A Kinder Sleeping Space

My client's night stand had over forty books stacked on the upper and lower shelves. I asked her how she slept at night. She said her nights were rough. It was hard falling asleep, and she woke up a lot.

I told her that clutter in our resting place disrupts our sleep and affects everything we do while awake.

I took all the books off the night stand and put it on her bed. I asked her to notice the new silent space by her bed. I said that's the feeling she wants to take to sleep with her at night. Anything she decided to place on the nightstand needed to preserve this peacefulness.

We went through her books, one by one. Many were books people had given her or told her she should read. She didn't care for any of those. There were also some books that she picked up years ago, and upon questioning she said she was literally or emotionally through reading all but one. All of those books, except for the one she liked, went into the donate pile.

She found some other books she used for research and didn't need by her bedside. Those went into the library in her living room.

She ended up discovering three books that she was excited to read. They were about being kinder to herself. She felt they would nurture her for sleeping. She put those on the nightstand.

She stood back and took in her new bedside space. She said it was the nicest thing she'd done for herself in a long while.