A shared practice
The Power of Gratitude, Before Sleep
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Created bySean Fargo
Part 4 of Sean's sleep series — recorded in his own voice.
In Sean Fargo’s own voice9 min
Read along — the full script
I'm Sean Fargo. One of the reasons why it can be so hard to fall asleep at night is because we often have these feelings of agitation or worry or planning. Have you noticed this? Sometimes we're laying in bed ready to go to sleep, but we just can't stop thinking about something.
Thoughts just keep coming in and out of the mind incessantly. Sometimes we can have the same thought over and over. And if we can't go to sleep, oftentimes there's this feeling of agitation that keeps increasing. One of the practices that we'd like to explore today is a practice of gratitude, a mindfulness practice of appreciating the things in our life or the things in our world that brings a sense of joy and happiness.
This can help us to calm the body and the mind by focusing on that which is good or pleasurable. That can help tell the body to relax, to soften, that for now, for this evening, everything will be okay. So to start this practice, I would like to invite you to be in any posture you like and to bring forth the thought of something that you're grateful for, something that you really, truly appreciate.
Maybe it's a person in your life. Maybe it was the weather today. Or a pet or an animal that you love. Maybe it's the fact that you're alive. Bringing our awareness to those things that we're grateful for. And the little things that we appreciate.
Perhaps you have soft sheets in your bed. Maybe you appreciate how quiet the room is where you are right now. Maybe you appreciate that you have this time for yourself to relax, to wind down. To be able to find comfort in this moment with feelings of appreciation, warmth, safety, and feelings of ease in the body.
Appreciating each breath. Each inhale and exhale. This breath that keeps us alive. Relaxing the belly with each breath, each beautiful breath. Feeling thankful for this moment of ease and comfort and safety. As we breathe and relax the body, feeling comfortable in our body.
Feeling appreciation for this moment of ease and wellbeing. Letting go of any tightness and just inviting a sense of warm appreciation, of kind awareness, of our breath and our body
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