Making an effort to improve your sleep quality can have big payoffs including elevated and balanced mood and sustainable energy and strength throughout the day. Here are some keys to restful sleep:

Avoid caffeine in the afternoon and evening

Establish a consistent sleep schedule

Wind down with relaxing activities

Take a break from blue lights

Sleep in a dark, cold, quiet room

Expose your eyes to sunlight when you wake up in the morning

Perfect blue skies, perfect warmth from the sun, perfect visual experience, perfect level of strength and energy, perfect companionship with new friends from morning through night and being mindful of this day, right before bed, as I laid down on the grass and gazed up into the perfect star-filled clear sky to bring the full day of experiences into my heart center - mind, body and spirit.

Allowing yourself to feel both positive and negative emotions is healthy. Dr. Dan Siegel’s research on ‘Name it to tame it’ was groundbreaking in its use of fMRI images showing the disengagement of the brain’s amygdala when emotions are labeled and talked about. Now new research with nearly 1,700 participants over a five year period also showed healthy psychological outcomes for those who allow both negative and positive emotions to be felt and experienced.

What we do know is that emotions don’t just disappear over time. Feelings are akin to energy and the energy of an emotion needs to be released in some way or fashion. Writing about what you are holding, feeling, experiencing deep inside of you is a great way to express and release this energy.