However, now make the tone of them sexy. Imagine how it would sound if you criticized yourself in a seductive, sexy voice. Try it now and notice how difficult it is to feel as stressed as you did when the tone of voice was harsh and critical.
A calmer tone leads to a better sleep
Learning to change the tone of the internal voice is a vital part of learning to run your own mind and it is immensely useful in learning to promote regular, restful sleep. I have found lots of insomniacs who lay in bed and talked to themselves about not sleeping, but what's really interesting is that they did it in a tone of voice that was actually helping to keep them awake. When I examined closely exactly how they were talking to themselves I found they were all using some version of an irritated, frustrated, or in some way agitated tone of voice. The pace was also fast. The result was that feelings of irritation or agitation kept them in a physiological state of excitement, which kept them awake.
Practice changing the tone of your internal voice and you will gain more mastery over how you feel. As you become good at it you will be able to send yourself to sleep by making your internal dialogue slow and sleepy sounding.
Learning how to relax
You know how certain tones of voice make you feel sleepy. We've all met boring people who drone on and on and you find your mind drifting and feel unable to stay awake. Or when you think about the tone of voice you would use to tell a bedtime story, it starts to make you relax.
A great way to learn to use your internal voice to work for you is to make your internal voice speak at a very slow pace in a tired, gentle tone of voice. I teach people to use this slow gentle tone of voice when I am teaching them self-hypnosis because relaxation is a key part and this calming, gentle voice automatically evokes a relaxation response in the body. That is why hypnotists use a monotonous, slow tone of voice, and mothers naturally speak in a gentle, relaxing tone of voice when they are lulling their babies to sleep. You can use the same technique now.
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Reprinted with permission from I Can Make You Sleep, copyright 2009 by Paul McKenna, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
