Calming Anxious Thoughts ✨ Sleep Meditation For Anxiety & Stress

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[00:01:15] Good evening, your host Carissa here, and welcome to bedtime. You did it. You made it through your day, and this time is just for you. Tonight we are meditating on something a lot of us struggle with, anxiety.

[00:01:44] Billie T has written us a meditation that will help us see the anxiety and gently let it go so we can rest. First, though, this is our free weekly episode. If you've been enjoying the show, you can enjoy even more episodes totally ad-free if you become a subscriber. Details in the show notes below. Oh, friends, I could write a tome on anxious thoughts. But I bet it's likely maybe you can too.

[00:02:14] Anxiety is so common that it's easy to not even question it. So many of us are running around, over-caffeinated and under-slept, trying to get it all done and be our best selves. To be honest, sometimes it feels like a little bit of anxiety is how I get things done. But lately, I've been questioning the anxiety. I've been right out saying, um, hi, do you really need to be here? Because I think we could use a little space.

[00:02:44] I have been actively visualizing what my day looks like without anxiety. Just do the stuff, maybe a little more slowly, maybe with a little more presence, maybe with a little more ease. And you know what's been great? I've felt the difference. I've felt it in how I work, yes, but more importantly, in how I parent and how I behave in my relationships.

[00:03:11] Also, in how I treat myself. And you know something really cool? I've realized that the anxiety functions to keep my fears at bay. Like, if I worry about them, they won't come to pass somehow. But when I consciously choose to soften the anxiety, day after day, hour after hour, a funny thing happens.

[00:03:36] That fear turns to gratitude. Massive, huge gratitude. Like, I'm so thankful my body is as healthy as it is. Or I'm so thankful that I have a comfortable bed to sleep in. Or that I have so many people I love deeply in my life. But you know what helps me catch those anxious thoughts so I can let them go? You guessed it. Meditation. Meditation.

[00:04:03] I simply don't know anything better than getting really good at watching, hearing, and sitting with your own thoughts to help you change deeply ingrained patterns. So that's what we're going to do tonight. Before we begin, our only ad break, which helps make this show possible. To listen ad-free, follow the link in the show notes. So here we go.

[00:04:29] We are going to notice those anxious thoughts, say thank you, and also goodbye to them, even if only for tonight. Start by allowing your body to rest exactly as it is. If you are still settling into a more comfortable position, you can take your time.

[00:04:59] There is no need to hurry. And when you do find a position that feels right, you can let yourself be there for a while. You don't need to adjust anything further or keep checking. You can simply lie here and allow the body to be supported.

[00:05:30] It may feel like there are things left unfinished. Thoughts moving in the background. A sense that something needs your attention. That's okay. The mind has its own way of keeping track. Of staying alert. Of trying to take care of what matters. And you don't need to change that right now.

[00:06:00] Tonight isn't about finishing anything. Nothing needs to be resolved before you rest. You can allow things to remain as they are, even if they feel incomplete. If the mind feels active, it can be active.

[00:06:29] If there is tension in the body, that can be there too. If there is any discomfort, that's allowed. You don't need to settle the mind in order to rest. The mind has its own way of quieting in its own time.

[00:06:52] Just as the body knows how to soften when it's no longer being asked to hold itself up. So you can lie here, just as you are. Supported. With nothing required of you right now. The breath can just be as it is.

[00:07:20] There's no need to change it. Or deepen it. It's already moving in its own rhythm. Rising. You might notice the subtle expansion as the body receives the breath. And the soft release as it leaves.

[00:07:49] And you may begin to sense how the exhale lingers just a little longer. How the body softens as the breath leaves. As if it's letting go on its own. Without effort. It continues. And with each breath, the body can begin to feel a little heavier.

[00:08:19] Not forced. And not pushed. Just naturally settling. As if gravity itself is doing the work for you. As the breath flows out. There can be a softening. A gentle release.

[00:08:49] Even in places you may not have noticed before. And when the next breath comes, you don't need to reach for it. It arrives on its own. The air moving easily into the body. It's simply being received.

[00:09:21] You might try a few slower breaths now. Just to help the body settle. Lay through the nose. A brief, natural pause. And then exhaling softly through the mouth. Again.

[00:09:48] An easy breath in through the nose. And a longer, unforced breath out through the mouth. Breathing in through the nose. Breath fall out through the mouth. Continue breathing.

[00:10:18] Gently and at your own pace. For a few moments.

[00:11:25] You don't need to assist the body in relaxing. The body already knows how to rest. It has done this countless times before. You can begin to step out of the way just a little. Letting the muscles soften in their own time. The jaw can unclench.

[00:11:55] The eyes can retreat away from the eyelids. If there are anxious thoughts tonight. It may feel like there are still things left unfinished. A sense that something needs your attention. Something not quite settled.

[00:12:24] The mind returning to certain thoughts. Moving through possibilities. Trying to make sense of what has not yet been resolved. This can feel subtle. Or it can feel like a thread that keeps pulling at your awareness. This is something the mind does. It moves toward what feels incomplete. It revisits.

[00:12:52] It rehearses. It tries to prepare. In its own way, it is trying to take care of you. Trying to make sure that nothing important is missed. That you are safe. You may notice how it brings things to mind that must be finished before you can rest. But right now, in this moment, there is nothing to finish.

[00:13:22] Nothing needs to be solved tonight. Nothing needs to be figured out before you sleep. The mind may continue to move in this way. Searching in the background for some resolution. That's okay, too.

[00:13:49] You don't need to push those thoughts away. You don't need to follow them, either. You don't need to be there. You don't need to be there.

[00:14:15] You don't need to be there. You don't need to be there.

[00:14:33] Don't need to want any었ensomas or you don't need to be there.

[00:15:57] with it. Nature does nothing and leaves nothing undone. Nothing is being left undone in this moment. Even if nothing has been completed, there can be a shift here. From needing to

[00:16:22] take care of everything, to allowing things to rest as they are. The mind can keep doing

[00:16:33] what it does, and you can begin to soften your involvement just a little. You don't need to reach a conclusion. You don't need anything from this moment. You can simply be

[00:17:03] here as you are, with the mind moving as it does, and the body beginning in its own

[00:17:14] time to settle. Breathing now, at your own pace. Your body already knows how to settle in its

[00:18:26] own time. You might begin to sense this as a kind of natural settling, like water that has been stirred. At first, everything may feel in motion. Thoughts moving. Sensations shifting.

[00:18:48] The surface not quite still. And yet, when the mind is left alone, there is no need to interfere or adjust. The water begins to clear on its own. In the same way, the mind may continue to move.

[00:19:14] Thoughts may rise and fall, return and repeat, circling through familiar patterns. There may be moments of activity, moments of quiet, and then activity again. And you don't need to quiet that. You don't need to

[00:19:42] follow it from this moment. Nothing you need to achieve or reach. Not even a particular state of calm.

[00:20:10] Not even sleep. You can let go of the idea that something should be happening. Or that something needs to happen before you can rest.

[00:20:30] Even the desire to settle can soften. You don't need to step back or create distance. You don't need to detach in any deliberate way. You don't need to go. You don't need to go. You don't need to go.

[00:20:52] Without requiring your involvement. Like sounds in the distance. Or waves moving along the surface of water. Adding nothing. Releasing any thought of gain. There is a subtle shift. Something that begins on its own.

[00:21:20] A softness. A sense of space that was already there beneath the movement.

[00:21:40] Just breathing now. You may notice that when you stop adding to the activity of the mind,

[00:22:51] it begins to lose its urgency. It doesn't need to hold your attention in the same way. It can continue for a time. And then, gradually, it begins to settle. You can remain here. Resting.

[00:23:14] With the mind doing what it does. And the body supported beneath you. There is no need to interfere with the process. No need to hurry it along. You can allow things to be as they are. Allow yourself to be as you are.

[00:23:44] And let the natural movement toward stillness unfold in its own time. As you rest here, the mind moving. Leaving the mind. Leaving the mind alone. Letting it settle. You may start to notice a gentle drifting.

[00:24:09] Something that begins on its own. When there is no longer any need to hold on. The body resting. Supported by the bed beneath you. The breath continuing in its own rhythm.

[00:24:33] The mind moving when it moves. And settling when it settles. There is nowhere you need to go from here. Nothing you need to return to again. Even the sense of being awake can begin to soften.

[00:24:58] Not all at once. And not in any particular way. But gradually. Like a dimming. A loosening. The body growing heavier. The mind less interested and holding on to anything for very long.

[00:25:18] The mind more is a long time. Thoughts may come and then fade. Sensations may arise and then you can simply. There may be moments where the mind becomes quieter. And moments where it becomes active again.

[00:25:42] There is no need to check in with how it is changing. Nothing is being done. Or left un-

[00:26:03] You can allow yourself to move in. Gently. Without effort. There is no need to stay awake. And no need to fall asleep. But you can also be able to stay awake. And you can see.

[00:26:22] The body already knows how to cross that threshold. Where thoughts come and go. Where the body softens. Where the breath continues quietly. On its own.

[00:26:46] Just breathing now. There is nothing for you to finish or complete. Each breath is sufficient unto itself.

[00:29:09] Each moment is worthy. Each movement of the mind is simply the mind gradually finding its way home. To stillness. Let the mud settle. So the water may become clear.

[00:29:35] Allow yourself to return home to your own breath. Your own felt sense of being here.

[00:29:50] To the tips of your toes. Your whole. In this room. Totally. Nothing more to do.

[00:32:27] Nothing to complete. Coming gradually to a place of stillness. Not all it was. Not because anything was

[00:32:42] made to happen. But because nothing more is being added. Nothing to complete. Continuing on its own.

[00:33:03] Riding and falling. You don't need to do anything to the breath. The breath is breathing itself. As you continue drifting.