Gratitude as a cure for insomnia

It's interesting how often several clients can contact me with the same presenting problem within a short space of time. Last Autumn the theme seemed to be a desire for weight loss; this winter it seems that insomnia is a popular issue, and in case any of my blog readers are suffering with this problem (or know somebody who is!) I thought I would share a useful technique with you.

One of the keys for falling asleep is to relax your mind as well as your body, and often this is easier said than done - many people cannot sleep because of the things going round in their head. Recognising this pattern is the first important step - interrupting it and replacing it with something else is the second. And the replacement has to be something that your conscious mind will find just a little bit boring, but not too boring or your mind won't want to do it... some people find that counting sheep, for example, can be just a bit too dull - and their mind just returns to the original worry.

Next time you can't sleep, try one of these ideas instead; they all use the alphabet as a base. Try thinking of items in your bedroom beginning with each letter of the alphabet - it's not as easy as it sounds ("i" used to be a challenge until Apple came along!). Alternatively, animals are quite fun. Here's one, though, that my clients really like - think of things you are grateful for, beginning with each letter of the alphabet - and really focus on each one in turn and understand what it is about it that makes you grateful. It doesn't matter how big or small each of these things are - gratitude is a very powerful emotion!

Let me know how you get on - and if there are other techniques that you have found useful and which you would like to share then I am always interested to hear about them!