Hey friend,
Welcome to the Grounded Sleep Podcast.
And tonight's episode is on serenity in sleep.
And before I get into the deep meanings of the word serenity,
I actually want to start by talking about it in reference to one of my favorite shows of all time,
Seinfeld.
So if you've listened to me before,
You know I love comedy and I love Seinfeld the most.
It's one of my favorite shows of all time.
And there's this episode where George Costanza's dad is told to say the words serenity now to lower his blood pressure and to relax.
But what he does is he starts to scream it in frustration over and over,
Which is where all the comedy comes from.
And so whenever I think of the word serenity,
I first think of George Costanza's dad.
So you might have had that experience today or recently where you've gotten frustrated or irritated and you're just saying to yourself,
Find some inner peace,
Be mindful,
Relax.
But you're really doing it in the energy of that serenity now.
So it's not so much the words that we use,
But the energy that we're in.
But I really do love the word serenity and its root comes from Latin serenitas,
Which means clearness,
Brightness,
And tranquility.
So when we find a deep sense of serenity,
We're tapping into that place of stillness,
A place of inner peace and that place of tranquility.
And as always,
When we get into bed,
I invite you to make sure everything is set to have a really good sleep,
Making sure you brush your teeth,
You get your PJs on,
The room temperature is right.
You're not exposing yourself to any blue light.
And once all of that is set and you're in bed and your eyes are closed,
That's when we can start really letting go of the day.
And it's really natural to reflect and kind of play back the day.
We do that before bed and we even do that while we're asleep.
But I want you for right now to let go of whatever happened to the day if you can.
You're not pushing it away or forcing it away.
You're just drawing your awareness into your body and into this moment with me.
Noticing that it's always this moment.
It doesn't matter if it's the morning,
Afternoon,
Or night.
It doesn't matter what planet you're on.
It doesn't even matter what state of consciousness you're in.
You're always in this moment.
So relax into this moment.
Relax into bed.
And let's relax into sleep in a nice,
Really gentle,
Inviting way.
Sleep really is an invitation to experience rest and tranquility.
It's an invitation to experience inner peace unconsciously and wake up refreshed.
I know it sounds so simple and easy,
Doesn't it?
Thanks,
David.
If it was that easy,
I wouldn't be listening to you at night.
So if you feel any stress or tension,
Any pull from your thoughts or from the day,
That's very natural.
I'm not even asking you to change that.
Perhaps you just change your relationship to how you feel about it.
So instead of it being kind of a push and pull or adversarial,
Be okay with whatever it is that you feel,
Whatever it is that you're thinking,
Without any judgment.
The only way to find inner peace is to not fight who we are.
If you fight who you are,
That's going to create irritation.
If you fight how you feel,
That's going to create frustration,
Resistance.
So it might not actually be what you're thinking or feeling about the world.
It might be how you treat yourself and how you see yourself in relationship to that.
If something in life upsets you,
Maybe it upsets you because you care.
So instead of judging yourself for caring,
You can breathe into and embrace that you're caring.
If someone hurt your feelings,
Perhaps you can embrace that you're sensitive.
There should be no part of falling asleep where you reject your own humanity and your own feelings.
We're not here to suppress ourselves into sleep.
You actually might want to open yourself to sleep.
So be gentle with your thoughts and be gentle with your feelings.
And as you breathe,
Slowly let each part of your body begin to relax.
Meditation is not about controlling our thoughts and our feelings.
It's about becoming aware of them and accepting.
Notice the difference.
So we're moving from an energy of control into an energy of acceptance.
And if you're like,
David,
I can't let go of control,
Then you can accept the feeling of not being able to let go of control.
And as you do that,
You slowly slow your breath down.
You can imagine if you open the palm of your hand and a little newborn baby put its hand into your hand,
Or a little puppy put its paw into your hand.
How soft,
How open would your hand be?
If a friend gave you a flower and asked you to touch the petals,
How soft would you approach those petals?
Allow your energy to be that soft.
In case you're like me,
You're not ready to let go of control.
Allow your energy to be that soft.
And can you treat your thoughts and your feelings the way you would something that soft?
I don't think you would grab a baby's hand and shake it hard and go,
Nice to meet you,
Let's make you better.
Afford yourself the same level of gentleness and love.
And some people have a hard time affording love and gentleness.
They think it's too expensive.
The vulnerability comes at too high a cost.
But really,
It's not allowing ourselves to be gentle.
That comes at too high a cost,
At too high a price.
It costs our sleep and our inner peace,
And maybe even our happiness.
Allow yourself to just be aware of your body.
Let yourself feel the heaviness of your body melting into the bed.
A light gravity just pulling you down so that you don't float away while you're asleep.
And to fall asleep,
There's nothing that you have to quote unquote do.
You can just let yourself be.
Just let yourself be and let yourself let go.
Find that place of inner peace and serenity.
It's an almost soft,
Ethereal dimension.
One that you go to that's beyond your physical form.
Where your soul gets rest.
Allow yourself to drift off.
Into the deep realm of restful sleep.
In this moment,
Sleep is the only thing that you're here for.
The joy of sleep.
Get a deep,
Deep rest as you let go into the night.
