Access over 500+ Hrs of Basic Content for as low as $4.97/month!
Sign up today!Select Category
Browse from A-Z
Go Deeper!
Make self-realization part of your daily life – become an aspirant and join Life of Learning’s online community.
You'll gain access to:Click for Quick Inspiration!
Welcome to Life of Learning's Online Wisdom School
Access an In-Depth, Multi-Media Resource of Higher Wisdom, Online or On-the-Go!
Sign up today!You need an active subscription to enjoy more access.
Subscribe to unlock more content.
Access Over 500+ Hours of Premium Content Today! Try it Completely RISK FREE for 30 days!
Enlightening articles by Guy Finley on a wide range of topics address practical life issues and deepen your spiritual understanding.
Short but powerful quotes by Guy Finley will inspire you throughout your day.
Heartfelt inner-life questions from people around the world, and Guy’s enlightening answers, will shed light on your own issues.
Read Guy’s newest insights as he jots them down, spontaneous and uncensored.
Watch or listen to the specific talk we will all be discussing during this week’s Online Study Group meeting.
If you have a few minutes, and want a burst of enlightenment, watch or listen to these brief talks by Guy, filled with concentrated wisdom.
Hearing Guy interact with an interviewer is a delight. Listen as he makes deep spiritual principles easy to understand.
Be encouraged by hearing fellow members share their experiences and discoveries as they bring higher ideas into their daily lives.
The Life of Learning singers and instrumentalists perform beautiful music that will inspire and uplift you.
Join us for exclusive live broadcasts of select Guy Finley talks.
Start your day off right with a nugget of wisdom that can transform your experience with everything you do and everyone you meet.
Inner-life exercises and special writings deepen your understanding.
Longtime local members speak for 10 to 15 minutes on a special topic. Hear the explorations and discoveries of others on the inner journey.
Dive deep into a subject on your own! Work at your own pace with a series of talks by Guy on topics critical to your inner development.
Catch Guy Finley’s weekly message that focuses on spiritual and personal breakthroughs. This is updated weekly and is available in video, audio and text.
Join a lively online discussion with other members each week of “This Week’s Topic” – a new Guy Finley talk selected for in-depth study.
You are not alone on the inner journey. Listen to lively, weekly online discussions between members.
Every Saturday Guy leads an open discussion. Local members share their discoveries, and Guy’s comments deepen everyone’s understanding.
Guy regularly holds open Q&A sessions. Often members of our global community send in questions, or speak directly to Guy online.
Access to all our private Facebook updates, student Facebook discussions, and our LIVE Saturday lunch roundtable discussions.
This member forum is where you can write in your observations and experiences, and receive feedback from fellow members. Read-only access for Free and Basic members. Full access for Premium & All Access members.
Enlightening articles by Guy Finley on a wide range of topics address practical life issues and deepen your spiritual understanding.
Short but powerful quotes by Guy Finley will inspire you throughout your day.
Heartfelt inner-life questions from people around the world, and Guy’s enlightening answers, will shed light on your own issues.
Read Guy’s newest insights as he jots them down, spontaneous and uncensored.
Watch or listen to the specific talk we will all be discussing during this week’s Online Study Group meeting.
If you have a few minutes, and want a burst of enlightenment, watch or listen to these brief talks by Guy, filled with concentrated wisdom.
Hearing Guy interact with an interviewer is a delight. Listen as he makes deep spiritual principles easy to understand.
Be encouraged by hearing fellow members share their experiences and discoveries as they bring higher ideas into their daily lives.
The Life of Learning singers and instrumentalists perform beautiful music that will inspire and uplift you.
Join us for exclusive live broadcasts of select Guy Finley talks.
Start your day off right with a nugget of wisdom that can transform your experience with everything you do and everyone you meet.
Inner-life exercises and special writings deepen your understanding.
Longtime local members speak for 10 to 15 minutes on a special topic. Hear the explorations and discoveries of others on the inner journey.
Dive deep into a subject on your own! Work at your own pace with a series of talks by Guy on topics critical to your inner development.
Catch Guy Finley’s weekly message that focuses on spiritual and personal breakthroughs. This is updated weekly and is available in video, audio and text.
Join a lively online discussion with other members each week of “This Week’s Topic” – a new Guy Finley talk selected for in-depth study.
You are not alone on the inner journey. Listen to lively, weekly online discussions between members.
Every Saturday Guy leads an open discussion. Local members share their discoveries, and Guy’s comments deepen everyone’s understanding.
Guy regularly holds open Q&A sessions. Often members of our global community send in questions, or speak directly to Guy online.
Access to all our private Facebook updates, student Facebook discussions, and our LIVE Saturday lunch roundtable discussions.
This member forum is where you can write in your observations and experiences, and receive feedback from fellow members. Read-only access for Free and Basic members. Full access for Premium & All Access members.
You need a membership to access this content.
You need a membership to access this content.
You need a membership to access this content.
You need an membership to access this content.
Pick a Plan and Sign up Today!
Access 500+ hours of Basic Content for as low as $4.97/month!
Sign up today!You can find softcover and hardcover books in our store. Many of Guy’s works are also available as eBooks.
Shop BooksListen to Guy’s talks on CD or MP3. Some of his books are also available as audiobooks.
Shop AudioWatch Guy on DVD or MP4 as he presents talks on a wide array of topics related to your spiritual discovery.
Shop VideoOur eCourses focus on specific topics, building your understanding through a series of related talks. Most eCourses include MP3 audio and MP4 video formats you can play online.
Shop eCoursesI have struggled with anxiety and fear all my life. I have taken medication for this for over 20 years. I have been to therapy and I am in the Work every day. One of my major goals has been to get off medication completely and since accomplishing that, there have been some very, very tough days and nights -- bouts of insomnia and days of pain and irritability that have challenged me to the hilt. Prayer and many of the ideas that come from the Work have gotten me through. When the anxiety comes I try just to be with it or come into the present moment, and that seems to be effective. But it is very hard to be vigilant every minute of every day. When the fear that I am not going to be able to sleep comes to visit, trying to come into the present feels like resistance. Does this ever get easier? I want to win this battle! Please tell me if I am headed in the right direction.
First: let's talk about resistance, and its "power" over our wish to work through some limitation. Then we'll look at something that should help you with the insomnia.
It's helpful to know that before any negative state can stake a claim on one's attention, that dark wave always begins with one unseen movement within us: resistance. It is the dark father of psychological fear, and all other unwanted emotional states. Briefly, it works like this: an event, an impression, even a habitual thought will be registered within us (unconsciously) and the conditioned mind immediately decides for us what that event means... all by a process of comparison. In the same instant, having now concluded what's happened to us, the same divided mind then projects what will happen next as a result of this unwanted event, and then it resists its own findings.
You have to see this dynamic in action to start separating from the fearful reactions that attend its actions. But, remember: no fear can exist without some form of negative imagination being involved. If you can just work to see this truth, and then act accordingly when confronted by the machinations, then you'll have something to help you drop the dark states.
Here's something to help get through the interior assault of fear (over being unable to sleep) as it taunts you with the idea that your night will be another living hell.
I'll assume you know the Lord's Prayer, but if not then the "Thou Art..." exercise will work just as well. You must take one line of the prayer -- a few words at a time are enough -- and recite them consciously. This means, for instance, "Our Father, who art in Heaven..." that you make every single word as conscious to yourself as you can. All true and positive associations with each word... fully present in yourself to the feeling of the individual words, and their meaning as they're further associated. Don't let anything creep into this work... if it does, start over. FEEL what you're thinking -- not in a sentimental way, but with all that you can sense about the word, it's meaning, and the broader context of which each and all are a part. Such prayer, real prayer because you are doing the deliberate inner work of aligning all your parts with the intention of communion, never fails to quiet the mind. Once this intervention takes place, rest comes... of a deeper order. Don't expect "success"... make these actions a request, and you will receive what you need.
You are created for this "battle", which means you can't lose... providing you remain in its midst. I know this to be true, and so will you.
Comments (0)
Get Guy Finley’s Bestselling eBook for FREE!
Freedom from the Ties that Bind
Simply by Joining Our Newsletter List!