Learning To Be Authentic | Guided Sleep Hypnosis with Relaxing Music
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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 everybody for being here and for reaching out with all your comments and reviews and episode ideas. I hope you enjoyed the last mailbag episode. I know I did. And if you have any questions for the next one, please send them to us.

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and Laura in Canada, who says listening to Sleep Magic has drastically changed her sleep. I hope that's in the good direction. I presume it is. So thank you everyone for listening, spreading the word, and if you'd like even more Sleep Magic with no ads and extra episodes, please subscribe to Sleep Magic Premium. Thank you. Before we get started, let's hear a quick word from our sponsors who make this free content possible.

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Authenticity is quite the theme lately. We're looking for authentic influencers, authentic products. We want to be our authentic selves. But what exactly do we mean by authentic? We spend a lot of time trying to find ourselves, figuring out our tastes, our opinions.

I even remember one summer when I was in my late teens, I polished my nails every day a different color, thinking to myself, this is me. This is what I do. Oh, deep, I know. I was looking for some way of distinguishing myself from others. It's really normal. I wanted some way of being special. But after a while, I discovered that

All my thoughts and opinions and nail polish bottles were actually just baggage. And that my deepest level of self, the most authentic me, was actually found in the letting go of that stuff. It's a paradox, but maybe the self is something to be found in order to be lost or shed, gracefully discarded, one layer at a time.

And of course, we'll always need our egos, but it's okay to let go of a lot of who we think we are. Maybe the authenticity that our egos are searching for is actually found when the ego gets out of the way. And yes, I know the ego hates that. So I'm here to remind us all that we are more than our egos, more than our personalities. You are not your recipes or your playlists or your shoes.

Your greatest power comes from somewhere much deeper than that, and it can never be captured in a social media post. It comes out in the presence of others, in your actions, and is amplified when you follow your intuition, and it changes and develops, deepens and evolves. So let's dial back to our authentic selves tonight and just be. 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 breath. Boom. Allow your awareness to sort of land like a plane on your breath. As everything slows down a little, everything coming home to your body. Back home to your breath. Good. Now I'd like you to bring your awareness for a moment up into your eyelids.

And imagine that your eyelids are getting heavy, sleepy, comfortable. And as your eyelids are getting heavier and heavier, I'd like you to accept the suggestion that your eyelids are so heavy, they simply will not open. And if you've been here for a while, you know the trick we're playing. We're going to pretend that your eyes won't open. But it's just a game, just a trick. I know you could open your eyes if you wanted to, but let's pretend that you can't.

And in that pretending, I want you to test your eyelids to make sure they won't open. And you do that by wiggling your eyebrows while your eyes remain shut. So let's do that now. Just wiggle your eyebrows. Eyes staying closed. Perfect. This relaxation around your eyes. This lovely, delicious heaviness. This is the same heaviness you will soon have throughout your entire body. So let's just let this warm heaviness out.

spill back into your head. Feel it taking over your head as your head is feeling heavy in the pillow. It feels so good to let your head sink into the pillow. Your day is done, my friend. Your day is done. As the muscles of your face become warm and sort of heavy and soft and relaxed. Good.

And now that warm heaviness is circulating inside your head, taking over every single cell of your brain. And you just surrender to the warm heaviness. It feels nice to let go and surrender to it as all mental tension disappears. And now that warm heaviness is moving down into your neck, the large muscles of your neck softening.

releasing, letting go. And you allow the warm heaviness to move down into your shoulders. The shoulders carry so much energy during the day. But now the warm heaviness is taking over, getting into every little nook and cranny between the bones and muscles of your shoulders. Taking over your shoulders. Your shoulders are feeling nice and heavy. And as your shoulders are relaxing,

All of the responsibilities you carry on those shoulders have fallen to the floor. Responsibilities you feel to your family, to your friends. Responsibility you feel to your work and to the world at large. Responsibility you feel to the future. And even responsibilities you may feel to the past. They've all fallen to the floor. And you can pick any or all of them up tomorrow morning. But for right now,

your only responsibility is to yourself. And that feels fantastic. As the warm heaviness moves down your arms now down through your upper arms, your elbows, your forearm. And your arms are feeling heavy like they're made of marble. And the heaviness moves down into the palms of your hands and your fingers. Your hands feeling heavy.

and any tension of the day that's built up around your shoulders or arms is moving out the palms of your hands as you let them open and relax. Good. As you listen to this recording, you may be aware of the sounds going on around you. That's okay, because from this moment on, no sound that you hear will bother or disturb you in any way. In fact, from this moment on, any sound that you hear

noises from within your bedroom or your home or out on the street. Those sounds will actually take you deeper into this wonderful delicious relaxation. Bring your awareness to those sounds now and let them take you deeper. Good. And the only sound you're paying any real attention to is the sound of my voice. And the sound of my voice is also taking you deeper. But very soon

It may have happened already. The sound of my voice will sound distant, detached, and you just let it take you deeper. Beautiful. So let's allow this warm, heavy feeling now. Kind of imagine it moving into your chest so it's going to lighten a bit. You don't want your chest feeling too heavy. So it's a mist, a light, unpleasant moving into your chest.

softening and relaxing your whole ribcage. As you imagine this warm mist of relaxation spiraling around your heart. Imagine that mist of relaxation sort of holding and supporting your heart. And as you hang out here, holding your own heart with that mist, any emotional tension that may have built up over the day has disappeared.

As that mist moves down deeper into your body, down through your torso, down deep into your belly, and it softens and opens and relaxes your abdomen. And you breathe deeper than you did before. The muscles of your belly letting go. The muscles of your lower back relaxing.

As you allow that mist to move down, down deep into your legs. And now it's that warm heaviness again. Moving down your legs, spilling down through your thighs, your knees, your calves, to your ankles. And now your legs are feeling really heavy, heavy, like they're made of marble. And that feels good. You're so relaxed. And as your body is relaxing,

is relaxing. And as your mind is relaxing, it's relaxing. And as your body is relaxing, it's relaxing. As that warm heaviness moves all the way down into your toes. Every toe full, heavy, and relaxed. Imagine it's a beautiful day and you're walking along a soft dirt. You arrive at a garden gate

You open the gate and enter a safe, beautiful garden. There are flowers and vegetables of all kinds in this garden. This is a place where things grow and blossom. You find a soft patch of grass in the shade and lie down. Feel your body against the cool earth as you smell the grass. Your body feels nice and heavy on this patch of grass.

as you allow yourself to go deeper and deeper. You're going to be letting go of some excess baggage tonight. Giving it to the grass. Giving it to the earth. So I'd like you to imagine your daily to-do list. The things you have to get done on a daily basis. You don't have to think of all the details of it. Feeling of this to-do list. The pressure and intensity.

of your responsibilities in the material world. Notice how this pressure affects your body. Where does it live in you? How does it show up? Just notice. And now I'd like you to imagine this pressure softening. As you say to yourself, I am letting go. And now it's dissolving, releasing through your body down into the earth.

as you go deeper and deeper into relaxation. Good. Now I'd like you to imagine how you feel about what other people think of you. Just notice as I say those words, what other people think of you. What happens in your body? Where does that idea live in you? How does it affect you? Notice if you experience feelings or a reaction

in your chest, or your stomach, or in your mind. Maybe other people's opinions affect you in some different place, in a different way. It doesn't matter. Just notice how other people's thoughts and opinions make you feel. Well done. As now you say to yourself, I am letting go. And that response in you is softening and dissolving and seeping into the soil beneath you.

Good. Now I'd like you to imagine your personal preferences. All the opinions and beliefs that you've developed in your life. The thoughts and ideas that you consider yours, that you identify with. The building blocks of your persona in the world. Notice where they live in you. Where is this energy of self that you bring to the world?

to distinguish yourself. Where do you carry it? How do you carry it? And now imagine this whole layer of yourself softening. It's okay to let it soften. You're still here. You're still you. And now imagine that layer dissolving. Just for right now, as you say to yourself, "I am letting go."

And it moves out of your body and into the grass. And you can pick up any or all of your opinions and beliefs connected to your sense of self later. But for now, you're free. Now I'd like you to imagine your physical image. The way you look in the world. And the energy you put in to your image. How you feel about it.

The power you feel it carries for you. All the feelings you have, good and bad, about your physical self. As you say to yourself, I am letting go. Allow this identification with your physical self to soften and dissolve into the grass. Beautiful. Now imagine your sense of identity. The identification you feel with

Your gender, or ethnicity, or religion, or country, or family history, or favorite sports team. Choose one of these for now. And notice how this identification lives in you. Notice how you hold this identity. How it feels. The role it plays in your life. And just for now, as you remind yourself, "I am letting go."

That identification is softening. Not the facts of your existence, just the identification with the fact. And you allow it to dissolve into the grass. Imagine now the programming you received in your family growing up. The rules, the standards, the collective belief systems. Notice what you picked up from your family. The good and the bad.

Where does this live in your body? How does it feel? What role does it play in your life? Now imagine all of the programming you received in your family softening as you say, "I am letting go." Just for right now. You can pick any or all of it up when we're done with this exercise. But for now, it's dissolving into the grass. Imagine now

your deepest insecurities and fears. Notice how they present themselves in your body, where they live in you. These are patterns you've picked up, habits of mind and emotion, and some of them have lived in you for quite a while now. So it's nice to just observe them, examine them. And as you allow your fears and insecurities to arise, they begin to soften.

and dissolve. As you remember, I am letting go. And they move out your hands, out your feet, out your back, into the soil. Well done. Now I'd like you to imagine any aggression you may feel or wrestle with at the core of your being. Hard feelings, resentments, anger, judgments, whether they're about you or other people.

Notice what this aggression looks like. Notice how it presents itself in your body. Maybe you've hidden it away or maybe it's always there. And now, as you go deeper and deeper, you allow it to soften. Just watch the resentments and judgments and anger soften. And now watch them dissolve as you remind yourself, I am letting go and they seep

into the earth, and finally underneath it all. I'd like you to imagine any hurt you may feel connecting with the places where you've experienced pain and you've had to contract in order to protect yourself. Places where you've held back or sunk into the darkness. Notice where these hurts live in you. You may have held them for a long time, but they are not you.

So you say, "I am letting go." And the hurts are softening now. Softening and releasing and dissolving into the grass. And here you are simply being in your body. And as you feel the weight of your body against the earth, you relax, going deeper and deeper. And at the same time, the front of your body is softening.

and expanding and reaching up to the sky. And you take a deep breath, letting in the air that supports you every second of your life. You are free. You are pure, positive energy connected to the earth and the sun and the water and the air. You became empty tonight so you can feel full as your inner being fills

expands. Your inner being is pure positive energy felt by everyone. You don't need to show it or talk about it. It's just here inside of you. It is you. Your inner being expresses your talents. Your inner being expresses love. Your inner being is experiencing life in its own unique way.

Your inner being is always creating. What is it creating right now? Whenever you come back to this garden, you will be able to draw up all those layers of self more easily and quickly every time as you return to your inner being, this authentic you. So it's time to leave the garden now. You get up, move through the gate, and close it behind you.

but your inner being feels full and expanded. It's with you everywhere. It's evening now. The moon is shining and the stars are out. You turn around and notice that the garden is becoming very small. Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. And now you bring the garden to your chest and it moves into your heart because this is where the garden lives.

And every time you place your hand on your heart, you connect with the garden and your inner being. And it feels so good as you go deeper and deeper and you drip and float and dream.