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Advice from a smart Southern gal.

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The only reason i'm up now is because i can never fall asleep! if u help me with this i will give u a five!
i think this is urgent so please answer asap!

I had the same problem during a stressful period in my life. I had a counselor who helped me with a "creative visualization" exercise. Maybe it will work for you, too:

First, lie down comfortably on your bed. Breathe slowly and deeply, trying to relax a bit more with each breath. (You can almost feel yourself going down in levels of stress with each breath.) Be aware of your body parts so that you can consciously relax any part that is tense (watch the neck, shoulders and even those too-tightly-shut eyelids).

Then take a deep breath and hold it as long as you can; slowly exhale. Repeat.

Then begin imagining, keeping your breathing slow and comfortable throughout. (I have two imaginary scenarios I use; here's the first.) I'm in a 10-story department store that has an unusual escalator that spirals down the entire 10 floors, with big loops carrying me past the merchandise on each floor. As it goes around each floor, I have an opportunity to look at what's there. There's only one type of thing on each floor. I think about what's on each floor as I go down. For example, I might think on floor 10 that it's all just vacuum cleaners. There are red ones. Silver ones. Black ones. Ones with bags, ones without. Upright and canisters. Handhelds. steam cleaners. (Make the list as long and as detailed as you can, calmly.) Then you feel the escalator taking you down to the next floor, slowly. Then imagine different items on floor 9, and so on.

Personally, I've never gotten further down than the 8th floor before I'm zonked out. The key is to think of it as a passive, observing experience, where you are just being carried past the view.

As an alternative, I imagine I'm at the top of a very tall, gently sloping mountain meadow. There are 10 distinct fields stretching out before me, each with a different kind of flower. I walk down, "experiencing" the flowers in each meadow as I go. I try to make it as detailed as I can, thinking of the colors, the scents, the feel of dewy grass brushing against my legs and sunshine on my shoulders, etc. The key again is to observe details dispassionately, slowly and in great depth. Again, I've never gone past meadow 8 or 9 before I'm asleep.

When I was just getting started with this technique, I had a tape that my counselor had made, talking me through this in low, soothing tones. Later, I made another tape myself. In recent years, I haven't needed the tape at all.

Hope this helps. Best wishes to you -- insomnia is such a pain!

- TheSouthernChick

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(Rating: 5) thank you soooooo much
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