And in a moment, I'm going to ask you to imagine lifting your arm

But notice that it will not lift off the bed. It will remain heavy, heavy, heavy. So now imagine in your mind that you're lifting your arm and yet your arm remains stuck to the bed or whatever it's lying on. In your imagination you're lifting your arm and yet you cannot lift your arm. Beautiful. I know it's a weird little trick, but it's taking you deeper.

and deeper into hypnosis. As you allow your whole body to feel heavy on the bed, every muscle, every nerve, every fiber of your being feeling loose and limp and relaxed. And as your body is relaxing, your mind is relaxing. And as your mind is relaxing, your body is relaxing. And as your body is relaxing,

is relaxing. And all the sounds around you are taking you deeper and deeper. Bring your awareness now to the sounds going on around you and let them take you deeper. I'm sure there are things that you have concerns about in your life. Maybe things you think about on a regular basis. Perhaps you have concerns about your family members. So I'd like you to imagine

the concerns you have about your family member. Let yourself feel that concern. Feel that concern for a moment. Really let it exist inside of you as a feeling. How big is it? Does it have a shape? A color? Imagining this worry or concern about your family member, no matter how it presents itself, I'd like you to now

Imagine shaping it into a ball. Imagine pressing this worry down into a ball, tight and compact. And now the worry is a sphere that's dark and dense, the size of a baseball. Now set this worry down on the ground. Now I'd like you to imagine your worries

about other loved ones, like your friends or co-workers. Feel those concerns in your body and mind as you let yourself feel this worry about these people. Imagine its shape, its size, its color. There's no right or wrong, no judgment. Just allow that worry to present itself. And now imagine

Pressing it down with your hands into a ball. Allow yourself to shape these worries about your other loved ones down into a ball. Pressing it down to the size of a baseball. A dense, dark baseball. Good. And now put that ball aside next to the other one. And now I'd like you to imagine the concerns you have about yourself.

Worries that you may have about your future, your health, your finances, your relationship, even things you may be carrying from the past. Feel these concerns. Feel them in your body. Notice the shape, the size, the color of this concern for yourself. Really let it be. This is energy that you carry around inside your body.

But now we're taking this worry and pressing it down into a ball. Whatever it takes, press this energy down into a third dark, dense baseball. Good. Pack it hard and then set it down on the ground with the other two. As the sound of my voice takes you deeper and deeper into relaxation. You're doing great.

And finally, I'd like you to check in with your worry about the world. Feel your concern about the world. Notice this concern, this worry. Notice its shape, its size, its color. This is also energy that you've been carrying around inside of you. And now, like before, I want you to grab this energy and press it down, down.

down into a dark, dense baseball. Good. Pack it down tight and place it next to the other three balls. It feels nice to have your worries outside your body. Well done. Imagine that you place all four balls into a knapsack that you place on your back. As you look up ahead of you, you see a trail

And you begin walking on the trail as you enter a beautiful pine forest. The trees are so tall, swaying almost imperceptibly in the breeze. As you walk through the forest, you come to a clearing. And in the clearing, there's a temple. It's a beautiful temple made entirely of wood.

with a roof that curves up at the sides. It's been here for thousands of years. It's a place where people come to find peace and calm. As you enter the temple, you feel the coolness of its shade and the height of its ceilings. Everything is quiet. You notice that on the altar,

is a large golden chest. It's made of pure gold and has laid pearl and precious stone. This is a worry chest and it's been here for thousands of years handling the worries of people all over the world. In the roof of the temple is a skylight and a

of sunshine comes through the roof, illuminating the golden chest so that it's sparkling. Everything placed into this chest receives all of the energy, wisdom, and love that has ever existed in this temple. It contains all the wisdom of the holy people who have lived here.

The lid of the chest slowly opens and you see its empty golden interior. It's beautiful, radiant, ready. You take off your knapsack, open it up and pull out the first ball containing all your worries about your family. Hold the ball for a moment and connect with its energy and now place it in the worry chest.

Now remove your ball of worry about your friends and other loved ones from your knapsack. Hold it for a moment, connect briefly with its energy, and now place it safely in the worry chest. As you reach into your knapsack, you pull out the ball of worry about yourself and your life. Hold this ball for a moment, connect with its energy briefly, and now place it

in the worry chest. Finally, you pull the ball of worry about the world from your knapsack. Hold this final ball briefly, connecting with its energy so that you can release it into the worry chest. As you look down on these four spheres in the worry chest, it feels good to see them. They're now in the shimmering golden magical chest.

in a safe and beautiful temple. The lid of the worry chest closes slowly. You notice a golden key attached to the lid. You take it from the lid and insert it into the lock on the front of the worry chest. Your worries are safe and sound now, being worked on by the great and ancient power of the temple.

Problems are being solved. Love is being applied. Wisdom is being received. You place the key in your knapsack. You walk around the temple now and arrive at a wooden deck at the back. From this deck, you see that the temple is high on a mountain, much higher than you realized when you began your journey tonight.

It overlooks an immense green valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains. The sky is clear, it's fresh. You notice a stone path leading several feet down the mountainside, ending at a natural hot spring. As you walk down this path, there are ten steps, and with every step you take,

You go deeper and deeper into relaxation. 10, 7, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1. You've arrived at the hot spring. It's the size of a large jacuzzi surrounded by rock. The water is so warm that steam is rising up from the surface. Steam smells like

natural minerals and there are big fragrant pine trees all around. You put down your knapsack, take off your clothes and let yourself slip into the hot spring. You notice a natural rock ledge jutting out from the side and you sit on it as you immerse yourself in the warm water going deeper

and deeper. You are receiving the healing power of the hot spring. You go deeper and deeper knowing that your worries are in the golden being handled by forces greater than you, forces deeper than you, forces older than you. As you go deeper and deeper

You feel secure, content, and peaceful. The sky is getting dark now. The air is cooling off. You stand up on the rock ledge and climb out of the hot spring. On one of the rocks is a fluffy towel and a luxurious bathrobe. You dry yourself off and put on the robe, pick up your knapsack,

with the golden key in it and you walk through the pine trees to the temple which is glowing with candlelight. As you enter, you see the golden worry bug glinting in the moonlight. There's a door on the left. You open it and see a bed inside. This is where you sleep tonight. Near the golden chest

where your concerns are being handled by powers greater than you. Safe and sound, in the temple on the mountaintop. Place the golden key on the table next to the bed. It's there if you need it or want it in the morning. You crawl into bed where it's soft. Snuggle under the blanket. The door closes

You're alive into the darkness as you dream and float and dream.