My Bedtime Spiritual Practice
Is it important to have a spiritual practice at bedtime? I think so. I think it’s a good idea to close out the day with a clear mind and heart, so your sleep is more restful, which then makes for a better tomorrow!
So, I’m going to share what I do every night before bed. It doesn’t mean this is exactly what you should do; it’s just a way I feel good about ending my day.
These are not bedtime specific practices either; they are practices that I talk about in other blogs that have several types of practice associated with them and can be done anytime during the day.
My bedtime practice first involves recycling or reusing old pieces of paper or paper that otherwise might get tossed. It might be a used notebook with just a page or two left, an unused pad of paper or decent sized scraps of paper that are still blank. I keep these in a pile by my bedside along with pen and bins or bags.
The first thing I do is to clear out any icky stuff from the day, so my first practice is forgiveness. Who or what do I need to forgive? At this particular time, it’s not a deep practice, just an acknowledgement of ill feelings towards someone or something to allow the healing practice to start. It might be a person or group or animal or myself, and I simply write, “I forgive Mr. X for doing that thing he did that made me feel so disrespected.” I might even add an excuse for them, such as, “I know he was only trying to protect his ego.” And that’s it; I toss it in my forgiveness bag.
Once I clear those feelings out, I open to gratitude and appreciation. I write down everything I’m grateful for that day, especially the unexpected miracles of the day. I write down everything that comes to me, big or small, and then throw it into the gratitude bag. I actually have a gift bag I use with the words “Thank you” on it that they go in!
Next are my successes of the day. This part is relatively new for me, but I’ve found it’s a great acknowledgement of my accomplishments, and it’s important to recognize when we do good. It doesn’t have to be big; it might be mowing the lawn or eating well or brushing my teeth, but if you did it and it’s good for you or someone else, recognize it!
Then I also do a “future gratitudes” practice, which is what I’ll be grateful for when my goals and dreams materialize. What do you want to be grateful for in one month? One year? Write it down now, help it along!
These go into a bag and then I’m ready for a sweet blessed sleep!
Every so often, I take these papers and do my own ceremonial fire. I offer the forgiveness papers up to be released forever, and the others to be blessed and multiplied throughout the Universe.
This isn’t a hard or time-consuming practice, but it’s another small step toward opening myself up to the greater life of my dreams. Is this a practice you can see yourself doing?