14 DAY TRIAL // Given our hectic schedules and, most often than not, our unhealthy dietary habits, we frequently find ourselves at night, staring at the ceiling and not being able to sleep. While the abovementioned causes are just two of a myriad of them, lack of sleep can have disastrous consequences, which is why we should do whatever we can to make sure we do not fall victims to it. Hypnotist and successful author Paul McKenna believes that our emotions could also prevent us from getting sleep, and he’s here to help us get rid of the problem.
McKenna says that, if when we’re in bed ready to fall asleep, and we change the pictures in our head to something that makes us feel comfortable and relaxed, and we still cannot get some shuteye, then that must mean there’s a lingering, but extremely important negative emotion that is stopping us from resting, such as anger or guilt.
“That doesn't mean we have to react - it means we have to listen to its message. Emotions are signals. They say: ‘Pay attention to this.’ […] Emotions are our friends. However, because some of them feel uncomfortable, we are often taught to ignore them.” McKenna says, adding that bedtime is the perfect time to identify and deal with our persistent emotions.
This, he says, is the most certain way to achieve a resting night sleep, one that will make us get up in the morning feeling refreshed and ready to start a new day. So, the first step towards getting to know and consequently eliminate some of the emotions we accumulate throughout the day is to “feel the emotion,” meaning, to acknowledge and completely surrender to it, without judging it in any way or reacting to it. Up next comes pin-pointing the exact place on our body where the tension created by the respective emotion, and answering questions like “How does it feel?” and “What is it like?”
The next three steps are, again, about answering a couple of questions that will help us better deal with our emotions. “Next, ask yourself: ‘Why do I feel like this?’; Whatever the answer, next ask yourself: ‘Why does this matter to me?’; Again, whatever the answer, ask again: ‘Why does that answer matter to me?’” McKenna explains in his new book, “I Can Make You Sleep.”
The final step consists of us asking the same questions over and over again until we come up with a positive answer that is relevant for us. That, the author says, is “the positive value which your emotions are telling you about,” and the one we should keep in mind. Once this done, there is nothing standing between us and the most resting night sleep we so much deserve.
For more on how you can rest better at night, pick up McKenna’s “I Can Make You Sleep,” now in stores.