Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Getting ready for bed -- Ten Relaxing Steps

In an ideal world, this is how I would get ready for bed:
  1. I would finish my last tasks of the day and then have a nice, warm cup of herbal tea.
  2. Relaxed and hydrated, I would begin to walk around my house, checking that the doors are closed and locked, turning off everything I could possibly turn off: the TV, radios, computers, and of course most of the lights.  I would particularly make sure to turn off all fluorescent-type lights and just leave a minimum of gentle yellow bulbs glowing a path up to the bedrooms.  I would do this at 10 p.m.
  3. After the house was quiet and dim, I would find a CD of soft classical music or other instrumental music--with no words--and put it on to play quietly in my CD alarm clock.
  4. Since this is an ideal world, my bedroom is tidy and looks restful.  I’d spend the next ten minutes on the bedroom floor, stretching out my legs and neck.
  5. I would turn on my space heater in my bathroom and wash myself with warm water, massaging my face by the Oil Cleansing Method, rinsing, patting dry.  If my feet were cold or dirty from going barefoot, I would wash them with warm water.
  6. I put on my pajamas.  I like to sleep in cotton.  It doesn’t matter if it is knit, woven or flannel, but I love cotton the most.  I also like to sleep in pale blue, it just seems such a nice, relaxing night-time color.  Putting on pajamas can be a cold endeavor in the winter.  There is something not-very-sleepy about taking off one’s warm clothes and trading them for a cold set of pajamas.  In an ideal world, during winter I would  warm my pajamas before I put them on, maybe on an electric towel warming bar.   
  7. Washed, dressed, relaxed... I brush my teeth,  go to the bathroom and wash my hands.  If I ache, I take a couple of Tylenol, some magnesium, and maybe some Valerian.
  8. I climb into bed, lean back, and read a Psalm (23 or 62 or 63 or 86 or 104).
  9. I turn off the lamp on my nightstand, the last light in the house, and I turn off the music.   I snuggle down under my covers, into my pillows, closing my eyes.
  10. In my mind, I silently list the attributes of God, going through them alphabetically, resting my mind on His promises of who He is and thanking Him.  The first one is, “God is able.”  Often, that alone is enough to send me into peaceful slumber.

Do you have a bedtime routine?  Have you ever done any of the things I do?  Do you do  anything special before you go to bed?

No comments:

Post a Comment