Consider the comfort of your bed. Are you enjoying it, or are you mentally somewhere else, stressing about something that happened during the day or might happen tomorrow? Mindfulness practices promote being in the here and now over being in the past or the future—being in your senses over being in your thoughts. In helping you to be present, mindfulness meditation can cultivate feelings of contentment, peace, and happiness. When it’s time to go to bed, these feelings translate into a relaxed attitude and better sleep.
Clarity about the difference between meditation and rumination is important for an optimal sleep routine. Meditation is intentional; the intention can be to let go of thoughts instead of following them, or a resolve to focus on the breath.
In contrast, rumination happens spontaneously. Studies show that we spend 30 to 50 percent of our mental activity in thoughts that are neither related to
