Hi, I'm Jessica Porter and welcome back to Sleep Magic, a podcast where I help you find the magic of your own mind, helping you to sleep better and live better. Hi everybody. How's it going? Thank you for being here. I've got some shout outs to do tonight. People for whom I'm very grateful, which is the theme of tonight's show. Emily from Canada has reached out and told us that Sleep Magic is really helping her. Karen from Australia, spelled K-E-R-R-Y-N. Karen, you know who you are? Great spelling. Really, really appreciates the show. It's totally helping her. Leanne from Saskatchewan. How many listeners even know where Saskatchewan is? I do. I grew up in Canada, goes to Saskatchewan. She's been listening for two years and really, really loves Sleep Magic. And continuing with our Commonwealth listeners, Bridget, 11 years old from the UK, has gone through a big loss recently and Sleep Magic is helping her. And someone named Feather Stone Lightly from Australia says she loves to hear the wisdom of Sleep Magic, but can't stay awake till the end to hear it all. Yay, that's the point. Other people from the UK, someone named Hug the Trees and Luca Warwick, who is 11. I think I've mentioned Luca before, but I'm not sure. I just want to make sure that I do. Also from around the world, Parcy in Iran, Liefte Gogo from South Africa, who simply says, please make more podcasts and we will. So thank you, everyone. It feels so good. I can't even tell you to know that this relaxing energy is going in all directions, literally all over the world. That's the most satisfying feeling I've ever had. And without you guys, it wouldn't be happening. So thank you. Thank you. All right, tonight, giving thanks, this Thanksgiving, a gratitude list. Now, I know it isn't Thanksgiving everywhere in the world, but it's always a good time to cultivate gratitude. I've done a few episodes on gratitude because I find reminding myself of what I'm grateful for and saying it out loud is one of the most powerful practices I have ever come across. And believe me, I've done the Qi Gong class and the Tai Chi and the eating weird stuff. And this is up there. And rarely is something so powerful, free, available all the time, while also being a total pleasure to do. I'm looking at you working out at the gym. You're not all three of those things. So tonight, I'll be going over my gratitude list and really digging into the details of what I'm grateful for. And by doing that, I'll be lighting up neural pathways in my brain and basically forcing it to secrete happy chemicals, like tricking it into feeling good. And as I do that, your brain will be invited to do the same. And this process shows us that we have power over our own neurology, over our own feelings. And when we cultivate these positive feeling states, they ripple into our lives in beautiful and amazing ways. So drift off tonight on a cloud of appreciation and good feeling. Before we begin our only ad break, which makes this magic possible. To listen ad free, follow the link in the show notes. The new LinkedIn hiring pro can't undo your last hire, the empty seat, who was actually just that, an empty chair in your office, because you couldn't find someone to fill it. So it just sat there costing you money with all its fancy ergonomic features. But LinkedIn hiring pro can make it easy to fill that seat with the right candidate, with nearly 60% of businesses finding someone to interview in the first week alone. Hire right the first time with LinkedIn hiring pro. Post your first job today and get 100 pounds off at linkedin.com slash ai hire. Terms and conditions apply. Now get yourself into a safe and comfortable position. And let's begin. Allow your eyes to close easily and gently. And bring your awareness now to your breath. Your awareness has been futzing around in the world all day, doing things, important things, paying attention, pushing projects forward, worrying, doing all sorts of things. But now we're reeling it back in. So your awareness is coming home to your breath. Coming home to your body. This is your time. This is where you get to settle in to yourself, to the experience of being alive and taking care of yourself. What a beautiful balance to the day. Sleep is all the outward and active and pushing and learning and stretching and growing balanced by coming home and letting go. Good. Now bring your awareness up into your eyelids. And let's imagine that your eyelids are feeling sleepy. Just pretend you feel really sleepy. Maybe you do. Maybe you don't. But just pretend that you do. And as your eyelids are getting heavier and heavier, I'd like you to accept this heaviness in your eyelids so completely that you accept the suggestion that your eyelids will not open. And that's a silly suggestion, obviously, but we're going to go with it. We're going to pretend. So pretending that your eyelids are so relaxed, they will not open. Wiggle your eyebrows as your eyes remain shut. Just for a moment. Good. Now this lovely relaxation you have around your eyes. This is the same quality of relaxation you will soon have throughout your entire body. So let's imagine this feeling around your eyes is moving up now into your forehead. As it moves up into your forehead, it's spilling back into your brain. And now imagine this relaxation moving up into your scalp, going up, up over the crown of your head. And now back down the back of your head as your scalp relaxes completely. And your face is softening and letting go. And inside your skull, a warm mist of relaxation is taking over every single cell of your brain. As all mental tension disappears. Good. As the relaxation moves down now into the muscles of your neck, just imagine the muscles of your neck on either side of your spine. Softening, feeling warm and relaxed. And already you find yourself going deeper and deeper. As the relaxation pours like melted chocolate down your arm, softening your shoulder, releasing the muscles of your arm. And your arms are feeling relaxed and happy. And that warm chocolatey feelings moving all the way down into your hands, into your fingers. Heavy, lovely, soft and relaxed. Like your arms are melting. So nice. Imagine that warm chocolatey feeling moving down your back. All the muscles of your back feeling warm and soft. Letting go, releasing the day, releasing any tension they may be holding. The muscles of your back work silently and faithfully most of the day as you live your vertical existence. But now you're horizontal and they can rest and let go. And get what they need for hours and hours. Because your back muscles are on vacation. As the lovely warm relaxed feeling moves down into your chest. And it's softer now and lighter. As it swirls around inside your chest cavity, softening and relaxing your inner world. Warming your heart as any tension you may have gathered around your heart today disappears. And this soft warm feeling is moving down into your belly. Your pelvis feeling nice and heavy on the bed. And the muscles of your belly are letting go and softening. Because no one's watching. Everyone is on their own journey letting go. So you allow your belly to release and for your breath to get deeper. As the relaxation moves all the way down your legs that lovely chocolatey syrup moving all the way down. Down into your legs which are feeling heavy. And relax because your legs are on vacation. The warm feeling was down into your feet and your toes. And you notice any sounds that may be going on around you. And you just let them be. Because now that you're so relaxed the sounds are simply passing through you. They're taking you deeper and deeper. Good. Just as the sound of my voice is taking you deeper and deeper. And soon the sound of my voice will feel distant. And that's okay. That's good. As you let go. And drift. And flow. And dream. I'm grateful for this time of year. It's a time of contraction in the northern hemisphere. A time where the darkness is coming earlier and blanketing us more fully. And we sort of wear this cloak of darkness more than any other time of year. This cloak of darkness forces me to go inside myself. To slow down. To perceive things differently. But perhaps my favorite thing about this time of darkness is that it makes me appreciate its opposite. It makes me appreciate a light. It reminds me that we are making our way around the sun. And we'll tilt back again. And experience expansion again. And we will open and open. Because without this closing down. There is no opening. And without opening. There is no closing down. So these days, I'm reminded of the complementary antagonistic opposites. Of light and dark. And I'm grateful for these darker days. I'm grateful for this time of year. I'm grateful for my senses. I love getting out of my car and taking a deep breath in front of my house. My neighborhood is sort of out in the country. And it smells so rich and earthy. I'm grateful for my sense of smell. I love lying down on my couch, looking up out the window. And watching the clouds shift in the sky. So slowly. And beautifully. I'm grateful for my sense of sight. I'm grateful for my sense of taste. When I eat a piece of pineapple. It's sour and sweet taste and fibrous texture and juiciness. I'm grateful for my sense of touch. When I lie down at night and feel a soft pillow against my cheek. And I'm grateful for my sense of hearing. When I go outside and relax. And listen to the birds. I'm grateful for my senses. And there's another sense. I'm grateful for my sense of balance in my body. That without my thinking about it, my body is constantly balancing. Finding the right step, the right move for my safety and well-being. What an amazing thing it is that our bodies move in such coordinated ways. Handling so many weights and angles and pressure with such grace. I'm grateful for my sense of balance. I'm grateful for my friends. It's amazing that life gives us people who were strangers. But now they're not. We're connected to them. We make each other happy. Friends can be so different from one another. I'm grateful to have a variety of friends. Some who are younger, some who are older. Each with their own unique strengths and quirks and looks and vibes. Each on their own separate mission in life. And still, we care about one another. We connect. I'm grateful for my friends. I'm grateful for meditation. And someone the other day described meditation simply as quiet time. So I'm grateful for quiet time. Where I simply sit and close my eyes and tune in. I tune into that whole world inside of me. My thoughts. My feelings, my visions. And it's like I prune a garden inside of me. Letting go of things. Fertilizing things. Creating things. Planting seeds. And when I sit for long enough and really relax, a shift takes place inside of me. I shift from my outward conscious, active nervous system. And I shift into a more relaxed internal, softer, parasympathetic nervous system. My breath falls deeper into my belly. And I perceive in opposite ways. Instead of thinking, I'm feeling. Instead of judging, I'm accepting. Instead of pushing away, I'm connecting. And instead of figuring it out, I simply am. I'm being. I don't always slip down into that place. But it's there. And when I do, it feels beautiful. I'm grateful for meditation. For quiet time. I'm grateful for my cats. My cats aren't thinking about the world. They're not connected to this whole web of human issues we've created for ourselves. My cats are short hair tuxedos, mostly black with white markings. And their coats are beautiful and shiny. Their brother and sister glitter mates. And they're only four years old. So they're relatively young and in good shape. I'm amazed at how their black coats reflect the light of the room. Like a deep dark mirror. I love the way they move. They're elegant, quiet, careful. Every once in a while, they'll make some dramatic leap up to the top of a dresser or the top of a cupboard. Or they make a leap down from the dresser. And they're fine. They know. They know their bodies. They know their limits. They know how to be a cat. And here they are. In my home. Just like the cats in ancient Egypt. Hanging out with the pharaohs. Cousins to the lions and the leopards and the cheetahs. And yet they seem happy to just hang out at my place with each other. Relaxing. And relaxing again. They teach me relaxation. I'm grateful for my cats. I'm grateful to have discovered that relaxation is powerful. That relaxation is a secret key to so much in life. Through relaxation we experience ease. Love. Creativity. Intuition. Visions. I'm grateful to have not only discovered that, but to practice it. And to play with it. As I explore the treasures within relaxation. I'm grateful for relaxation. I'm grateful for my citrus trees. My sister bought me two citrus trees a couple of years ago. And I've worked really hard to figure out how to nourish them. How to protect them. And help them thrive. One is a lemon tree. It's still small. I'm not entirely sure that I'm winning my war against a squirrel in my backyard. Who loves to pick at it. But this lemon tree has blossoms. And the smell of the blossoms. So sweet and delicate. And beautiful. It makes me realize how many of the smells that we experience in this world. Are chemical. Too strong. Too harsh. Too simple. The lemon blossom gives a perfect perfume. Lemon blossom. The other citrus tree is a cum quad. I had never eaten a cum quad before moving to California. They're like tiny orange bite sized footballs. About an inch or an inch and a half long. And when they're ripe, they're bright orange. And you pop the whole thing in your mouth and eat it all. Including the rind, the pith, the juice, the fiber and the seeds. At first it's super sour. And then sweet. And then bitter. From the rind. And it's the perfect size for the mouth. So it explodes. My cum quad tree is doing well. And there are several cum quads on their way. I'm grateful for my relationship to these trees. I pay attention to them. I talk to them. I note what's happening on their leaves. I note where new growth is taking place. And connecting to them is like connecting to everything. Connecting to life itself. I'm grateful for my citrus trees. I'm grateful for my inner being. I'm grateful that I know that I'm not simply a body. But there's energy inside of me. Expanding into the world. Growing. Exploring. Connecting with others. Creating. I'm grateful for my inner being. I'm grateful for sleep. I'm grateful that we all surrender to this rhythm. The richest people in the world. The smartest people in the world. We all surrender to sleep. We all need to let go. As we release our opinions. And pressures. Even our identities. We let them go. And sleep. And it feels so good. Sleep is a lovely, humbling reminder. The gentleness of life. Of our simple, basic needs. As we surrender to the rhythm of sleep. It's perfect rhythm. It's perfect as the tides. It's perfect as the heartbeat. It's perfect as the breath. I'm grateful for sleep. As I tread. And float. Andry. And it feels so good. It's perfect as the tides.
