The other day I felt really tired towards early evening. And I let myself feel it. I had come back from the Universal Medicine Retreat 2013 in Hoi An, Vietnam a couple of days earlier and had generally been sleeping more than usual and been more willing and able to feel what was actually going on in my body. And here I was, on a Wednesday evening, sometime between 7 and 8pm and I could feel a quite lovely tiredness after my working day. There was no weariness or exhaustion, no stress or duress, just an easygoing tiredness. My body felt warm, it felt like me and it felt right, familiar and quite lovely in its own way. An early night was definitely on the cards.
Nothing much to write home about then – except for one thing: sometime between 8:00 and 8:30 I would have to check my emails again! I was waiting for an answer from interstate that would determine whether I needed to set my alarm or not for early the next morning to work on a couple of texts that had to go out before I went to work.
I did what I usually do as far as my evening routine is concerned, and then back to the laptop – within 20 minutes and a few more emails I found out that there was more to do than I had anticipated and that there were actually three texts, two of which had to be back the following day. So I decided to do the practical thing and set my alarm.
No big deal – until I checked in with my body again: I had already become aware of the fact that the warm tired feeling wasn’t there anymore. All I could feel was that my head had become the most prominent part of me. I also became aware of an anticipatory feeling of being rushed sometime in the future (tomorrow), plus a hint of potential overwhelm and a real pressure around the assumed possibility of not being able to meet these new deadlines. And somewhere lay waiting a whole barrage of thoughts about all the other things I had to do and somehow squeeze into the next day, and subsequent days.
In other words, I wasn’t connected to my body anymore. If I wanted to sleep and sleep well I needed to reconnect. I could feel that these thought processes / emotions were slightly above and ahead of my body like a bank of fog: it felt really strange but it was very real. And it felt cold. It was hard to believe how cold it felt. I had to keep checking: it was definitely cold. And I couldn’t feel the tiredness anymore, just this immaterial and disengaged, cold and somehow empty blur.
I was just about to go to bed, but how could I settle and go to sleep? I knew that my body must still be tired but I couldn’t feel it anymore. It was amazing to observe how my head was running the show and feeding me this weird and unreal state of disembodied, strained and cold alertness. Had I not let myself feel the warm and very real physical tiredness before, I could have easily fooled myself into believing that I wasn’t tired at all.
So I went to bed knowing this was not an evening for catch-up TV or other things. I needed to just get into bed and reconnect – I knew that my body must still be tired, but I had just lost touch with it and the tiredness.
What happened next? I just ever so slightly started feeling my body again; I was also aware of my expectation of meeting that warm and real tiredness again and then… I woke up an hour before my alarm went off the next morning and easily did all I had to do before going to work.
Big deal? Yes, for me it was a big deal – an amazing experience of the truth of my body and the disengaged coldness of an otherwise different choice.
But wait, there is more: I got my friend Katerina to read a draft of this blog and she wanted to know what happened after the semicolon and before I woke up the next morning!?
Well, it was just so simple and straightforward that I am nearly at a loss as to how to describe it. All I know is that I wasn’t telling myself off for having lost the connection and I certainly didn’t try to re-connect. All I did was trust the knowing that my body and the tiredness had to still be there. I just put a few feelers out, felt what I could feel, which was quite subtle, and gave what was there permission to be there. And before I knew it I had fallen asleep. Very simple and oh, so profound.
By Gabriele Conrad, Goonellabah, Australia
862 Comments
Thank you Gabriele for a such great blog, so beautiful in the trust and the knowing and allowing the body to just be with no trying or telling yourself off.
Our experiences feel very similar indeed: ignore what the body is telling us and we get sidetracked; connect to what the body is showing us and what we feel to be true without judgment or guilt, and things are back on track and we get, as in both instances, a great night’s sleep.
Thank you Gabriele for sharing this with me. It is lovely to be connected with my body and to feel that it is tired and to honour this and how astonishing is it that it is that easy for me to ignore this feeling, as you did, by going into doing. Yesterday I had such an evening with sudden e-mails that ‘needed’ direct action from me. After dinner I really felt that I would love to go to bed early and to take time to lovingly turn down. I only had to complete some minor things on my computer and there I found these ‘needy’ e-mails I felt I had to respond to. This made me to disconnect from what I had felt before and did not go to bed as early as I intended to do. Before I actually went to bed I realised (just as an observation, not as a judgement to myself) what I had done and this made it possible for me to reconnect with the feeling that my body needs to be nurtured and put to rest. This morning I woke up fresh, connected and with a joyful feeling inside, ready for another amazing day. How simple life can be when I learn to appreciate the messages from my body and by honouring them as being my guide for a vital and joyful life.
Wow, that is so powerful to read. That was a wake up call for me. I often feel cosy and warm and ready for bed, then check a few emails, get caught up in work and bang – I’m not tired anymore! I had been kidding myself as to the reason. Thank you for bringing that awareness!!
I love how you describe the bank of fog that came over you Gabrielle, and the coldness of that. This is exactly what I feel. When this happens we can go either way – choose to re-connect with our body or be convinced of all the thoughts that we are being bombarded with. Thank you so much for writing on this topic.
Thank you Gabriele for your wonderful sharing, there are many times for me when I feel to go to bed and I allow something to pull me away from doing so; but, I am now learning to listen to and feel my body more.
Wonderful observation Gabriele. How easy it can be to go from being connected to what our body is telling us, then go into the ‘doing’, and immediately be disconnected from what the body was telling us just a moment before! The absolute joy of listening to the body teaches us to be true to ourselves. Beautiful.
I love the utter simplicity and truth of your statement, a great summary and a great way to live.
Thank you Gabriele, a great reminder that life is in fact very simple when we just allow ourselves to feel our bodies and then follow through with what we are actually feeling.
Such wonderful awareness Gabrielle, so simple. I also have found it easy to override what my body feels, easy using the TV or computer and of course my mind supplying all the justification I needed to fool myself. As I pay more attention to my body, less sleep is required, less food is required, no TV is required and gradually more energy is found. None of that makes sense to my mind, kinda OK with that now.
I love your down to earth and tongue in cheek account – it can be nearly too simple to be true, is what I am picking up between the lines. Why do we seem to favour complications and conundrums over the simplicity of what you describe? It doesn’t make any sense and yet, it can seem a tenacious habit to break.
Awesome blog and great reminder. I am still working on allowing myself to feel and honour the tiredness in full. It´s work in progress and I become more and more aware how big the impact of my evening routine is on the quality of my sleep. And that in turn determines the quality of the next day. With your lovely reminder I will explore it even further.
It’s all to easy to get entrapped by technology and social media just before we retire to bed. Once done, I find the mind takes over and it can stop my otherwise gentle slide into sleep. So thanks for describing how you brought yourself back from the brink, having lost your connection to your body’s signals. I’ll definitely be trying that.
Yes, it is just a question of connecting to the body without any hardness or must-do, have-to or else! That kind of discipline where we take ourselves to task just ingrains the mind-full way of living and does not honour the body and what is really going on.
When re-reading your blog Gabrielle I really felt your last sentences.
“All I did was trust the knowing that my body and the tiredness had to still be there. I just put a few feelers out, felt what I could feel, which was quite subtle, and gave what was there permission to be there. And before I knew it I had fallen asleep. Very simple and oh, so profound.” Most of the times when I feel disconnected I try to get the connection back instead of trusting that my body knows what to do. Thank you!
What I feel from reading this blog is how we can make life so complex and look for solutions or ways to fix things from our head. When in truth life is and can be in fact very very simple, when we choose to listen to our bodies and honour what we feel.
Well said, it doesn’t get any simpler than that. Are we then addicted to complexity and struggle, would be my next question.
Hi Gabrielle, I love this blog, it made me smile as I can relate to so much, not just in my evening routine, but also in the working day when I can get caught up in the stress and thoughts in my head, loosing that lovely and natural joy and connection I have with my body, and the simplicity and flow of the day or evening that follows this. I can just feel how amazing it would be and what a difference it would make to every body’s lives if we lived in this way, listening to our body.
What I also love is your last paragraph, as it made me smile, with the absolute simplicity on offer, and a little ouch if I tell the truth as I realised wow how often I give myself an hard time, tell myself off, or a big one for me is trying too much – which in truth just keeps us in in the cycle of being in our heads. I love how you share that it is as simple as to ” trust ” and “give permission” to whatever is there to be there. This can be applied to many areas of our lives.
This was so beautiful to read Gabrielle, as I have followed this pattern so many evenings. Not listening initially to my body, going off to do something, ending up in my head and then loosing that feeling you mentioned, iI know it well. So your blog has been an amazing reminder to honour that feeling, but also if you don’t, know that you can reconnect and again settle into your body and feel it once again. Mmmm, it is a great feeling.
Indeed it is a great feeling to be with our body, and the choice we have all the time to connect. I find this choice is my inner freedom I can come home anytime, no one is there judging me for not being perfect. I love this way of living.
I love how you surrendered and trusted what you had felt and let go of how your mind was trying to run the show. I can relate to that feeling or pressure and nervous tension especially when I feel I don’t have enough time. Yet when I let my body be I seem to have all the time in the world to do what needs to be done and I feel energised and lovely doing it.
Yes, I have found that as well, Rachel: when I let my body take over, time expands and there is plenty of space to get everything done. Then I have to be aware that I don’t get hooked on it going so well and trying to squeeze a little bit more ‘doing’ in, thereby letting my mind and its expectations and ideals take over once more. It is quite a strong pattern, as I have noticed, this need to be forever d-o-i-n-g more and more.
So often I override my body by driving ahead with my mind … and give myself a hard time for it too!
Thanks especially for the final paragraph which reminds me I don’t need the answers just the willingness to surrender to my body once again.
With thanks to your friend Katerina for asking what happened after you went to bed after your mind-busy end to the day.
We all have situations which, on reflection, we could have handled differently, for me it’s how we handle those ‘reflections’ that then impacts on the rest of our day, or night.
Lovely to read about this night of yours as I have experienced this many times. Sometimes I can go for days being in a racy, alert state that by the end of the week or end of the month I realise how I haven’t honoured my warm tired feeling, great to see you can catch it again, feel it and honour it. That takes honesty even when it is subtle.
It takes honesty as you rightly say and then it takes consistency to address it, in my experience. Not with any perfection, but with a loving dedication to self and a life lived joyfully.
Ah sleep is so beautiful when it begins with connection to the body and not an exhausted ‘I must get to sleep because I have so much to do tomorrow’. Thank you Gabriele for sharing your experience so beautifully.
This is so awesome- I know these situation so well and it is great how you describe what helped you coming back!!! Great inspiration- I will try next time .
Thank you for sharing this article Gabriele. I always used to push myself to get everything ‘done’ in the evening so that I could have more time to do more things the next day. Not surprising that I found falling asleep very elusive and often tossed and turned with a busy brain for ages. I have now turned everything around and wake early with no need of an intrusive alarm clock feeling refreshed and deal with emails etc to clear the day ahead. This takes my foot off the accelerator and in the early evening I gently wind down ready for sleep knowing the day is complete. I drop gently asleep with my mind at rest. I love this way of living.
It is an amazing way to live and it makes for a truly refreshing and restorative sleep cycle.
I have found the same Mary, when I pushed through, not only did I find it hard to go to sleep I also found I woke with a start and in a panic, worried that I had forgotten something or that I would miss my bus. It has changed my life to give this way of looking at my nightime a go.
Thank you Gabriel for your simple but profound blog. I often go to bed anxious where my body feels rigid and my legs hot and jumpy. The next day I’m exhausted and brain dead. I’ve been wondering where the anxiety comes from. After reading about your experience, I now know that I override the warm tired feeling and the welcome of the bed. I’m still in my head “letting it run the show” and willing myself to sleep, which only makes the problem worse. I loved the way you allowed yourself to connect knowing that the tiredness was still there. So simple!
That is so true what you say – willing ourselves to sleep is just another mind-full activity that overrides the body and leads to rigidity and contraction, with no prospect of sleep in sight.
Gorgeous Gabrielle. A beautiful and simple yet a powerful reminder of honoring what our bodies are telling us and trusting that all will be there for us when we do so. And I love how what shared about how you re-connected to your body – thank you highlighting again how simple this can be. I can feel the tenderness of this honoring though your shared words.
Gabriele thankyou so much for sharing what truly is a simple but very profound experience. All of what you have shared I could feel in my body i.e. the tendency to over ride what the body is feeling.
The last paragraph really does bring it all together (and tears to my eyes) Thank you and Katerina for the whole package. (It now has me feeling how important and supportive, not just to ourselves but everyone when we bring all of us to what ever it is we are doing i.e. sleeping, sharing experiences etc.)
Such revelations in one blog, thank you Gabriele. ” Had I not let myself feel the warm and very real physical tiredness before, I could have easily fooled myself into believing that I wasn’t tired at all.” Great reminder that there is always a point in our day in which we can stop and take the time to truly feel what our bodies want.
I loved coming back to re-read this blog, Gabriele. A great reminder for how our mind can take over and how easy it is to lose connection to what our body is telling us and yet very easy to re-connect again with awareness for what is going on.
An amazing level of awareness you have for your body there. It’s simply beautiful to feel how you were able to trust your body to lead the way back. Thank you, Gabriele.
This is so simple and as you say profound, I can relate to these feelings, I love how you trusted your body and knowing you were tired went to bed rather than overriding this earlier feeling and kept working and how amazing that your body woke up early and you were able to finish the work. This article is a testament to the amazingness and knowing of our bodies, all we need to do is listen and trust – very beautiful!
How our mind can override the signals of our body even tiredness we ‘forget’ to feel. I used to do that a lot, only listening to my thoughts, getting stressed and completely neglect my body, My mind would give me the idea I was so important, I could not be missed, I had to do everything, pressure pressure pressure. Since I allow myself to feel my body and in busy times this is still a challenge I recognize what my body is telling me and how great it feels to listen to the signals. And as I listen to the signals, my body is telling me more and more, the wisdom of our body!
Yes, the more we feel, the more we feel – it’s great and it gets better all the time.
Yes Gabriele, simple, yet deeply profound. I love how you identified the tiredness and then shared with us your mind’s ability to override the bodies signals. I would suggest many of us live in this perpetual state of overriding 24/7 without brining our awareness back to the body and the simplicity of re-connection.
It is beautiful to allow ourselves to feel the tiredness in our bodies. Something that I now experience. To honour what I feel and listen to my body is something that I now give myself permission to do. Thank you Gabriele
And it is actually a very delicious feeling and deeply honouring of the body and its needs. And it creates a great foundation for truly restful sleep and for the following day and its rhythm.
As someone in the habit of ‘just checking’ my emails last thing at night and then suffering the sleep slings and arrows of outrageous, self-inflicted misfortune, I loved your insight into how to reconnect with the body once all that low-level anxiety has been raised, just at the point of pillow. By simply giving what is there – our true level of natural tiredness – permission to be there, that’s enough to reconnect to the truth in our bodies and enable a gentle acceptance of the sleep that’s ready and willing to roll.
Since writing this contribution I have also come to know that my day actually starts the evening before – which has added a whole new dimension to this wind-down period in total preparation and with dedication to me and the day ahead. How I go to bed mirrors how I wake up and start my day and this awareness and intent have added immensely to how I am during that day, how I am at work and at play and how tired or not I am at the end of it. It has also supported me with my level of presence during the day, it has become a very amazing foundation for everything I do.
Super blog, Gabriele. You highlight such a relevant issue here. Sleep! I am only just starting to embrace a very regular sleep routine and I can so relate to your comment in your blog about how your body felt warm, it felt like you and it felt right, familiar and quite lovely in its own way. What a sweet luxury it is to allow myself to feel my tiredness after years of hiding it away in the deepest recesses in the land of the doing. At times I am starting to wake up 10, 15, 20 minutes before my alarm goes off and the feeling brings a wonderful sense of joy into my being. When I have allowed myself to feel how relevant my evening routine is to the day ahead I recognise as you say in your comment above, that “it has become a very amazing foundation for everything I do.”. It’s an awesome way to start my day with the feeling that my morning has somehow expanded and there is so much time in which to go through my morning routine with the full presence of me.
There is so much joy in the way you describe the changes you have made and what they have brought to you, how amazing is that!
When I prepare and wind down for sleep a few hours before going to bed I find the quality of my sleep improves and I have the most delicious sleep, and like you, I also wake an hour or two before my alarm, and get many things done in this quiet time in the morning before going to work. Great sharing,
thank you.
Yes, there is a world of difference and nothing beats the yumminess of our connection to our body and the warmth and ease that comes with that.
This is so true. I have often overridden the body’s feelings with the mind or stimulation, which I have always paid for in one way or another, either exhaustion or anxiety etc… It is so simple, all it takes is to listen and allow the feelings and impulses and before I know it I am feeling amazing and in the full flow of life 🙂
An amazing blog, I can completely relate. I have an electric blanket on my bed, and getting into a deliciously warm bed is amazing. I also can relate to getting caught up in everything that needs to be done and forget what is most important in the present moment – getting a good night’s sleep.
love this sharing Gabriele, I am about to take a leaf out of your book right now and allow myself to feel what is there to be. No pressure no stress just allowing. Yum
It is so easy to go into a bit of drive or push or stimulation to get things done in a time scale. I know I can slip subtly and easily into this from feeling warm and connected and calm in my body, to a bit of mild panic or overwhelm in an instant. Then it is so easy to go into beating myself up for doing so, so it is great to hear how simple it can be to just stop, feel and allow or give permission for whatever is felt and that this is all we have to do.
Yes, it is that simple – stopping the beating up and just feeling what there is to feel and instantly, the connection to the body is back and the craziness has been debased.
I love the great insights you have shared here and can relate to feeling tired, feeling like it is time to sleep, time to take a rest or be gentle with myself but it is amazing how quickly a thought can come in that is so super important this connection with my body can be lost in a millisecond. It is inspiring to read how through our own choice we can reconnect by recognising we have simply given power to the demands of the mind. Thank you, Gabriele
Yes Julie we give thoughts so much power. When I look back I can see how hard I drove myself on nervous energy. Efficiency and speed was the name of the game then. Now sleep restores me, ready for the following day. And yes I wake up in the energy I went to sleep in.
I know what you mean Gabriele. I have done similar things – checking social media just before sleep, which always gets me into a doing mode. It takes discipline to say no and to nurture oneself enough to claim the time to wind down properly before bed. I’m learning the importance of sleep and how much it contributes to the following day. For me, the next day starts when I go to bed.
Yes, that is so true – the next day starts when we go to bed. And the next day is very much influenced by how connected I am to me and my body then. I have found that if I go to bed racy and with nervous energy or stimulated in any way whatsoever, I then wake up with thoughts of what I have to do and a racy agenda in my head instead of enjoying the space I have created and starting the day gently with me.
Love it Gabriele, your last paragraph sums it up beautifully, that we just need to keep things simple when we are going to sleep, and honour our own body rhythm (of feeling tired and therefore going to sleep) – then the rest of our day will flow a lot more, as with your example of waking up an hour before your alarm was set to go off. Awesome
I love this Jessica, keeping things simple when we are going to sleep. Listening to our body and how it feels.
sleep has been very challenging for me. Universal Medicine has supported me in trusting my body. when i can stay in my body, i sleep. it’s that simple. i wake up often, and i sometimes feel frustrated, then i breathe and get in my body, yawn alot and eventually go back to sleep.
I really enjoyed your blog Gabriele! I have done what you describe so many times and disconnected through the “pressure” of what needs to be done tomorrow. “Your words are food for thought, ” I knew that my body must still be tired, but I had just lost touch with it and the tiredness.” I noticed just yesterday that this happened to me at work I was feeling tired for much of the day. It wasn’t a big deal and I took the day very gently, but by the last part of the afternoon stimulation kicked in the form of adrenaline rush and I clocked the feeling of not being tired anymore. Your blog has brought a clearer awareness to me of what I felt and a simplicity of reconnecting when this happens.
Two things stuck out for me here as I read this, Gabriele.
1st of all – that stopping and listening to my body can speak volumes – and it is something I can do no matter how much work we have to do.
2nd of all – was trusting myself more. If I can’t feel the connection, I don’t need to beat myself up about it.
That is truly honoring.
You are quite right; it needs to be said that the more we have to do the more we are served and supported by listening to our body. If not, I have found that I come from a drive and an underlying lovelessness that then pervades and colours all I do.
That’s great Mike, I know it works but I did not know it works that well!
Gabriele. Reading all the comments on sleep, made me tired, went to bed early and slept like a baby, woke up feeling so refreshed and ready to to meet the day’s challenges. Another early night tonight.
Gabriele, this is profound and very timely to read as I have noticed me doing the same thing when I know I am ready for sleep and then have to check the email/go on the computer before bed and how that warm snuggly feeling is lost. What is inspiring about what you have written is that all was not lost, you didn’t berate yourself, you clocked what had happened, let go and then had a beautiful sleep.
You are right and I love your summary, Shevon; all that is needed is to connect back to the body, it really is very simple and straightforward.
Great blog Gabriele and very true Alison, we can suddenly kick into “oh I’ve just got to do this” mode and suddenly we have lost touch with everything our body is feeling. It is so amazing when we truly honour our tiredness, a natural feeling at the end of the day and head for an early night. The body doesn’t have to fight with us and it saves so much energy!
Rowena, that’s what I have found, if we honour the body when are tired and go to bed early the body does not fight and we don’t waste energy.
Yes and valuing this signal brings a level of healing and change from the patterns that we may have carried for many years.
Yes Rowena I absolutely agree how tricky that “oh I’ve just got to do this” thought is and where it leads – often it leads away from what is true and loving for my body and for myself. If I listen to the wisdom of my body and go to bed when it is time I wake early the next morning full of beans and everything gets taken care of gracefully just as Gabriele described.
so sneaky indeed how we can get lost or kid ourselves with this “oh I’ve just got to do this”. I love your sharing Rowena/Nicola . Enough – I am putting myself on a detox program for this pattern…the only thing “to do” is to stay present and connected to my body. Anything else is second.
Great point made Nicola. Just stopping to listen to the body rather than over riding everything with another job leaves the hall marks of our decision the next day when we wake.
I have experienced this too Nicola. It feels amazing when we listen to the wisdom of our body and honour the loving messages we received from it.
“Getting it done gracefully” are the key words for me here and I have experienced this as well; everything just flows and work is the most enjoyable pastime I could possibly imagine.
Great comment Rowena. It’s easy to disconnect from what our body is communicating to us but once we are aware of this we can also easily reconnect to our body again to feel into what is needed.
I love how your article shows how tricky/’smart’ our minds can be, overriding our bodies clear messages . For me this is a standout line…’I could feel that these thought processes / emotions were slightly above and ahead of my body like a bank of fog: ‘…brilliant!, thank you Gabrielle,
And that is exactly how it felt Jacky, and the only thing that would stop me or anybody else feeling it is when I am not connected to my body and thus ignore the initial yummy feeling and how it changes into something cold and distant.
What a lovely sharing of how important it is to always honour what our body tells us. I like how you described the cold when your mind kicked in. I have found when I get caught in the doing that I can forget to stay with my body, I am learning to stay with my body and listen to it more and more.
Great blog Gabriele. I can relate to getting racy and not feeling the tiredness anymore and have to make a conscious effort not to let my mind run off on unhelpful thoughts, especially if I have reacted to something. I have noticed that the more present I am during the day, the better my sleep is.
It’s quite a momentum to keep feeding ourselves ever more stimulation, trying to cram more stuff in at the end of the day, isn’t it? Even if this stimulation is seemingly minor or even perceived as inconsequential or harmless – I was observing last night how I wanted to check my diary and how I was travelling for the rest of the week and it was way into my winding down period. It is as though what my day has brought and what I have brought to the day hasn’t been enough and needs to be upped in some way and improved upon – with the opposite effect of course and thus I had trouble falling asleep as easily as I normally do!
Awesome Gabriele. You have touched on a great point and I relate well to getting caught up with the ‘doing’ of all the things to do, when actually I have a feeling of my body being tired and I easily override it with my head. This is a work in progress as I am learning to more deeply honour the messages my body shows me. I have found that when I listen to my body it really does know best even if my head thinks that it knows best and tries to talk me out of what I am feeling.
I so agree Beverley. What I feel never seems to make sense to my clever mind which has apparently all the answers, or so we are told. I have also found that the body knows best and that it is a mere question of listening to it and honouring what it shares.
Great blog Gabriele and timely reminder to stop, feel and respond. Allowing myself to feel my body and not override its signals is the greatest gift . There is a total yumminess in just being and feeling. Thank you.
Thanks Gabriele, it’s amazing how the mind can run away on us if we let it. I sometimes go into all sorts of scenarios if I’m not careful, crazy stuff that probably would never happen. I am learning though to stay with how my body feels and not go there.
This is such a beautifully expressed and inspiring blog Gabriele. It’s great timing for me to read as I’m feeling complete exhaustion from overworking and getting the job done at the total expense of my body. Whilst I was ‘getting the job done’ I was overriding the tiredness and reaching for sweet foods to keep me going which has only exacerbated the situation. Now I’ve stopped I can feel the utter harm that I’ve done to myself and I vow never to put myself through this again! Thank you for this sharing and the reminder of how important it is to keep feeling and not overriding.
All great comments on one’s sleeping patterns. I would fight my tiredness as I would not go to bed that early, but to be honest the next morning I felt just as tired.
I now go to bed early and sleep like a baby, and wake up really refreshed, to start a new day.
You hit the nail on the head Mike – that we are fighting our body a lot has been my experience as well and when you say it out loud or write it down you get to feel how crazy this is! Why fight the body that we take along everywhere we go and that has to do everything we decide to do? Would it not make more sense to have a very intimate and close relationship with our body and honour its messages and communication?
Hi Gabriele,
There are so many times when I will feel tired, but let myself get distracted by all the things I need to do. At the weekend, I was feeling a little under the weather, and was at home gently doing chores. I had started washing up, and as I stood at the bowl, running hot water, I was suddenly aware that I felt very tired, I like to get things done and would normally finish what I’m doing before doing the next thing, but probably because I had had a cold and cough that week, I was more committed to honouring my body, so I immediately left the washing up, and lay on my bed just for 15 minutes to rest and just let my body relax. I know that I do this at work too, I may feel like getting a drink or to stretch my legs or even to go to the toilet, but I will want to finish this one thing first, which often leads to another, and I can ignore the impulse to do something else for quite some time in the end. So, I’m getting quite good at noticing these things, I just want to make a few more choices to act when I notice instead of ‘just a minute and then I will…. ‘ as if my body is the distraction, and not the main event to listen to…
I know that feeling well, Laura… “just a minute and then I will stop”. Before I know it, the minute turns into an hour and I am in a ferocious push and drive, that really hurts my body.
I agree Laura – after years of listening to my body when I am tired I am still learning but it is really great to go to bed when tired and no later and to wake up refreshed 9 out of 10 times.
So true and beautifully described, the ever ongoing to-do-list that we can use to hold ourselves to ransom with.
So simple and profound Gabriele, thank you for the reminder.
I so enjoy the clarity and depth in your expression Gabriele. I also wanted to know what happened after the semicolon and before you woke up, so thanks for sending the draft to Katerina and thanks to Katerina for her input. This highlights for me how sometimes sharing with another can be so supportive, and how we don’t say things sometimes because it seems so ‘simple and straightforward’ and we are ‘at a loss for words,’ or so we think, but it is in giving ourselves permission to expand and elucidate that offers ourselves and everyone else an opportunity for greater understanding and appreciation.
Thanks Gabrielle. I have noticed this too. That if I am not careful my mind finds emails to read and TV and jobs to do even though my body is telling me it’s bedtime and before I know it I’ve gone to bed later than planned and a bit racy and then not slept very well. Staying in the present and really listening carefully to my body are really important.
Yes, it is uncanny how convincing the mind can be and I have recently found that even just overextending by a mere five minutes has a huge impact on my body and my vitality.
Yes I know what you mean Gabriele. There is a conversation going on with my body that is exact. A rhythm and a moment to moment flow. If I am OUT of this even for a few minutes I can feel the difference.
Amazing Gabrielle….. on that note, I am being inspired by you and am going to bed this very second! Night night… 🙂
Thank you Gabrielle for sharing. I have been noticing that when I am tired and feel that warmth in the body, if I connect to that and honour it, I drop off to sleep instantly and awake fresh before my alarm clock goes of. If there are days when I ignore any tiredness, I go to bed with anxiousness, my sleep is restless and an alarm clock has to wake me up. Your sharing has inspired me to go deeper and really connect to my feelings of tiredness and just honour where my body is at.
I totally agree Amita. It can nearly feel like a kind of hangover in the morning when I let the tiredness slip away and go into nervous energy or anxiousness about the day ahead. Just goes to show that the body is the marker of what is really going on rather than the mind that can seemingly be so convincing with its messages to the contrary.
Thanks for a great blog Gabriele. I am feeling warmly tired now, just a few things I have to do, then I’m planning to go to bed. I will remember your words.
I trust you’ll sleep well Natalie!
That is a great sharing Ken – I find too that I override the exhaustion and push through and then, if anything doesn’t go ‘according to plan’ the anxiety kicks in and together, the push and the anxiety, then become the fuel for that particular task. And what also happens is that the ‘doing and getting done’ of the job have become far more important than the quality I have been doing it in and whether I have been connected to myself or not. And really – could I be connected when the push is already something that had, by it’s very nature, taken me out of my body?
That’s great, Alison. Your comment about getting the ironing board out made me laugh out loud. It is funny but crazy how we can override what our body is clearly saying as the end of the day is approaching, once we let the mind kick in. Thank you so much Gabriele for this awesome account.
To spend the week observing how we override our bodies messages, l feel would be life changing. If we get really honest with ourselves.
I am sure that even spending one day closely observing what we do with the messages our body is continually giving us would be incredibly revealing, and doing it for a week would definitely expose the deeply held patterns of how we have lived while ignoring our very wise body. As you say Irena, it all comes down to honesty.
Yes Ingrid. To make the commitment to focus on listening to the body whole heartedly for a week would be very revealing and no doubt would bring up a lot of OUCH! moments.
I agree Irena
Yes thats right Irena and the question is why do we do so
Yes, I had a similar experience with work. I felt exhausted but had a 2 hour job to do. I stayed with the feeling of exhaustion, honoring it. During the job I broke something and felt a wave of anxiety. I centered myself and carried on but I noticed that I was not feeling exhausted any more, then I understood that I was runnning on nervous energy (an old familiar habit). This time however I felt the shift and understood I had overoad the exhaustion and was running on nervous energy. It was a great awareness of an old pattern.
Thank you Gabrielle, your article is very inspiring. I can so easily get distracted and fool myself into the illusion of doing more when actually the same amount could be done at a different time the next day ie. in the early hours shortly after waking up, for me anytime between 3 am and 4 am, and usually the day goes by without feeling tired.
I agree Alexandre – for me, this mad habit of ticking off things to do is totally mind driven and does not honour a loving rhythm at all. I find that I do this very often from an anticipated fear of overwhelm and more work coming in but the truth is, there is never more than I can handle as long as I stay connected and read what my body shows me so clearly.
Alex and Gabriele it’s great what you share. I too used to do a lot of ticking boxes but always felt my list did not stop and I would be so tired as I just did not give myself enough time to wind down. I have now changed my pattern, so I listen to my body when it says enough for the day I stop, I start allowing my body to unwind and prepare myself to switch off for the evening. I am so much more relaxed and not tired. I am able to fall off to sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.
Yes, ticking boxes at the expense of how we are truly feeling is a big trap and I have noticed that listening to my body can sometimes even mean to stop working on a document one or two pages before it ends, but enough is enough and my body clearly tells me so. If I override it and keep going, that last bit really drains me and causes a nervous acceleration in my body which then makes it really hard to wind down.
Gabriele that’s a great point if we over ride the stop that nervous acceleration kicks in, which makes me feel worst. It really is about listening and stopping before the tiredness kicks in and understanding our body.
I am still working with this too Gabriele but completely get the nervous acceleration that can come from – one more typed sentence or a phone call answered. This level of nervous tension is well learned and it takes a lot to quell and let go of – way more energy than honouring and then completing the task when the body felt to.
Gabriele this is great to read because I often have those times when I feel to rest and prepare for bed in the evening and then instead, get engaged in emails or T.V. and “forget” that I am tired. When I go to sleep its then in the anticipation of being behind, being tired etc. I will try out your simple tips!
This is awesome Gabriele and perfect for me to read this morning. I can really relate to being connected and feeling tired in the early evening and then letting the mind come in and take over and feeling overwhelmed and anxious about what there is to do in the future which then affects the quality of my sleep and how I live the next day. I love how you describe ‘I could feel that these thought processes / emotions were slightly above and ahead of my body like a bank of fog’ and how you didn’t beat yourself up or try to re-connect but just allowed. I can feel how I have often blamed myself for losing the connection to my body and how this only serves to take me further away because I remain stuck in my head. Thank you for this practical but profound and inspiring sharing of your experience.
Amazing to read, I love your awareness. I could feel my body change when I read the first part of your blog (in bed) it started to relax more and wanted to feel what you were feeling, the natural warmth and tiredness.
As I read the next part it felt all to familiar, the to do list, what have, I got to get done etc.
It is truly amazing how you describe this, the ‘disengaged coldness’ and more importantly how from simply having the willingness to go back to the feeling you originally had it changed yet again. Very inspiring on how important it is to take note of our bodies and listen to them and more importantly that we have the power to change instantly if it does not feel right. Thank you or sharing.
Wow this is a great blog Gabriele. I know I have ignored my body most of my life and lived in a thought world in my head. Observing it’s truth and accuracy now leaves me in complete wonder, and how much it really does know, what it can do and how wise the body is, just amazes me.
Thank you Gabrielle for this blog, it is a great reminder of the infinite wisdom and power of the body to do what is right for us if we allow it and don’t let our heads rule the way. I love the description of just putting a “few feelers out” and “giving permission” – so simple and yet clearly so effective.
So true Stephen, this article ‘ is a great reminder of the infinite wisdom and power of the body to do what is right for us if we allow it and don’t let our heads rule the way’. Simple and true.
I agree Catherine – it is just an allowing of what is already there as our natural state underneath the turmoil and the noise and the at times frantic activity. I am learning that more and more and how simple it all really is.
With sleep being championed as the panacea, the great healer, how lovely to read your article Gabriele and everyone’s comments, which to me suggest that it’s our relationship with sleep, and ultimately ourselves, which can be a healer.
I loved this blog- as I started to read it I expected it to be about the perils of allowing yourself to get distracted by emails etc close to bedtime, but the truth offered was way deeper. In particular I loved the reminder that we do not have to try hard to connect, just allow, for connection is our natural state, and comes easily if our bodies have become accustomed to that way of being.
And also that golden line of giving ” what was there permission to be there”….gosh that is gorgeous and such a gift we can give ourselves. It can be such a work in progress when we get in our way and don’t allow what is there, to simply be there but it is a road I am certainly glad I am on.
I couldn’t agree more Sarah, giving ourselves permission to listen to what was there to feel, and maybe not always honouring that, but oh so glad it is a more consistent choice that is made, is awesome.
I remember when my daughter was about 1 and we were in a one bedroom flat and we were wanting her to sleep in her own room so she got the lounge. So at 7pm the TV was off and when I felt my body it was tired and actually wanted to sleep. It felt great to honour this by actually going to bed. But what really stood out for me was that I was obviously overriding how my body actually felt for the stimulation of TV, or in your case the computer. I can certainly relate to that now as I haven’t watched TV in a long time, but the busyness gets to override what my body wants. Like you describe we are then a walking head running the show with our bodies suffering! And with that I am off to bed!
I love what you have shared in saying we are walking heads…funny, but true!
I have also been someone who has always gone to bed early. It is almost like I have no choice as I just get more and more tired. But what I am noticing is how I can delay the actual winding down time that my body really needs in the evening.
Can certainly relate to allowing the busyness of life to overide when I go to sleep. I noticed that whenever my life gets busier and there is more work to do that my self care always slips such as giving myself the time to sleep, this means that when I wake up I am in far more exhaustion than when I started and therefore the work that I have to do is a far greater struggle.
Walking head – walking dead! Numb to the fact that our body is the most intelligent thing of all. Great reminder Vanessa to look out for every teensy trick the mind can play on distracting us away from who we truly are and what we truly feel.
What a great and self-loving rhythm around your sleep and winding down time, very inspiring.
Yes, it can seem like a big deal, but isn’t it the simplest and truest and most logical thing to do at the same time? The mind doesn’t have to tangibly and physically live the choices that affect our body after all.
I can relate to what you say about going to bed complete. It feels awful to go to bed being worried about what there is to come the next day and having not completed EVERYTHING that needs doing on that day.
Such a great example of how we disconnect from the feelings we know in our body – and as you say, let our head run the show. It’s such a subtle energy and can easily be over-ridden, but the outcome is profound. Yet when we trust and reconnect we’re right back there. So simple and so beautiful.
Thank you Gabrielle for this great example of how easy it is to override our bodies and go into our heads, our bodies are always clearly signalling how to care for ourselves, and beautiful that you re-connected to your body and honoured this feeling – very inspiring.
Very profound indeed Gabriele. Thanks for the reminder that our bodies will give us all the signs we need if we want to listen to it.
Gabriele, I absolutely loved the description you gave to the changes and signals your body was giving you as you went from being body centered to mind-led and back into your body. I have spent so much of my life being a “spacey” child and unfocused and anxious adult. I knew I was not representing who I really am but felt like I couldn’t find myself! Now I know that all I need to do is breathe gently, do things slowly or gently and I feel myself again. I know this because it WORKS and all the many modalities, meditations, workshops, courses and “healings” I tried before did not bring me back to me in this way at all. Thank you simple-common-sense-Universal Medicine.
Yes, you are absolutely right, no outward method or modality can help us find ourselves – I tried travelling as well to add to the list. Isn’t it amazing that what we are trying to find is right there with us all the time, just waiting to be connected to?
A very relatable topic as I too have found myself feeling that everything is purely focused on whats in my head and all the situations and endless to-do lists. All the while I know my body has had enough. What has inspired me from this blog is the fact that by just feeling that tiredness and allowing that to be the focus as we go to bed the body gets a chance to rest in a higher quality. I have found that if I go to bed with my mind running the show my sleep is not as deep or effective compared to intentionally putting myself to sleep.
Hi Leigh, when you write “I have found that if I go to bed with my mind running the show my sleep is not as deep or effective compared to intentionally putting myself to sleep” I can really relate to that. If I go to sleep with a to-do list then I will wake up with one, there is no doubt about it, I have slavishly conducted that same experiment many times. Looking back to what I experienced and wrote about I can clearly see that it was one of the occasions when I truly surrendered to the wisdom of my body and let the mind be what the mind is – a chatterbox of sorts that will come up with anything and everything to try and take me away from what I feel in the body – if I let it.
That is an awesome point – how you go to sleep is exactly how you wake up. I’ve often wished it to be different and there to be a magical cure in the night so that if I abuse my body the day before then I’ll still wake up feeling refreshed. It has taught me that we have a responsibility in the way we put ourselves to bed, and the way we live our day, because ultimately, that is what we take to the new day ahead.
I can really relate to what you both say here, I have experienced the difference between racy before bed and calm before bed affecting how I wake up. And at the same time just expecting my sleep to magically swipe away all the days abuse and tomorrow will be a clean slate. But how is it a clean slate if I wake up in the ‘new day’ with the previous nights thoughts still playing?
“All I know is that I wasn’t telling myself off for having lost the connection and I certainly didn’t try to re-connect. All I did was trust the knowing that my body and the tiredness had to still be there.”
This part really stood out to me this time around, it takes the strain off trying or forcing myself to ‘be me’ or re-connect. My bodies feelings never go away, I just ignore them and trying to feel them again with the intention/belief that they have gone somewhere where I must strive to reach them never works.
So true, any trying or forcing makes the body contract and go tight and hard and then it is very difficult, if not impossible, to connect to its yumminess and the warmth that is always there – and to the tiredness or whatever else the body is showing me.
” How you go to sleep is exactly how you wake up.” How true this is Meg. Often I will dream unpleasant dreams about the tasks ahead and not being able to complete them. I wake up anxious and racy about the new day. But letting go and honouring my body, preparing it for a lovely re-energising sleep ensures the following day unfolds with all its beauty.
Gabrielle it’s so true what you say about going to sleep with a to do list results in waking up with one. I used to wake up in the middle of the night to try and complete the to do list, lie there for a while knowing I’ll feel tired later if I keep awake and then finally get up to do it just because I might as well do it rather than just think about it! Now a days I plan my days so my day feels complete or I decide to stay with what’s more important, me and my body rather than give focus to a list.
Thanks for sharing Gabriele. My friends and family think it’s very odd and unachievable to go to bed so early and be able to sleep but I now find it the only way for me. If I’m tired I can go to bed at 8pm and be asleep ten minutes later then wake up between 2am and 3am feeling totally refreshed and have all this extra time to do stuff in a better energy than if I tried to do it tired the night before. This just makes so much more sense and I feel much better for it.
Kevin, I am the same I can be asleep by 8pm and it feels amazing to be snuggled in my bed and asleep in 10mins to then be able to wake in the morning feeling fresh.
I agree, I feel the same – rather than pushing through the evening or night before and getting less and less productive, I get up early and get everything done easily and then go to work.
I agree Kevin and the quality of that sleep is much deeper and more restorative than if I were to go to bed later and I love waking feeling completely refreshed in those early hours of the morning.
Yes, it is crazy really – our body lives always in the present and does everything we ask of it and our minds are either way ahead and entangled in the complications of an anticipated or dreaded future or for some, in the regrets or triumphs of the past. Sounds like a mental health condition to me!
And mental health conditions are on the rise at an alarming rate. How simple is the cure that you have described here Gabriele! What if, like yourself we learnt at an early age the difference between letting our minds run ahead or complicate things and the truth and wisdom of our bodies? It could be summed up by what you have written Gabriele about ‘an amazing experience of the truth of my body and the disengaged coldness of an otherwise different choice.’ Your writing simplifies life beautifully – what about writing a book Gabriele?!!
There are certainly many areas of life that could benefit from the simplicity and ease of listening to our body – will you join me in the project though?
So true Gabriele, well described!
Oh I know sooo well, the anticipatory feeling of being rushed and the subsequent overwhelm that ensues about something that needs to be completed by a certain point in the future. Thank you Gabriele for highlighting the importance of coming back to feeling the truth in our bodies and not be distracted by the false stories of our mind.
I found this deeply beautiful. I love how Gabriele can convey precisely what she feels, and how her body communicates – she makes feeling so tangible.
Absolutely lovely Gabriele, it can be so simple and yet so profound when we choose to go back to what our bodies are telling us. After reading the bit about you at the end of the blog I realised I would love to read more about your life, you are an extremely inspiring lady!
Hi Gabriele, I just enjoyed reading your lovely blog again and it is a great reminder of how easily we can over-ride that initial message from the body, the warmth, the tiredness and the completeness of the day. Recently I had noticed how I was going to bed a bit later doing a few more emails before bed and saying to myself I don’t feel tired. I had let this run for about a week going to bed later and later, until I realised that this was affecting how I was in the day, such as not being attentive and letting things slip or get in the way. It was great to feel the knock on affect of over-riding that initial impulse to go to bed.
Hi Alison, what you write reminds me of the fact that “nothing is nothing and everything is everything” (Serge Benhayon). Years ago I would have never put the two things together, going to bed that little bit later every night and how it then affects how I am during the day. And yet – it does and it feels great to have become aware of all these nuances and take responsibility for how I live and thus, for how I feel.
You are so right, Alison. I was reading my earlier contribution again and it reminded me that all I really have to do is to surrender to my body. Sounds easy but after years, no decades of living a rushed and strained existence and sucking the urgency and assumed duress of the next day/s into myself quite a bit of steadiness, patience and relearning are required. And yet, and still to my amazement, when I connect to my body and don’t rush or get frantic – I get so much more done because I don’t keep tripping over myself!
Gabriele, as you said ‘it sounds easy’ yet it requires re-learning. I have slowed down considerably in the way I work and walk and the world has not stopped. Things still get done but I have so much more time to dedicate to my self-care. Great blog.
Wunderbare Gabriele thank you for this – for me – so mind blowing sharing. It help me a lot to understand more of all my ingrained behaviors with working and being disciplined. These behaviors are often starting without me being aware of it and it is good to read that it needs my steadiness and my patience to re-learn. I love your sentences “All I know is that I wasn’t telling myself off for having lost the connection and I certainly didn’t try to re-connect. All I did was trust the knowing that my body and the tiredness had to still be there.” This sentences gave me a warm feeling and a joy and the easiness in that sentences is infectious.
I agree Ester and I love how you word it..”being patient with myself”. I feel this is such an important part to the surrendering Gabrielle described.
I love what you share Gabriele, there is a great image that comes with ‘how I can trip over myself’ getting less done as you say. For me I find it much more tiring to even think too much about what is next before I’ve completed what it is I’m doing. My body knows what is needed and the more loving care I offer my body the more it provides and supports what I need in a day.
Beautifully expressed Sandra – I also find it so tiring when I think too much. “Overthinking” was a big topic in my life, I was just in my head. I work in an IT department and there are always technical challenges I could think about. For me it is about learning to trust, what ever is needed my body will tell me, there is no reason to think ahead or to worry. My body tells me everything that needs to be done and what I shouldn’t do.
Wow Alexander, this is amazing to hear from an IT expert, which as far as I understand it, is a lot of head work and always somewhat the pressure to be needing to know more technical details. For you to approach life and especially your work from trusting that your body knows what you need to know is incredible.
Great observation and I have found the same. When I am in two places at once, in my actual physical reality and the imagined time pressured future, it gets quite exhausting and it certainly doesn’t get more done, quite on the contrary. It is a huge distraction and only leads to mistakes and things having to be done again and corrected.
That is it isn’t it Gabriele the truth is we can get so much more done if we stay connected to our body, don’t rush and allow the day to come to us. I did this yesterday and I had a full day, but it was complete and I felt ready and prepared for the next day and my sleep reflected this. If I allow space in my day everything just flows and everything that needs to happen does, and my body does not feel racy and exhausted,
Great observation Gabrielle. It takes me quite some discipline to be in the body constantly, even I know being the head does not bring me anything, makes me close my heart and is even harming to myself and others. And still I go on.
It is harming for sure when we are absent to ourselves and therefore to others; there is a hard coldness that, once we become aware of it, is intolerable between two human beings.
Thank you Gabriele, it is so easy to let those outside demands come in and override the delicious feeling of healthy tiredness. You remind me that how I live my evening time, and how easily and lovingly I choose to go to bed, will make so much difference to how I wake and live the next day.
Yes, I have found that too. How I put myself to bed sets the tone for how I wake up and how I go into the day, my day. It is quite simple really!
Yes the same here, Gabriele, the quality I put myself to bed with, the more I can feel and stay connected to my body sets the tone for how I start the day. The day actually starts the evening before.
Indeed, what I take to bed with me will be what is with me the next morning.
The more I am with myself, the simpler the coming day will unfold.
I totally understand what you’re saying, and it’s amazing how joining to our mind cuts the connection to our bodies. Thanks for the amazing, simple sharing, and it was beautiful to feel your words, how you felt into what was going on with no judgment on your self!
Great reminder Rebecca, thank you.
Gabriele, this is such an awesome blog – so simple but as you say so profound. I loved how you describe this coldness that was happening when you disconnected and let the head take over.
Thank you Gabriele, perfect timing for me to read this and to feel how honourable it is to trust our bodies, to trust ourselves and how the mind is waiting for any chance to distract us and run away with its thoughts. This post is better than any sleeping concoction!
… and no side effects, Bernadette!
And a lot cheaper and easier to take – just having a dose of ourselves really.
I love the way you put that Gabriele, and so lovely to feel it.
So true! who needs sleeping pills when you have awesome blogs expressing the truth about sleep like this one!
That is so true Rebecca, we don’t, although I can sense something within me that says (with arrogance) well my situation is different.. I must say that this actually is a trick, we all can connect, and we can all feel if we are tired or not. The key is acting on it though:)
I agree Bernadette – learning how to deal with the mind running away (really getting into nervous energy) makes such a big difference in our life.
So true, it was a perfect timing to read this blog, I have noticed these thoughts before going to bed to check my emails, the set up of the mind that wants to distract me from being with my body. I am thankful for this sharing, and it gives me the opportunity to be very aware by my next bedtime.
This is gorgeous Gabriele. I can so relate to the feeling of needing to let go and sink in to your body and that warmth before going to sleep. I have found that the more I let go and allow myself to surrender, the easier it is to naturally wake up early and have the clarity to do the work that I need to do. Whereas, when I go to bed in the anxiousness of needing to get up early, I have to drag myself out of bed. Beautifully written.
Jonathan, I can completely relate to what you share. If I allow myself to drop into my body and feel the warmth, I have a very peaceful sleep and am able to wake up early the next day feeling refreshed. If my mind is not settled and body feeling cold, I struggle to fall asleep and feel tired when I wake In the morning.
Jonathon thank you for your beautiful sharing. I feel the same way. If I truly surrender to how I am feeling then I have a lovely restful sleep and feel totally energised and ready for my day, but if I override my feelings of tiredness and watch tv etc I feel horrible the next morning and really struggle.
So true Jonathan, it is an honourable part of the day to wind down and prepare for our sleep, it is so intimate when our body is asking us to completely surrender.
True Marcia, it is that intimacy of being truly connected to our bodies and the wisdom within.
Amazing sharing Jonathan and I can relate I often have the anxioussness and then wake up with a drag and burning feeling in my eyes. I now feel inspired to trust that the warmth is there to connect back to even if at times I do not feel it.
Thank you Jonathan – I so needed to read this blog and this comment. I realise the way I go to sleep is so important and to take that time to reconnect and allow my body to let go and surrender to sleep is a practise I will do.
I have experienced this too Jonathan. I would much rather wake up early naturally than have the feeling of having to drag myself out of bed. When I feel heavy upon waking up in the mornings, I know it’s related to my choices the day before or more. Choices that was not honoring my body or myself. So, my choices today I know affects the quality of my sleep and how I will feel the next day.
This is a great reminder to me about how loving it feels to just let go and allow myself to feel whatever is there with no expectations or outcomes… that is definitely something I can sleep with! Thanks Gabriele.
No expectations and no outcomes…gosh, how simple, lovely and warm life can be without these!
No expectations or outcomes…..that is a possibility I need to ponder on, thank you.
Yes- I can rely on that too, how loving it feels to just let go – there is this deeper trust that we all know and aligning to this place where all there is.
It is a constant work in progress to allow ourselves to feel what is there without the constant layering of stuff.