Sleep Positive

Some of us don’t really realize the power of a good night sleep! The amount of sleep you get each night certainly effects your attitude for the day.  How you go to sleep and how you wake up is a huge contributor to how much of a positive attitude you have.

When I was younger, like most people, sleep was not important to me. I wanted to do everything and sleep was keeping me from it. I’ll admit it was worth it I had tons of fun but the more I grew up, the more mature I become and the more responsibilities I was taking on in life. When I was going to bed I was thinking about the bills I have to get paid, having to go to class and work the next day and wondering if my car is going to die. I would wake up and all of those thoughts are waiting there to weigh me down. I was not waking up in a good mode at all, and I was not getting my 8 hours of sleep. My sleep patterns were keeping me from being the positive person I wanted to be. But Certainly now that has all changed. I cherish my sleep and I am grateful to go to bed happy and wake up happy!

Let me start with getting enough sleep. Always give yourself enough sleep, 6,7,8 hours, whatever you need! Personally I love my 8 hours so If I need to be up at 6am I will certainly be going to bed at 10pm the night before. It is that simple! GET ENOUGH SLEEP! We can all argue that there is not enough time in the day to do what we want. We all make time for the things that are most important. Just make, getting enough sleep, something important for you, and you will certainly make time for it.

Just getting enough sleep is not going to be enough to be a positive person it is also what you do before bed. Let your day wind down. For sure make time to sleep but don’t set yourself up to be rushing all over the place to get stuff done before you go to sleep. You need to let your body relax. Let your thoughts relax. The thoughts before you go to bed are key! Fill your head with positive thoughts be it from what has happened that day , what you are anticipating for tomorrow, or anything. Even if you had a really bad day, do not go to bed upset. When you are brushing your teeth, or doing what it is that you do before bed, start putting those positives in your head. Most importantly smile when you lay down to sleep. Sure no one is there to see it, except your significant other but still when you are smiling you can actually feel yourself smiling. You are aware of it and that alone is going to put you in a positive mood.

So you have your 8 hours of sleep and awesome thoughts before bed, now when you get up you may still have some challenges. Certainly all do not apply to each and there are many others but I will go over a few. How about those alarm clocks? I don’t really know anyone who likes that noise in the morning. For me if I go to bed on time I will usually wake up before my alarm even goes off. But it is not that easy for some. When you here that alarm clock in the morning just train yourself to love it. Seriously! When that annoying noise goes off just get excited. Get excited that you are alive, that it is a new day, that you get to do what you have been waiting to do. Right when you get up put that smile back on your face! Even after all that you may get out of bed and step on something or stub your toe or something else might happen. First of all keep your room and/or pathway clean, but when something bad happens just work through it and keep going. Get those positive juices flowing in your head. Waking up late is another challenge. Stop thinking about how it sucks and do what you need to do to get out the door and smile while doing it. Listen to some tunes that will charge you up, that will keep you smiling on your way to work or where ever you are going. Most important of all when one bad thing happens and it certainly may, don’t dwell on it, because it will just spiral your entire day into the negative. Work it out and move on.

When you practice staying positive before going to bed and when you get up, I guarantee you are going to have more restful night. You are going to be in a better mode every day.  If you want to sleep better you need to un-stress, unwind, and just keep those good thoughts in your head, and push out the bad ones. Most importantly you have to want to do it and stick it out till it become a mindless routine.  I never used to like sleep now I love it but I respect that I do need to get up and do other things with my life that I am going to love as well.

I know there are lots of different ways to do things and I am grateful for those of you who do follow me with my ways of positivism. I openly encourage you to share things that work for you on the subjects I talk about. Have a great day!

I leave you with this last note: Naps at any age are AMAZING! When you can take naps certainly do it!