However, when I actually try to get to sleep, meaning, I lie in bed and wait to drift off, I am constantly thinking thoughts automatically, and I am scared that I'll get caught up in thoughts that may lead down to a huge jail of negative emotion and spike me onto a bad vibration.

Not the best vibration to offer there, don't you think?

Nikulas, this is not the first time I notice you are very stuck in "trying" and "wanting to figure stuff out", my feeling from your questions is that you are definitely very resistant to what you are experiencing and you aren't enjoying the moment and the processes... Your mind is playing tricks on you, getting you to meditate and do vibrational work, but under the surface it is keeping you in a constant state of worry and doubt, of "is this working?" or "I have to understand this", and worst of all, it makes you result-oriented. You aren't doing the processes in order to experience the sweet, precious and divine feeling of connecting with your unconditionally loving source, you are doing it because you want stuff to happen and you want to change your experience, which fills you up with resistance.

LET GO and SURRENDER!!! You are trying to force and control, when you should be allowing, welcoming and enjoying. Remember the three steps :

1. You ask (automatic).
2. The universe answers to you and creates your desire for you - Notice how you are worrying about this step, trying to figure it out, make sense of it, trying in some way to control it - this is not your job! Sit back and ALLOW your source to do it's job by universal law!
3. You vibrationally align with your desire - since you are trying to control and worrying constantly about step 2 (which is not your job), you kick yourself out of step 3.

"Let go and let God". You cannot experience the abundance, wealth, health, love and spirituality while in the state of worry and doubt. It's time to make a decision to let go, and focus only on positive thoughts, and get into the vortex.

I've had trouble sleeping my whole life, but I have finally hit upon a method of falling asleep quickly without pills, and one that does not allow my mind to begin turning on all subjects, good and bad!

First off, nothing stimulating physically or thought provoking before bed. Examples: no telephone conversations with someone who will upset me, no internet activities, no exercise, no TV shows that are scary or news shows that will be upsetting. Sometimes a boring book for some reading! I don't think you want to be trying to raise your vibrations before rest; instead it is the opposite.

I get into a comfortable position in bed, relax my body from the top of my head all the way down to my feet. This only takes several seconds once you get used to doing it. After a few deep rythmical breaths, I begin counting down slowly from one-hundred. I see each number in my mind's eye as I mentally say it. This keeps my mind from drifting off into stimulating subjects and keeps it on the droning of the numbers. I very seldom get down to zero but if I do, I start over.

I am falling asleep quickly this way and if something wakes me during the night...the dogs, using the bathroom or whatever, I simply go back to the same process. I am sleeping well now and having vivid dreams.

Best wishes for a good night's sleep and falling asleep nicely.

Meditating before bed as you mentioned is a good way to drift off to sleep. I recently have started listening to Abrahams Vortex Meditation CD more consistently than I have in months. I was really consistent with it from December last year up until about April of this year but kinda got out of the habit of doing it. I have to admit, it really makes me more relaxed overall when I listen to it on a regular basis. I've been doing it every night for a few weeks lately and I've noticed that it makes drifting off more relaxing because my mind is more at ease instead of focused on the events of today or what may or may not happen tomorrow.

I actually took a couple of notes on what to say before bed to get you in the habit of having a restful sleep and waking up the next day in the Vortex. Here are a couple of suggestions from Abrahams Money and the Law of Attraction book.

Bedtime phrase 1. Tonight I will rest well- I know that all attraction to this body will stop and when I awaken in the morning, I will literally reemerge back into my physical experience.

Bedtime phrase 2. Tonight as I sleep, all attraction will stop, which means tomorrow I will have a new beginning; and tomorrow I will look for what I am wanting to see because I want to feel good- because feeling good is the most important thing!

I personally haven't tried either of those yet because I am still reading the book, but I plan to record those phrases on my Ipod and play them every night before I drift off to sleep. Repeating them anywhere from 5 to 10 times would probably be the most beneficial.

I would also suggest pivoting to a better feeling thought. If your laying there and some negative things come into your mind, don't get upset by that, just let it be the indicator to switch to a better feeling thought. Try to think of the good things that happened during the day or the things that excite you for tomorrow. Even something you would consider small or insignificant gets you going in the right direction.

One last suggestion would be binaural beats. Depending on which type you choose, they came stimulate your brainwaves to different frequencies of relaxation. I have quite a few apps on my Ipod with them and youtube has an endless amount as well. I have fallen asleep and woken up quite a few times with my headphones on using them. After a few minutes of listening, my mind only seems to care about being relaxed instead of fretting over past or future happenings.

if you are tired from a full day of activity
yet have enough concentration to review your emotinal reactios,
accept your decision-making or plan to make amends.
in which mind set do we choose to drift asleep with

Make a list of the kinds of thoughts that you have while trying to fall asleep, or the things you worry that you will think about. Then, write positive statements about them, the way you want them to be. Write them in the present form, as if they were already true. For example, if you worry about finding love, your positive phrase would be, "I am loved." or "I feel loved." When my nose is stuffy, I use, "I can breathe freely." or "I can breathe clearly." This clears my nose, and I fall asleep. If you worry about bills, "I pay all my bills on time." Keep them simple and short and positive and in the present. Make a phrase for all your negative thoughts.

Before you go to bed, pick one phrase and after you meditate and say your prayers and list the things you are thankful for, and are ready to go to sleep, repeat your positive phrase 40x. Don't change the phrase, say the same one 40x. I twitch each finger and toe 2x each to get 40. I rarely get to 40x. If I do, I start over with a new phrase. I noticed for me, that a phrase about falling asleep doesn't work.

Edit: I would like to add that when you make this list, it will also give you a list to tap on using EFT.

Edit: I no longer bother to count. I just repeat my simple phrase until I fall asleep. My favorites are (only one per night): I am loved; I am safe; or I can breathe clearly (if I have a stuffy nose or am coughing).

I usually go to sleep with my mp3 player either playing the Abraham meditations or other meditations, but I make sure those have brainwave entrainment. I especially like the Alpha Mind Control and Healing Affirmations, both from Jeffrey Gignac and available for free from www.evolutionezine.com. I have been using them for almost 2 years now. They relax and put me out in no time. Even if I wake up later, not very often, b/c of dogs barking or the cats throwing something down, I have no problem to go back to sleep immediately with no help, just closing my eyes and maybe 3 deep breaths. They are also good, if you are not that tired yet, after the verbal part stops, you can do your own visualizations if you want to, to the brainwave sound and music, or just let yourself drift off to sleep. They are using binaural beats with it and I am using very slimline headphones so they don't bother me while sleeping. Once in a while I am putting on an abundance hypnosis mp3, but mostly it is those 3 I mentioned. They work great for me and I swear by them and highly recommend them.

It is all very well to say, "Let go/allow/be in the moment . . . " But I have had a hard time achieving this. MY mind begins racing with the thoughts of the day. Though I know that when I sleep, I do release resistance, that my body and mind relax and do maintenance.

But this has been difficult for me, to allow. What helps me greatly, whether going to sleep, or anytime is to get in the moment. I do this by looking around and finding things that I like.

First I focus on my breathing. Slowly, in and out. Deep breathing.

I have been stuck in traffic. I watch the beautiful red of the taillights around me. The sky, blue, grey, rainy, doesn't matter. The colors of the other cars. The people in them. A wash of appreciation swells over me and the traffic disappears.

At night, I watch the glow of my clock projected on the ceiling, the sails of my ceiling fan. I listen to the crickets. Sometime I hear the rhythmic snoring of our spaniels. My wife's gentle breathing. The fountain in our atrium. Then I am off to court sweet Somnus........to sleep, perchance to dream.

To be in the now is much easier when you are breathing right and experiencing what is going on in the Now. There is always Beauty. Beauty draws us because it feels good. Therefore it is Source.

I just read this to my wife, Anne, and she fell sound asleep. :)

Position yourself to go to sleep. Then place your hands in a natural postion, but where they can be open and touching you, the bed, the pillow, whatever. Then feel one hand, then the other, then both, then you are waking up. Don't try to think or not think, just feel your hands, what your hands are touching.