The mood you’re in when you hit the sheets may make a difference in how well you sleep.
It seems that grateful thoughts result in better, longer sleep, according to research conducted by the University of Manchester in England. Along the same lines, a survey of middle-aged adults by researchers at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, found that people with a more positive outlook reported better sleep.
Everyone has nights when they struggle to turn off the day’s worries, writes Rosie Osmun, content manager for mattress maker Amerisleep, in a Huffington Post Healthy Living blog post. “When you find yourself ruminating, make a conscious effort to think instead about what you are grateful for or what you are happy about.”
She offers this list of 21 quotes and sentiments to read before bed to get into a better state of mind:
1 Taking time to live will only inspire your work.
2 Think your way to happiness! Happy feelings attract happy circumstances.
3 “Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.”—Jon Acuff
4 “Why do we close our eyes when we pray, cry, kiss, dream? Because the most beautiful things in life are not seen but felt only by heart.”—Denzel Washington
5 “Don’t you dare, for one more second, surround yourself with people who are not aware of the greatness that you are.”—Jo Blackwell Preston
6 “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born, and the day you find out why.”—Mark Twain
7 Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and start being positive about what could go right.
8 “Mistakes are proof that you are trying.”—Dale Partridge
9 “Never be afraid to fall apart because it is an opportunity to rebuild yourself the way you wish you had been all along.”—Rae Smith
10 “Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, because hate in your heart will consume you, too.”—Will Smith
11 “Let her sleep for when she wakes, she will move mountains.”—Napoléon Bonaparte
12 “Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.”—Les Brown
13 The longer you wait for something, the more you’ll appreciate it when you get it. Because anything worth having is definitely worth waiting for.
14 It is not happy people who are thankful; it is thankful people who are happy.
15 If people are trying to bring you down, it only means you are above them.
16 “We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”—Joseph Campbell
17 “Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.”—A.A. Milne
18 “You miss 100% of the shots you never take.”—Wayne Gretzky
19 “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”—Dan Millman
20 “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”—Mahatma Gandhi
21 Tomorrow is going to be the best day ever.
