The Best Sleep Aid: Try a little gratitude to calm your mind

Do you ever have trouble falling asleep? Or maybe you wish you had more peaceful sleep?
I’ve found that practicing a little gratitude before I go to sleep is a great way to calm my mind and have more positive thoughts as I drift off. 

For example, the other night as I laid in bed, I thought of how I was grateful for my husband and his support and love. I thought of how I was grateful for my daughter and her wisdom and perseverance. I thought of how I was grateful for my parents and their encouragement. I thought of other family members and how they enrich my life. I thought of how I loved my home and where I lived. I thought of how grateful I am to be doing work I love and care about. I was even noticing how much I appreciated my warm, soft bed with its fleece sheets. My mind was becoming less busy and stressed so I could relax.

There are even a variety of studies that demonstrate how gratitude can help us get to sleep faster and sleep longer.

This night, as I was savoring the many good things in my life, it hit me how wonderful my life truly is. Yet it’s easy for me to lie in bed and focus on things that I wish were different, things I don’t have, and things that went wrong. If I let myself go down that path, my life doesn’t seem so wonderful. My mind feels tense as it focuses on things that aren’t fair, that are hard, and that I don’t like, and when that happens, I can become blind to all the good that surrounds me. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes by the author, Colett—

“What a wonderful life I’ve had, I just wish I’d realized it sooner.”

Give it a try tonight. Spend a few minutes in bed feeling grateful for the many good things in your life and see if it’s easier to get to sleep.