Making progress

Slowly but surely, it comes together. My sleep patterns are improving. My efforts on that part are starting to show effect. And counselling yesterday helped to put some more of the ducks back into that proverbial row (although shouldn’t it be an arrow shape?)

We’ve been doing some work on mindfulness, staying in the present. We’ve also done some work on training the brain to push away those thoughts that just aren’t important or helpful right now, so you can get on with what needs to be done.

I got really good at pushing thoughts, worries, away so I could get on with work/housework/whatever needed to be done. But I’d then keep pushing away, pushing away. I didn’t feel anxious, so thought I wasn’t.

Then my sleep would be all over the shop as my poor subconscious struggled to deal with all the stuff I wasn’t facing during the day.

Being present doesn’t mean just pushing away – you have to acknowledge that those thoughts and feelings exist. And you have to make time to deal with them.

So a new part of my daily routine is to spend some time late in the afternoon allowing my worries, anxieties, excitements to come to the surface and dealing with them, there and then, so my brain can relax at night and I can get a proper night’s sleep.