Getting back to sleep.

[blimix]

Early this morning, I lay awake ruminating. I would usually try to distract myself by focusing on my breathing, which has a mediocre average return. Instead, I acknowledged that my brain was trying to keep me safe by imagining what I would do in bad situations. I thought, "Thank you, brain, for protecting me. But I need sleep more than I need planning." Then I paid attention to how each breath felt, while counting on both the inhale and the exhale. I was back asleep before I got to ten.

I've read that it makes more sense to view a person as a collection of selves than as a solitary self. Maybe the self that ruminates prefers not to be dismissed. Give it some appreciation and validation.

Comments

[zimarra]

Don't forget about the chorus either. Or sometimes called the committee. Where all the voices, ADHD body, anxiety body, depression body, come together to sit in a brain board meeting trying to get you to do what they want. Jud Brewer has a great lesson on this and other such interesting things on anxiety:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPw3BbHLHoM&pp=ygUYanVkc29uIGJyZXdlciB0aGUgY2hvcnVz