Good Things at Bedtime

It's one year later, and what a year it's been! In this episode, I answer the question, "How are you, really?" You'll find out where I've been, why I took so much time off, and how I approached sleep in a new way to get through it all. I also let you in on my current sleep projects and how you can work with me in my new insomnia membership at http://www.freedomfrominsomnia.com

I used to claim that I couldn’t take short naps, that I had to sleep for at least 40 minutes to feel good, and that’s no longer true. I can nap successfully for a few minutes. I can do the “power nap.” I get it now and I LOVE it. Nothing has changed in my body, I just changed my expectations. BUT I don’t want to discount those who legitimately can’t nap for whatever reason. This episode is for those who would like to practice the art of the power nap and are open to some fun and healthy experimentation. 

I thought I would do something a little different for this episode. I love telling stories and every once in a while, I’ll be in the mood to tell a story in an Instagram caption. I’ll post a pretty picture of a bed or a plant and then use all the space I’m allowed and hope that my followers don’t get bored and stop reading before the last line. The stories are about me, and sometimes they’re remotely related to sleep, but mostly they’re stories I’ve remembered or felt compelled to share because they had an impact on me in some way. Or I just thought they were fun, and I love to connect with other people through these stories. Honestly, I always thought if I were to write a book it would be fiction, and it so happens my first book is about sleep. So, this episode is the greatest hits of the stories I’ve shared in my Instagram captions, and I’ve named each story as though they were FRIENDS episodes:THE ONE WHERE MOM DOESN’T SEE A BALD EAGLETHE ONE WHERE I FINALLY LET MY LEGS SEE THE SUNTHE ONE WHERE I HATE EVERYONE’S FAVOURITE SAYINGTHE ONE WHERE I WAS THE TIRED ONETHE ONE WHERE MICHAEL STIPE SMILED AT METHE ONE WHERE I WAS TERRIBLE AT SIMPLE MATHTHE ONE WHERE I THOUGHT I HAD NO TALENTTHE ONE WHERE I DECIDE IT’S OKAY TO BRAG ABOUT MY BOOKTHE ONE WHERE I WAS ALL WEIRD ABOUT THE TREETHE ONE WHERE I GUSH ABOUT MY MORNING WALKS

I want to take a step back from sleep topics this week and talk about what’s going on in my own life. How I’m handling grief and loss, and the valuable lessons I’ve learned about support - more specifically, how to show support for people you care about without writing and rewriting awkward text messages or baking pies for days that won’t be eaten. When you don't know what to say, or if your words will mean anything, or how you can help, know that it IS possible to offer support without having any of those answers. I swear a little. You have been warned.

I've recorded a meditation to help you fall asleep after the frustration of an unexpected wake-up. It is based on a few of the mindset concepts I covered in episode 81, Can You Manifest Better Sleep? The goal of this meditation is to help you create your own peaceful back-to-sleep practice, so I've kept it simple, but I've also made it super calm and cozy, as usual. This meditation has no intro or ads and can be played from start to finish as you relax in your bed. It starts with a 6-minute guided audio with calming piano in the background and ends with 10 minutes of just music before fading to silence. For best results, delete any downloaded or queue podcast episodes to prevent them from automatically playing after this meditation is over. Background music commercial license purchased from Ashot Danielyan Composer on audiojungle.com

Can you manifest better sleep? Are positive thoughts alone enough to improve your sleep? I'll tell you what I think in this episode.

If you love essential oils as much as I do, you are gonna LOVE this episode. I recently had a great conversation with Lauren Granville, an oil educator with doTERRA, and we talked about using oils to energize your mornings, ease anxiety during the day, what to diffuse in the evening before bed, and a lot more. I asked my Instagram followers to post their questions, and Lauren gave her best advice right back. This is seriously one of those episodes you will learn so much from that you should probably take notes.Connect with Lauren on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/mrs_gs_essentials/Buy the oils she mentions in this episode at: https://www.doterra.com/CA/en/site/laurengranvilleJoin her Facebook group, Daily Dose of EO here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/471514333360528--------------------------------------------------------------I’ve partnered with my friend & fellow sleep coach, Derek Lacey, The Life Coach for Insomniacs, to create Freedom From Insomnia, an online course, group coaching program, and membership community for people who struggle with any or all of the symptoms of insomnia - falling asleep, falling back to sleep, bedtime anxiety, racing thoughts, sleep-deprivation, and a negative (or non-existent) relationship with sleep. ⁣First, the community is built around The Art of Falling Asleep which is our 8-week online insomnia course. Along with the support of people who understand what you’re going through, and resources that will help you put each lesson into practice in real-time, you’ll get some serious face-time with us in our ongoing live group coaching calls. ⁣We’re looking for a small group of founding members to grow this community with us. We want you to tell us how and when you need support, and we want to see you experience freedom from insomnia symptoms first-hand. ⁣⁣We’ll be offering a special founding members’ price for this first launch only, and even though I don’t have a “Buy Now” button for you to press at this moment, you can get on our waitlist at: www.freedomfrominsomnia.com

I recently had a call with Andi Campbell about sleep and self-care. Andi is a recreation therapist and mental health advocate.We met online and have connected over our many things in common. This episode has been barely edited and is rather long, but we had so much fun chatting about so many topics that I wanted to let you listen in. Andi was a great guest and shared a lot of great information about finding ways of practicing self-care that speak to you. She also shared a few of her pet peeves as a recreation therapist, and then we talked about her sleep and our favourite REM albums.Coonect with Andi: https://www.cultivatingrecreation.ca/Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cultivating_recreation/