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As I grew up, I had a hard time falling asleep. I would lie in my bed and stare at the ceiling. I would have the fan on at least medium all year long when I went to bed for the white noise and breeze, but I would still stay awake. I remember when I was really young, just playing games in a sleeping bag on my bed, packing myself in with all the pillows and blankets I had, and peeking out the front. Eventually, I would end up still staring at the ceiling or out the window and asking my brother’s if they were awake. Then I would call for my mom so I could tell her that I couldn’t fall asleep, and she would talk to me, then sing “Silent Night” over and over again.

As I grew older, I just stayed up later or stayed out later. I never was able to fall asleep early and get a good night’s rest.

When I was twenty-one, I joined the Navy, and I was able to fall asleep early in Bootcamp. But after I was out, once again I had problems going to sleep early—my mind was always active. So I started reading books and I came across a book, I believe was titled “The Art of Self-Hypnosis.” Lo and behold, it worked. I read the whole book, and all I really needed was to read a paragraph. This is a summary of what I can remember about how it worked.

This will put you or your child to sleep.

1. First and most important, you need to be in an area that is quiet.
2. You must be in comfortable bedtime attire if you wear clothing.
3. Turn off your phone, dim any lights, and try to make the room as dark as possible.
4. Lie down in your bed, relax your body, and get into your favorite sleeping position. (It helps for the next step if you start off sleeping on your back.)
5. Now that you’re completely relaxed and in your comfortable sleeping position, you are ready to close your eyes and start the breathing exercise.
6. Comfortably take a slow, deep inhale until your lungs feel full, then exhale slowly. Do this three times while thinking of the word “Tranquil”, in your head, during each exhale.
7. Now that your breathing rhythm is set and you’re feeling relaxed, it is time to move to the next step.
8. Count down from 50 to 0 while rhythmically breathing in and out.
9. Keep rhythmically breathing, no matter what during this exercise until you fall asleep.
10. Every time you inhale, envision whatever is on your mind. As you exhale, envision that thought flowing out and away from your mind, gone for the rest of the night.
11. If nothing is on your mind ,you just can’t go to sleep; Envision an amusement park pendulum boat, gliding back and forth. Everytime you inhale, visualize the boat rocking to the back of your head, as you exhale the boat and the air move out of your body and swing to the front of your face.
12. Start your countdown when you want, but begin on your inhale with 50, exhale 49, inhale 48, exhale 47. Do this all the way down to 0. Inhale, exhale.
13. If your not asleep by zero, this next part can feel pretty cool, you are going to perform the same rhythmic breathing – never stop. You will start by thinking about your feet and work your way up, through your body, until you finally reach your head.
14. This is how it works. Think of your feet. Visualize your feet and perform three sets of rhythmic breathing. On the third exhale, think about all the stress flowing out of your body through your feet as you exhale. You might feel a little tingle in your feet on the last exhale and for each additional body part.
15. Next, you will perform the same three rhythmic breathing again but this time on your third exhale, the stress will be out of your lower legs.
16. Keep doing this breathing exercise and work through your upper legs, hips, lower abdomen, upper chest, arms, and lastly your head.
17. If you’re not asleep by now, start from 50 to 0 again and then focus on your body once more.
18. I’ve never made it back around twice completely.
19. Good luck!
20. Sleep tight and sleep all night!

Words Of Wisdom

Today’s Words of Wisdom are from Father Joseph Mohr and Jane Taylor you probably have them memorized. They have been sung probably more times than any other songs ever. They are the songs I would sing to my girls in order to get them prepared for a good night’s sleep. Below are the shortened versions.

Silent Night** 
Composer: Franz Xaver Gruber 
Lyrics: Joseph Mohr 

Silent night, holy night 
All is calm, all is bright 
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child 
Holy Infant so tender and mild 
Sleep in heavenly peace 
Sleep in heavenly peace 

—

**Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star** 
Composer: Mozart (Based on the French melody “Ah! vous dirai-je, maman”) 
Lyrics: Jane Taylor 

Twinkle, twinkle, little star 
How I wonder what you are 
Up above the world so high 
Like a diamond in the sky 
Twinkle, twinkle, little star 
How I wonder what you are 

See you next week

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