Have you noticed, lately, that you are waking up in the wee hours? Eyes spring open and you are awake at 4am with a churning feeling in your core and muddled thoughts coming from all directions? 

Anxiety? Stress? Emotional discomfort?

You just can't really pin point why. All you focus on is that it's too early and that in itself carries with it dred that your day will be riddled with that heavy feeling of foggy brain and full body fatigue., and the cycle begins and sleep escapes you.

ugh! I've been there. Back in the before days.

Back in the "before days" is what I say when I'm describing my life before discovering NLP, the unconscious mind and the amazing benefits of Timeline Therapy©. Back then I woke up frequently throughout the night with worry, stress and jumbled thoughts filled with "what if's" and a strong focus on the terrible looming cloud I felt following me around everywhere. My day would begin and I would go about it as usual and inevitably  get to the end of my day exhausted.

The cycle would repeat. 

These days I am a few designations further in my career training and I understand my relationship with my unconscious mind better. 

Did you know we have an unconscious mind? Some people refer to it as sub-conscious. In NLP the word "sub" refers to "less than" and truly there is nothing "less than" when it comes to your unconscious mind.  It is the 90% of your mind that goes about it's business just outside of your awareness. Anything you are immediately aware of is your conscious mind. Your conscious mind judges, edits, reasons and is the logic side of your mind. The unconscious mind is responsible for all autonomic processes of the body like breathing, blinking and temperature regulation as well as believing EVERYTHING your conscious mind tells it. Which is why negative self talk can be extremely damaging to us.

The unconscious mind is predominantly regulating our physiology and is responsible for most if not all of our behavior. Behavior that includes waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to reach sleep again. This is a behavior that is disruptive, outside of our awareness and when it happens our conscious mind analyzes and starts the flurry of thoughts that end up contributing to our untimely wakefulness.

So what? 

Well, if you find yourself up frequently in the wee hours there can be many reasons, we all know them. Stress, worry, fatigue, health issues, just to name a few. The one we don't all know about is the part that when our unconscious mind is trying to get us ( or rather or 'conscious' us) to notice something that needs to be dealt with. Often times it can be a deep negative emotion that we have suppressed from way back in our younger years. Often the negative emotion will be present and in our awareness right away as we awaken. Next time it happens take note. What emotion are you feeling? Really try to identify it. Fear? Anger? Sadness - do you want to cry immediately when you are awakened, yet again for the 5th night in a row. Pay attention as it might be mere frustration of the immediate situation or it might be tied in to something deeper. It can be that your unconscious mind wants you to pay attention to the emotion that is present. If so, It is likely negative ( anger, sadness, fear, hurt or guilt) and it is likely that it is unwarranted; meaning, you can not tie the emotion to anything specific that is currently going on in  your world; and if you can the emotion will be disproportionate to any current situation; for example, you fly into a rage for the slightest little thing going on - maybe a toothpaste lid not on the tube or a toilet paper roll placed incorrectly and it is unrolling the "wrong way". 

If sleep is evading you, pay attention to your dreams, the emotions that are present and really acknowledge what might be coming up from your unconscious mind for you to deal with consciously. Keep a journal and write, as this allows you to give your attention to what you are feeling. Paying attention to those feelings and just acknowledging them can be all that is needed to allow your unconscious mind to be satisfied and let go of what it has been hanging on to. The simple act of acknowledging those emotions may get you the peaceful nights sleep you need.

Wishing you a deep and restful sleep! 

-❤️ Julie xo