Meditation for a Good Night's Rest Podcast by Psychic Jae

Our dreams are part of the cosmic symphony. Some believe the Universe is dreaming of us and in return, we dream of it. Our universe is expanding, and it most definitely has not been the only Universe to exist. The Cosmos is vast and surpasses time and space and is thought to have a consciousness which is higher than ours. The word higher just means more but has a connotation of better. The truth is, Cosmic Consciousness is simply a synonym for ALL consciousness (past, present, future, and in between time and beyond it). Tapping into it will help you heal, learn and grow. How do we tap in? One powerful way is through dreaming.

I cherish all of my dreams. Even though I've moved beyond the religious dogma instilled in me as a child, my favorite Biblical character is still Joseph because of his God-given ability to be a prophetic dreamer. His ability to interpret dreams kept an entire community alive. Dreams are powerful tools for guidance. However, many report insomnia or sleep disruptions. Stress can make sleep inaccessible. Not getting enough quality rest has been proven to decrease our immune system and potentially lead to an early death. Addressing your rest on an emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual level will help you exercise your dominance over your sleep. 

There are many reasons as to why we might not be able to fall asleep or our sleep is disrupted, and emotional exhaustion is commonly overlooked, so let's highlight emotional rest by starting with it.

Emotional Rest

I recently learned about 'meta-emotions'. They are the emotive energy surrounding what we feel and think about our emotions. Simply put, they are your emotions about your emotions. The meta-emotions that are the most draining are the negative-negative responses. This is when you judge your feelings as wrong and get embarrassed about them. Do you get angry with yourself for not sleeping the way you want? And then, get angry about being angry?  Have you ever been disappointed in yourself or hate how you feel? This is your response to your emotion: a meta-emotion. The truth is, experiencing restlessness at some point is a natural part of life. However, the energy required to trick oneself into feeling bad about it and then feeling bad about feeling bad, will suck the life out of you.

There are also meta-emotions that are negative-positive experiences. This would be if you found yourself happy then notice someone else suffering and felt guilty for your happiness. This can also be reversed, someone experiences success and you celebrate but then are jealous.  Are you jealous of someone who sleeps well?  Just have awareness for your meta-emotions right now. As you're reading this, notice what you think and feel about your emotional expression. Being nervous, upset, and even angry at times, is normal and appropriate.

Meta-emotions are categorized into four types. There are two more types for us to discuss and those are positive-positive (hopeful feelings about feeling relieved) and positive-negative (a sense of being pleased about feeling upset).  For positive-positive experiences consider this... I know caretakers of people battling diseases who, once their loved one passes, yes they’re mourning the loss, but also have a sense of relief that their loved one's suffering is over.  For positive-negative, think of how in sports, you can feel pleased that you lost if your teammates still gave it their all. Positive responses to our emotions enliven us, rather than drain us. However, all emotions have their place in the journey of a soul having a human experience.

How do you manage and process your meta-emotions?

• Self-love. That is always the remedy. Start here, have a sense of love for yourself as you experience and express each emotion of your emotions.
• Identify. Put a word to it. Have you heard, whatever you name, you claim and have power over? When you ID which emotion you're experiencing and title it, you're better positioned to choose what you want to do with it. You're responding, rather than mindlessly reacting. There's a time and place to react, but if you're doing it all the time, your life will be unnecessarily harder. It does take time and practice. Just remember, putting a word to it can make it more real, and then you can develop the relationship you want with it.
• Validate.  We can empathize with ourselves by validating our emotions. Don't deny parts of yourself, instead witness them. Sometimes we get stuck on how we wish we'd felt, which is a meta-emotion. Encourage yourself to move beyond the shoulda, coulda, woulda, and just validate yourself.
• Accept. We can be with our emotions by spending time with them. That will help us understand and accept them. Radical acceptance means you give space for every one of your emotions to breathe and be just as they are. All emotions and meta ones are important signals which can communicate that something's not right in your environment, that you need to rest or that you want more of an emotion, etc.
• Tracking. Keeping track of your emotions is done through journaling, meditating, conversation, therapy, and whatever form you use to document it. Some emotions are subtle and fleeting so we don't acknowledge their existence. What's mainly the first emotion, but often goes unacknowledged, is disappointment. Something has not gone in the way we expected and then the following emotion could be sadness, anger, surprise, confusion, etc. Befriend, as best you can, all of your emotional expressions so you can keep track. Once you do, you'll learn from them.
• Interpreting. What are the lessons these energy communicators are signaling to you? Every emotion has a story to tell you about yourself. Interpreting what these emotions about your emotions are communicating to you is priceless.  Our ego is great at camouflaging and hiding our true emotions behind a meta-emotion, so a little digging will help. Again, introspection through journaling, meditating, and therapy will assist you.
• Transmute. Perhaps there is an emotion and meta-emotions that you want to experience less. A great way to shift your emotional body is through: JOKES. Laughter has the power to transmute anything into something that brightens your life experience. In my personal meditation, I heard "laughter is "something witty, something wise, something that becomes a surprise and surpasses all our emotional lies." I agree. Finding different magical ways to cope with emotions and transmuting them into other ones is the beauty of our lifelong journey into self-mastery.
  
  All of the above will help balance your emotions, however still, below are four suggestions for more emotional rest.
• Override your thoughts with something else. (e.g. reading a book, watching a show, listening to music, playing a game, etc.)
• Create your own routine or ritual that guides you into converting your emotions and entering into a restful sleep.
• Surrender, sometimes you don't need or want to transmute. You need a break. Relinquish perfectionism and be present by focusing on your surroundings, such as the chair, colors, scents and smells or engage in an enthralling physical or mental activity.
• Tackle your rest from all sides. Physical rest (rest from movement and awakeness). Sometimes you just need to sleep before having enough energy to work out your emotions. Perhaps a nap is all or maybe you need to stop napping and truly tackle your emotions, so you don't have to sleep them off. Social rest (rest from people). Sensory rest (rest from outside stimuli). Mental rest (resting from thoughts), and Creative rest (resting from your creativity).
• Energy healing can revitalize the etheric/emotional body which better positions you to handle all emotions and improves sleep.
• Psychic reading. We all have blind spots. Speaking with a psychic can reveal your emotions so you're better able to harness your power over them and smooth them out.

Since we are a part of the Cosmic Symphony, let us choose to make sweet music with the Divine tonight. Visualize yourself being protected as you dream. Smile or giggle, as you get in bed because your emotional body responds to your physical body, and you want the energy of happiness to guide you into slumber. Breathe deeply so that you relax.  Invite the Cosmos into your bedroom and chakras, and contemplate its beauty as you fall asleep. 

Sweet dreams.