2. Lie down on your bed and relax your body.

3. For 2-3 minutes pay attention to every muscle in your body from head to toe. If you find any tense muscle, relax it.

4. For about one minute, let thoughts come freely into your mind.

5. Watch these thoughts as they come and grow.

6. Tell your mind that if it has any important thoughts that require attention, you are willing to discuss them tomorrow.

7. If one of thoughts is too persistent, write it down so that you can remember to think about it next day.

8. Now try to look at thoughts with lack of interest. Lack of interest is magic word when it comes to controlling and silencing thoughts. Do not let your feelings to be aroused and manipulated by your thoughts.

If thoughts still come, and they probably will, it is all right. Don't fight them, but just try to ignore them by losing any interest in them. An ignored thought ultimately goes away. Don't worry if you fail at first. Keep on trying and situation will improve.

9. Watch thoughts that enter your mind as if watching a boring movie and they will lose their power.

10. There is another thing that can be done, and that is to practice meditation every day.

After practicing meditation for some time it will affect your sleep. As a by-product of meditation your mind will get accustomed to being relaxed and at peace, and when you go to sleep it will be much easier to ignore persistent and disturbing thoughts. In fact, you might fall asleep immediately upon switching off light.

Remez Sasson writes and teaches about spiritual growth, meditation, positive thinking, creative visualization and mind power, and issues a biweekly ezine, "Consciousness and Success". He is the author of two books, "Will power and Self-Discipline" and "Visualize and Achieve".

As individuals gain awareness that life is also about receiving, they usually begin process of healing. An issue that often surfaces at this point deals with their self-identity. Giving is so much a part of their nature that, when they first open themselves to prospect of receiving, they feel that they have to make a choice. It appears that only way to change their behavior is to stop doing what they are doing, to stop giving. But they like helping others, they prefer their loving and giving nature, it's who they ARE.

The solution, of course, is that they don't have to stop being who they are, they don't have to stop giving. They just have to allow themselves to start receiving!

One way to help make this shift is to stop thinking of yourself as a giver and to start thinking of yourself as being generous. These may appear same at first, but there are some considerable differences between two.

First, instead of saying 'I am a giver' we say 'I am generous'. Being a giver (like any role we have in life) implies certain responsibilities and rules. It tends to restrict us in how we think about ourselves and often forces us to give way past point where it is healthy. Being generous implies that we are a person who is able to share what we have. That there is plenty for me and you can have some too.

Giving can imply that there isn't enough to go around. Being generous comes from a place of abundance. You've all heard (and can relate to, I'm sure) expression 'Give til it hurts.' To immediately feel difference between two concepts, try saying 'Be generous til it hurts.' I'm sure you have same reaction that I do. It doesn't quite compute. It's an oxymoron and my face scrunches up as I try to put these words together. [Ok, it's not attractive, but it's how I know that my brain is working hard!]

Giving feels good, but being generous feels joyful. Giving often feels like a 'should', while generosity is a gift from heart. Giving is a 'doing' while generosity is a 'being'. Giving is an action and generosity a trait. Giving seems to imply scarcity while generosity implies reserves. Giving is often about you while generosity shifts focus to receiver. Giving can often have strings, but generosity feels unconditional. Giving is one way, while generosity encompasses receiving as well. I'm sure you will come up with many more distinctions as you start thinking about this and applying it to your own life.

I have been 'trying on' this concept for a few weeks now. I can only say that I feel a lightness that I haven't felt for a long time. As I write this, I am realizing that before this shift, giving felt like a compulsion. But being generous of spirit is a choice that I make freely, a gift from my heart that leaves me feeling whole.