My name is Sridhar Rajendran and I help people who constantly struggle to fall asleep or stay asleep to get a good night’s sleep.
I have struggled with insomnia myself and know how painful it can be. That's why I like to get to the root cause of what's keeping someone awake and fix it quickly so you can go back to enjoying your life again.
Get free access to my training library that will help you overcome insomnia permanently without any medications.
https://www.sridhar.coach/free-trainings
Book a free strategy call and let's chat.
https://calendly.com/sridhar-coach/intro-call
#sleeptips #sleephelp #sleepingtips #sleepexpert #sleephealth #sleepcoach #mentalhealth #mentalhealthmatters
I have struggled with insomnia myself and know how painful it can be. That's why I like to get to the root cause of what's keeping someone awake and fix it quickly so you can go back to enjoying your life again.
Get free access to my training library that will help you overcome insomnia permanently without any medications.
https://www.sridhar.coach/free-trainings
Book a free strategy call and let's chat.
https://calendly.com/sridhar-coach/intro-call
#sleeptips #sleephelp #sleepingtips #sleepexpert #sleephealth #sleepcoach #mentalhealth #mentalhealthmatters
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LearningTranscript
00:00Will stopping my thoughts help me sleep? Well, let's just test that theory out right now.
00:06I don't want you to think about a purple cat right now. Under no circumstance are you supposed to
00:14think about a purple cat. No matter what happens, I do not want you and I urge you not to think
00:22about a purple cat at any cost. Well, what happened? I'm sure you thought about a purple cat
00:30right now, didn't you? See, that's the thing with the mind. It does not understand this concept of
00:36negation or not. If I tell you not to think of a purple cat, you first need to think of a purple
00:42cat, even though there are no purple cats in real life to negate that particular thought.
00:48So it is a futile exercise to try to stop your thoughts from coming up. The more you try to
00:55stop, the more it will multiply. So that is the problem with this whole attempt to trying to
01:01stop the thoughts. It's the job of the mind to be able to think. And when we have pleasant thoughts,
01:07we never try to stop them. Be daydreaming or visualizing about a goat. When it feels good,
01:14when it feels nice and warm inside, we never worry about it. It's only when it causes pain
01:22that is where we are. Oh, I want to stop my thoughts. So we can't have such kind of a double
01:27standards here. So what is a better approach to follow when it comes to dealing with your mind
01:33and the thoughts to sleep? It is just to become a witness. Be an observer of the thoughts. Watch
01:39the thoughts come, rise and fall, but do not interact with them. I know this is easier said
01:46than done, but I'm going to give you some small tips and suggestions which you can try out. So
01:53the first thing which I would suggest is, you know, before you go to bed, sit for a few minutes
01:59on a chair or your sofa for five to ten minutes without doing anything and let whatever thoughts
02:05come, let them come to you. The thing is, when we go to bed, it's the only time we actually
02:12slow down and everything which the mind has been wanting to tell you like an efficient personal
02:19assistant, it gets time with you only at night. So it tries to come up with everything, all the
02:24questions that you've asked, what about the to-do list for tomorrow, everything it tells you. So
02:29just let your mind tell whatever it wants to tell and don't follow it. When I say don't follow it,
02:36it's like, you know, you might get some thoughts about, oh, I didn't complete all this
02:41to-do list. You can just remind your mind saying, yeah, it's okay, thank you for telling me that,
02:48but I'm going to do it tomorrow. Add it to my to-do list mentally.
02:52Or, you know, something like, you know, I had this argument with somebody at work or at home,
03:00then, yeah, it happened, but next time I'm going to handle it in a much better way. This is what
03:06I'm going to do. Something simple, something small, and just give yourself that closure.
03:11So first thing is just sitting with yourself for a few minutes and just observing the thoughts and
03:18if needed, you can also just dialogue with your mind so that it would calm down. Sometimes, you
03:23know, if you're not used to the act of being a silent observer, it might be very tempting. So
03:29that is why I'm giving you this technique of, you know, dialoguing with your mind. And if you've
03:34done this for a couple of days, then the advanced level is where, you know, you just become a
03:39witness and you don't even try to, you know, give some kind of a suggestion or dialogue with the
03:45mind because your mind knows that you have heard it. You are not the mind, you're the observer of
03:51your mind. And the moment your mind knows that you have listened to it and, you know, you've consumed
03:57all the information that's given, it will calm down. So, and if when you're starting out this
04:02journey, if you find that, you know, just thinking about it mentally is becoming very difficult for
04:08you to control your thoughts or you get easily sucked into it, which happens to most of us on
04:14the journey. So do not worry about it. You could keep a pen and paper. You could either, you know,
04:21like write it down quickly. If something comes up repeatedly, just write down a sentence or two
04:26and just put it to bed. Typically, sometimes people write to journal the entire thing. It is
04:31okay if you want to journal, but just mentally listen to it. And if something still wouldn't,
04:37you know, if your brain wouldn't, like say, shut up about something and it brings up over and over
04:42again, just write down a sentence or two about what is it and then that will help you calm down.
04:48So these are the three things in how you can, you know, like kind of, you know, slow down your mind.
04:54So I want to summarize the video by saying, can you stop your thoughts? No, you cannot stop your
05:00thoughts. So stopping your thoughts when it's not possible, it is not going to help you sleep.
05:05So instead, what you can do is you can allow your thoughts to slow down. And to slow down,
05:11the first thing is, you know, sit quietly by yourself for a few minutes. And if any thoughts
05:17come up to you, and then you can just dialogue with your mind and say, okay, I've got it. I'll
05:22do this better next time. Or, you know, add it to the remind me tomorrow, something of that sort.
05:28And the second one is, you know, when you're becoming more comfortable observing, then you
05:34can just be a silent witness and you don't even have to respond to your mind. It will know that
05:39you have listened to it. And if you find it difficult in the early stages of the journey to,
05:46you know, just do all of these activities mentally, you can keep a pen and paper.
05:50If something is coming up too often, repeatedly, just write a sentence or two and let it be so
05:56that again, it's a proof for your mind. You're training your mind to say that, hey, I've listened
06:01to you. You can calm down now. You can chill. And now it's all good to sleep. I hope this was
06:07helpful. Try it out and let me know how it goes.