Let It Go – How Reflection Can Unlock a Good Night’s Sleep

Many of us have been led to believe that our brains are more active in the morning, but the truth is, our brains are busiest when we’re asleep. That moment when you close your eyes is critical to your sleep quality because this is when your brain digs deep into your thoughts, worries, and fears. 

Unfortunately, it’s easy to get trapped in replaying the negative events that happened during the day. When you try to fall asleep without dealing with your feelings, the more it becomes harder to do so. When this happens all the time, insomnia can develop. 

Reflecting on your day is one of the most powerful tools you can use to unlock a good night’s sleep. Reflection helps you let go of all that has happened so you can finally move into a restful sleep. 

Steps to a Positive Reflection 

• Acknowledge the Negatives
  
  Focusing on good things is crucial to your mental and emotional well-being, but it’s also important to acknowledge that bad things happen too. Ignoring them completely may only backfire and force you into a state of denial. 
  
  
• Count Your Blessings
  
  The simple habit of counting your blessings helps your mind shift its focus from the negative towards the positive. By realising that there are things to be grateful for, you can avoid circling back to the awful experiences, which leave you at peace during the night. 
  
  Practise gratitude by writing at least three good things that happened to you during that day, no matter how small. Keep a night journal by your bedside to help you remember to log your blessings. Journaling has the added benefit of providing a visual representation of your positive thoughts, making them easier to live by. 
  
  
• Relish in Your Positive Connections
  
  Your social relationships have a huge impact on your sleep and wellbeing, and it’s not uncommon for negative interactions to resurface during the few minutes before you fall asleep. To combat these negative feelings, try to recall your positive interactions with people. Whether it’s an exchange of smiles, a short funny conversation, or an act of kindness, reliving these experiences during bedtime gives your brain a positive feeling to ponder on while you are sleeping. 
  
  
• Forgive Yourself
  
  Once the good and bad events of the day have played out, it’s important to forgive yourself and let things go. Instead of ruminating on what has gone wrong, accept that you do make mistakes. Learn from them, sleep on them, and wake up hopeful and renewed. 

Additional tip:

To assess whether your self-reflection practises have been effective, log your sleep patterns in a sleep journal. Write down the time you went to bed and woke up for a week, as well as how well you slept. This way you can look back and see the difference. 

Reflection allows your brain to take a break away from the chaos, learn from your experiences, and become more accepting of yourself, flaws and all. Adding it to your night-time ritual can have dramatic changes in your sleep quality and general health. 

For the perfect outlet for your reflections, consider an Echor End Of Day Journal, a perfect place to put down your thoughts. It includes tips on how to get the most of it and is beautifully fabric-bound and presented in a gift box.