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Positive
Sleep Thoughts
The time allocated to allow myself to freely think negative,
irrational sleep thoughts was also used for another purpose:
to think positive and true sleep thoughts.
By doing so, I could help to reprogram my subconscious to properly
evaluate sleep as something good instead of a danger and threat.
Identify them
The first step for me to start thinking positive sleep thoughts
was to come up with them.
Below are positive sleep thoughts that I identified. Notice
that, unlike negative sleep thoughts, they are all true facts
about sleep -- assuming that one has a reasonably good sleep
environment, good sleep hygiene, is not ill or taking sleep-undermining
legal or illegal drugs and is not engaging in negative sleep
thoughts.
- Sleep
is pleasant, relaxing and even blissful.
- Sleep
is to be enjoyed. It is a time of rest and rejuvenation.
- Falling
asleep quickly is easy and effortless.
- Falling
back to sleep if one wakes up during the night is effortless
and occurs quickly.
- It’s
easy to relax and stay relaxed in bed.
Now that
I was armed with these positive, true sleep thoughts (which
I had written down), I was ready to move them into my mind
at the expense of the deeply entrenched negative, irrational
sleep thoughts that were dominating my evaluation of sleep.
Technique for countering negative sleep thoughts
During my twice daily sessions in which I allowed myself to
give into my strong urge to think negative sleep thoughts,
I also included thinking positive sleep thoughts.
Specifically, I would let myself think something negative
about sleep that had been building up in my mind, such as
“Trying to sleep tonight will be so stressful and anything
but relaxing.” After this I would force myself to say
a positive sleep thought to counter the negative sleep thought,
such as “Sleep is pleasant, relaxing and even blissful.”
I would do this technique with as many negative sleep thoughts
as I wanted to think, but, of course, there was a 10-minute
time limit I could not go over for each twice daily session.
I found it helpful and more effective to use the following
guidelines with the positive sleep thoughts:
-
Say
the sleep thoughts out loud. I think doing so gives them
more reality in one’s mind.
-
Think
about the positive sleep thoughts as you say them and
what they mean. Don’t just say them as a parrot would.
- Don’t
repeat the same positive sleep thoughts over and over. Come
up with new ones even if they are just slightly different.
I think it helps to properly evaluate sleep from as many
different perspective and ways as one can.
Limit
positive sleep thoughts
Just as it is important to limit the negative sleep thoughts
to the daily sessions, I found that the same is true for the
positive sleep thoughts. Thinking too many positive sleep
thoughts throughout the day often backfired, causing me to
sleep more poorly at night.
Here’s my explanation for why this is the case. If sleep
were not a problem for me, I would not think about it at all.
Before I developed insomnia, I never thought about sleep,
falling asleep, staying asleep, sleeping well or sleeping
poorly. These kinds of thoughts never entered my mind. This
is the proper state of mind.
However, by thinking a lot about sleep, even positively, I
was indirectly sending to my subconscious this message: “Sleep
is an issue of concern and worry for me, otherwise I would
not be thinking about it so much. Sleep and bedtime must be
dangers.” Then my subconscious springs into action, especially
at bedtime, by alerting me of the danger by making me afraid,
stressed and anxious.
Therefore, I found it best to limit positive sleep thoughts
to the sessions and only in response to negative sleep thoughts.
Reduce time of sessions
After a few days of my twice daily sessions, my worrying about
sleep decreased somewhat and, as a result, I was sleeping
a little better.
After about a week, things improved even more. As a result,
I started to lower the amount of time that I allotted for
each session by one minute a day. Eventually, after about
three weeks I eliminated the sessions entirely because my
negative sleep thoughts had almost entirely gone away and
I was sleeping much better.
Finally, I want to point out that getting started and making
a habit of battling negative sleep thoughts was the hardest
part. However, the longer I consistently stayed with the sessions
and did them correctly, the faster and easier the results
came. I found that the more I was successful at not thinking
negative sleep thoughts, the easier it became to further avoid
them. I think that the often true saying “Use it or lose
it,” applies to thoughts as well. They are sort of like
a muscle, and if you don’t use them then they will lose
their presence, power and force over time.
While I was doing my cognitive techniques, which no doubt
played a large role in my overcoming insomnia, I was also
working to eliminate self-defeating sleep behaviors. And that
is the topic I will turn to next.
Next:
Behavioral techniques
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