The world to me seems to be speeding up everyday. We are working longer hours, we are busier than we have ever been before, the traffic is snarling more and more and our stress levels are going through the roof. The consequence to this is that more and more people are suffering insomnia and this can become dangerous and affect your ability to function effectively. One of the best tools to help you with both insomnia and stress is meditation and in particular, meditating before going to bed.
I want to make a clear disclaimer at this point, if you are suffering severe insomnia or stress, please ensure that you get medical help because long term stress and insomnia can cause serious medical issues. However, I would encourage you to use Meditation in conjunction with the therapies a medical practitioner might prescribe as effective meditation will help.
One of the core mistakes that people make with meditation and sleep is that they try to use meditation to actually go to sleep and this never works and in fact it can actually make it harder to get to sleep. The role of meditation before sleep is to slow your body and your mind down so that it gets to a point where it is easier for it to fall naturally asleep.
There are many techniques that you can use to meditate including a seated meditation or a lying down meditation. I recommend people use the sitting method over the lying method because using the lying method so close to going to sleep you may tend to go to sleep rather than actually meditating. There is a clear difference between sleep and meditation.
The core difference is that during meditation your mind needs to be clear but focused where as during sleep, you do not want to be focused you want nothing to be focused in your mind and you want your body and mind to get to that point where you shutdown.
What I recommend is that if you are going to meditate prior to going to sleep then you need to use a basic meditation plan. The plan goes like this ?
1. Your meditation session should take no more than 20 minutes 2. Your meditation session should start 40 minutes prior to going to bed 3. Your meditation technique during the session should use either the deep breathing Technique or basic number counting. 4. Do not drink alcohol, coffee, tea or any other caffeinated drink prior to sleep or you will affect the effectiveness of the meditation session.
Two meditation techniques you should avoid 60 minutes prior to going to bed is the reflective meditation technique or the affirmation meditation technique. I have found from my own experience that if you use these techniques so close to going to bed you can start your mind focusing on either the affirmations or reflections post your meditation session.
This means with only 20 minutes between when you finish your session and when you go to sleep, sometimes you will find that your thoughts continue on after the session and consequently can disrupt your sleep which is what you actually trying to avoid.
One of the reasons I have recommended that you do not meditate and then goto bed, is that sometimes I find that the meditation will bring out various chemicals and stir up feelings in your body which could disrupt your ability to sleep and be leaving the period of 20 minutes between meditating and sleep free is enough to settle you down to get a good nights sleep.
I should note that my colleagues and I use this technique because our jobs are often highly stressful and using this process at night after a heavy day so that we can get a quality nights sleep.
When used effectively, meditation can make a huge difference in the effectiveness of your sleep and the quality of your life. However, meditation is like a sport, the more practice you do, the more effective you become.
When you get married, you are absolutely in love. You can't imagine problems will arise that you don't have today? you can't really see years down the road and all the things that will be thrown into your path to trip up the relationship you have cultivated since you said, ?I do?.
Truth be told, most married couples are going to have those little fights and arguments. It's almost impossible to avoid. The first few years of a marriage especially is a big test as to whether you can deal with the other person's annoying tendencies and habits.
You must understand something up front. From day one and through the years, you'll need to except the fact that arguments and disagreements are normal; it's perfectly natural even. We are ALL human right?
As perfect a match as you may be, you are going to have differences. You are two different people and most of you reading this are going to be two different genders. Your individual personalities are going to cause small cracks in your marriage.
The question is, ?How can you strengthen your marriage so that all these minor to major cracks can be mended or managed??
First, get everything out in the open. Put it out there? some fear might come with this; you might fear how the other would react. Some, ?I don't want to deal with this? attitude might come into play, but it's far worse in the long run not to deal with stuff.
Don't keep it all bottled up. Let it out!
Don't worry if you or the other raises their voice. It's part of the process. Certainly keeping it all inside isn't going to do any good; it will just build up and will have a very negative impact on your relationship with each other.
Once it's out there you have all the information you need to start the healing process. Reason with each other. Try to understand one another's point of view. Respect each others side of the disagreement and find a way to make amends.
If you truly love each other, you should have no problem patching things up.
The idea is to start with a clean slate every morning. You want to get it all out there and handle it the night before.
You don't want to wait until tomorrow to face it. You don't want to wait until next week? you don't want to wait until the other seems to be in a better mood. Don't keep it inside.
Handle it today.
If towards the end of the day, you are agitated with the other, ask the other to take a few minutes to talk.
I want you to forgive, hug and kiss her (or him) before you hit the pillow.
Maybe you'll find out the other didn't actually do what you thought they did. Maybe you misread it. Maybe they did do it, but didn't mean to do it. And vice versa.
Many arguments are just misunderstandings.
I have told my own wife in the past, ?Why do you think I would have done this to hurt you on purpose?? The bottom line is, if I really love her, I wouldn't. And if she knows I love her, this will give her pause and we'll be on a quick path to recovery.
She knows I can be a dunce; I'm a guy! What I perceive as harmless, she can perceive as downright rude and inconsiderate. I'm not afraid to admit I'm the one in the wrong. This admission of error, in itself, strengthens our relationship even more.
If you don't want to struggle in your marriage, communicate, get it out in the open and handled before bed. This is an important route to reconciliation and a healthy marriage.
Both Chris Le Roy & Joseph Taylor are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Chris Le Roy has sinced written about articles on various topics from Travel and Leisure, Asthma and Asthma. If you are looking for quality to help you with your meditation sessions then simply check out our website. Asthma is a t. Chris Le Roy's top article generates over 40500 views. to your Favourites.
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