It’s possible, if you’ve ever told somebody you have trouble sleeping you’ve been advised to count sheep. Fluffy, happy, meandering little beings parading through your mind in the middle of the night isn’t always effective for some of you, as I’ve been told. Recently in my wide-ranging studies of all things related to sleep, dreams and unconscious exploration I came across an article in the The New York Times about a new technique that seems to be quite effective. This new technique is called cognitive shuffling, and it is one that anybody can do and I personally have found it delightful!
In essence, whether you’re trying to get to sleep or get back to sleep, pick a letter in the alphabet and begin to shuffle through a list of words in your mind that start with that letter, such as the letter “p” for pickle, purple, parsimonious, perfect, going through as many letters as need be before you drift off. Picking random words with no particular intention and letting them bubble up and flow through your mind is kind of like stretching your body. To me it feels like untying and loosening the structures of thought, or even allowing an eager dog off a leash to run into a beautiful field.
Cognitive shuffling has been effective for me personally and also for clients, and it’s been quite a powerful addition to my hypnotic inductions that focus on better sleep. The monotony of counting sheep might work by boring oneself to sleep, but it may also be more frustrating than relaxing. To me the feeling of cognitive shuffling is just engaging enough to be pleasurable while not so captivating it stimulates the narrative mind.
Shuffling or Counting yea or ney? Both!
So, if you are one of the many people suffering with sleep challenges you might try cognitive shuffling along with practical approaches such as going to bed at the same time each night, limiting (or eliminating) screen time in the bedroom, and keeping your space cool and dark. Experiment with cognitive shuffling and see how it works. Let me know if you have tried it and how it went for you! Sweet dreams.