Welcome back to the series on Holistic Wellness for Pet Parents!
Have you ever felt lead to something? Following the tangents of your mind to a place that allows you to hear, see, or read something that feels like the answer to a question you hadn’t yet asked “out loud” yet? And known, in that moment, that you were “supposed to” be given this reminder?
It’s really cool when that happens, isn’t it?!
Well that’s where this topic came from for me recently.
When you come upon a “life lesson” that feels profound to you, it only seems right to “pay it forward” and share it, in case anyone else might benefit from it too.
This is information I remember my dad first teaching us at the dinner table when I was a teenager. Since my dad is quite the evidence-based person (dare I say skeptic), in my mind if he was sharing this with us, there must be something to it. So I really listened, thought about it, and tried it. I remember at the time it felt empowering.
But even the best advice can be forgotten as your brain gets filled with new information, responsibilities and worries, and moves things around in order to fit it all in. Trouble is, sometimes when you put something away for safe keeping, it’s easy to hide it so well you don’t find it again.
At least until the universe gives you a little nudge to remind you.
So this time around it came in the form of a YouTube video by Dr. Wayne Dyer entitled “The Last Five Minutes Before You Sleep”, with the words “Life Changer” in parenthesis. I wasn’t looking for it, and am not often on YouTube, but the words “Five Minutes” and “Life Changer” caught my attention. How could I not look at something with such an enticing headline?!
I am so glad I followed that nudge of instinct, because the potential for empowerment came rushing back, and there was no doubt in my mind that I should start doing this again.
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In a nutshell, Dr. Dwyer said that our brain reviews our thoughts and feelings as we fall asleep, boils them down to basics, and reflects it back into the universe, which then boomerangs it back to manifest for us what the universe “heard” us ask for.
The first part is the reason why it helps to review important information you want to remember just before going to bed. Your brain continues to process the information that was given to it just before you fall asleep. (Since for the brain, sleep for us is just another phase of work for it.) If you have an exam, or big event that you are getting ready for, this means “free” extra study hours while you sleep, helping to more deeply commit it all to memory.
It’s because your brain is most open to suggestion in these few minutes before sleep. That “in between” time where you are no longer fully awake, yet also not yet fully asleep.
The question is, will you take control of this golden window of time to purposefully feed your brain what you want it to commit to a deeper level inside you, or allow chance to dictate what that might be?
A disturbing thought is that this is the time most of us spin through our worries. Laying there in bed, how many of us think about the parts of tomorrow we dread, the uncomfortable “what if’s” that fill us with self-doubt, and try to push away our darkest fears so that we can fall asleep to “escape” these negative thoughts?
But the idea is that our brain, and the universe, do not translate the complex syntax and complicated emotions of what we want versus what we don’t want. Instead, it processes the main words, takes them at face value, and “helps” us by projecting that out into both our internal and external universe.
For example, you say to yourself
“I don’t have enough money” or “what if I don’t have enough money”, or “I’m worried that I don’t have enough money”,
and the universe replies with helping you manifest the state of not having enough money.
And then says “you’re welcome”.
Dr Dwyer calls it “the power of ‘I AM'”.
He talks about the concept of concretely telling the universe what you want to attract, worded in the positive, as if you have already achieved it. And doing this specifically in the quiet moments before you go to sleep.
For example, you say to yourself
“I have enough money for ‘x'”, or “I am so glad I have enough money for ‘y'”, or “Thank you, I am so grateful that I have enough money for ‘z'”,
and the universe will reply with helping you manifest that state of having enough money.
So I started trying to be aware of what my mind was “saying” as it monologued while I laid in bed trying to fall asleep.
It really makes you realize how anxiety based we are. And that we’ve probably been putting a whole lot of conflicting desires out there into the universe.
For example,
I need to make money, but the more successful I am, the busier I am, and the busier I am, the less time I have to do the things I want to be doing.
So that is putting out into the universe that I am, first of all, in the state of “wanting” and “needing”, which is not the reality I want to manifest.
But also that I am reflecting both hoping I do, and do not, succeed.
See how unknowingly complex our subconscious is?!
So we try to be more mindful of what we are “putting out there”.
For example,
we could say to ourselves “I am so grateful that I have enough money for “x”, “y”, and “z”, while still having the perfect amount of free time to do all the things I love to do”.
I like how Dr. Dwyer used the term “marinating”. If we are going to marinate in our thoughts, why not marinate in positive ones?! If we are going to program the computer that is our-self, why not program it positively?!
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Now bringing this full circle to our role as pet parents, it opened up new aspects of Dr. Dwyer’s teaching. Yes, it could help us manifest being the best “us” we can be so that we are in the best place to take care of our animals. Yet, we can’t teach our animals what to “consciously put out there” into the universe. But maybe we could be a channel for them.
So let’s think about what we want for our pets, and/or what we think they would want for themselves. Hmmm… that last one could get them into trouble, as “endless bones” and “finally catching that squirrel” probably aren’t really in their best interest.
So now I’ve added “I am so grateful that my dogs are happy, healthy, and safe” to my “Five Minutes Before Sleep” ritual.
Don’t get me wrong. I realize this isn’t magic. No matter how many times I say before bed that “I am so grateful my dogs learned how to rub my back and vacuum”, they probably aren’t going to surprise me with either of those any time soon.
And I am not a neuro-scientist or psychiatrist with full knowledge of every aspect of the inner workings of the human brain. Nor am I a spiritual scholar with full knowledge of every aspect of the inner workings of the great divine.
And I do not intend this to touch on the delicate intricacies of “why bad things happen to good people”. I will leave that for the religious scholars. With the asterisk that sometimes there is no adequate answer.
But if this concept which makes psychological and behavioral sense, doesn’t cost any money, and only takes five minutes of my time while I’m “powering down” for sleep, why would I not try it?
Why would we ALL not try it? And be excited for the potential positive possibilities that it hold for ourselves AND for our pets!
Now I lay me down to sleep
I give the universe my desires to reap
So they attract and manifest
I give my thanks, then get my rest
(hey, I didn’t claim to be a poet either 🙂
So talk to the universe for five minutes tonight…..
and get ready to manifest your Heart, Mind, Body and Soul’s desires!
Happy Dreaming!!
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(photo credit: Pinterest – spiritual health photos)