Happy Changes for Happy Sleeps

One of the secrets of making changes that stick, is starting so small that you don’t wake up the Chicken Little part of your brain. It’s that idea of setting yourself up for success, because even the tiniest of successes are encouraging.

Yes I know, there’s also the hard part of starting small. You want to make a change now dammit! And that tiny step is still So. Far. Away. from what it is you really want.

I’m asking you to trust me on this.

At a minimum, you’ll get at least that tiny step closer (which you aren’t even doing now) and, the much more likely scenario, it’s just the first step to getting what you really want.

And that’s the idea behind Happy Changes: A list of tiny changes you can experiment with over the next week.

Choose one of these things, one that feels completely and utterly doable to you, even if you aren’t sure it will make a difference, and play with it this week. Let me know how it goes here, in the comments, on twitter (using the hashtag #happychanges) or Facebook.

Happy Sleeps

Not too long ago, I wrote a letter to Sleep to invite it back into my life. Things went very well. And then, post-concussion, I noticed things aren’t quite what they used to be. So, here are a number of things that I’ve tried, that research has shown to help, and friends have suggested.

If you aren’t getting the Happy Sleeps you’d like, please, join me and experiment with one of these before bedtime ideas this week:

• Stop looking at screens of any kind at least an hour before bedtime. Especially computer, tablet and smartphone screens.
• Give your concerns to some Worry Dolls.
• Dump all your thoughts in 750 words before bedtime.
• Take sleep off your to-do list and befriend it. Look forward to it. Imagine all the wonderful dreams you’ll have and unconscious stuff and healing that will take place while you sleep.
• Try yawning frequently as you get closer to bedtime.
• Do some particularly relaxing yoga poses just before bed. This yoga can be done in bed!
• Put yourself in the same position you wake up in – this might be different than the position that you normally go to for falling asleep.
• Remind yourself what sleep feels like, by getting in touch with that floaty, twilight feeling, that happens just before you nod off. And repeating the word sleepy in your mind.

Remember, I’d love to hear how it goes, either here in the comments, on twitter (using the hashtag #happychanges) or on the Perception Studios Facebook page.