This is a situation that will seem familiar to many people:it is late, we are in bed, with a big day planned for the next day and there, impossible to sleep. We toss and turn, and nothing to do, we do not fall asleep. We then think of a whole bunch of strategies to avoid insomnia and, among them, those of counting sheep. We are talking about visualizing little sheep in our head (white, black, whatever…) and seeing them jump over a fence to go take a nap in a pretty little wooden barn. Ridiculous? Well, not that much. Beyond the little sheep, it is a technique of visualization, as explained by the site Well+Good .
Thus, even if the initiative may seem childish, it is very effective in calming the mind (which is often restless when we cannot sleep) and above all in diverting our attention and concentrating on something specific (sheep , so). Stephen Sokole, founder of Journey Meditation , explains that the best way to get to sleep is to… not think about sleeping. "This can be done through different techniques, such as focusing on the breath while counting something or scanning the body from head to toe" (idem, the goal being to focus on something other than the desire to sleep). Of course, if the visualization works, you can count exactly what you want:sheep, then, but why not little cats, burgers, beauty products... Good for you!
