How Irina went from feeling enraged at the idea of accepting insomnia to embracing it and ending her struggle with sleep (#64)

Irina thought that something was seriously wrong when she experienced a night of no sleep and all her ongoing efforts to make sleep happen were not working. The turning point came when Irina committed to an approach based on accepting the presence of wakefulness and all the difficult thoughts and feelings that came with it. This didn't mean she pretended to like them. This didn't mean she gave up. It meant that she moved away from trying to control what her experience was telling her was out of her control. She practiced and built skill in experiencing insomnia and all the thoughts and feelings associated with it, with less struggle. When she let go of the struggle that came from heroically battling away, trying to fight or avoid what was out of her control, she was able to refocus her energy and attention on actions that helped her live the life she wanted to live. As she did this, her sleep took care of itself and she gained invaluable skills that are now with her for the rest of her life. Watch/listen to this episode