Do you find yourself over-thinking at night? Battling to fall asleep or waking up in the middle of the night with never-ending thoughts milling through your head?
I recently heard a neuroscientist say that the last 5 minutes of your day, can determine the quality of your life. What you think in the 5 minutes before you fall asleep, should be seen as the food for thought, planted in your brain, to process during the night. You might be falling asleep, but your brain carries on working. If you feed your brain with anxious thoughts, that is what you will wake up with in the morning. And that will set the tone for the next day.
So I would like to leave you with a new picture to dose off to, tonight. Make yourself comfortable, turn the light off and close your eyes. Start off by focussing on your breathing. Breathe in deeply, in and out. In and out. See the air coming in from the soles of your feet, going out at the top of your head. Don’t think, don’t count, just breathe.
Now see yourself walking alone on a beautiful beach, without people. Either a beech you know or one that you imagine. You hear the waves and the seagulls. You are bare feet and you can feel the hot sand and the edge of the water.
BUT something bothers you. There is a thick rope around your middle, tied to a very heavy bag of salt that you are dragging behind you. The burden is uncomfortable and slows you down. The rope cuts into your skin and you have to focus on every step you take.
And then, all of a sudden, you see something shimmer in the sand ahead of you. You pick it up. It is a sharp blade, with your name carved on the handle. You know that it is there for a reason. You should use it to cut the rope loose, to let go of the heavy bag.
You hesitate. But then you think that everything happens with a purpose. You cut the rope and feel the bag of salt drop. You see the waves flowing over it, dissolving the content and spitting out the rope and the bag on the rocks. It takes you a while to get used to the lightness.
In the distance you see someone waving at you. It is your future self – one month from now. He or she is running towards you with a smiling face. When you meet up, you receive the warmest hug you can imagine – and a sincere thank you for caring for the New You.
“Thanks for cutting the rope”, he/she says. “Thanks for letting go. We are free, at last…”
