It is time to rest now.
Whatever this day has asked of you,
You have given enough.
Let your body become heavy and still.
Let your hands open and soften.
Let your jaw,
Your shoulders,
Your chest,
All release.
Breathe in slowly and breathe out completely.
Imagine you are standing on a shore.
It is late evening,
The sky above you is deep and soft.
The color of the last light before darkness settles in.
The air smells of salt and coolness.
Beneath your feet,
The sand is warm from the day.
Ahead of you lies the sea.
It is calm,
Almost perfectly still.
The surface moves only gently,
Breathing in and out.
The way you are breathing now.
This sea is not something to fear.
It is the place where dreams live.
It has been waiting for you all day.
At the water's edge,
There is a small boat.
It is yours,
It has always been yours.
It sits quietly in the shallows,
Patient and ready.
Before you step in,
Take one last look at the shore behind you.
See the things of the day,
The thoughts,
The tasks,
The worries.
Still there on the sand where you left them.
They will not follow you out to sea.
They will be there in the morning if you need them,
But tonight,
They are not yours to carry.
Step into the boat.
Feel it shift gently beneath you as you settle in.
You reach down and untie the rope from the mooring.
And slowly,
Without effort,
The boat begins to drift.
The shore grows smaller behind you.
The sounds of the day fade.
There is only the soft sound of water against the hull,
And the silence beneath it.
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
You are leaving the land now,
And that is exactly right.
The boat moves gently on its own.
You do not need to steer,
You do not need to row.
The sea knows where it is taking you.
Lie back and look up.
Above you,
The sky has deepened to night.
Stars are appearing one by one,
Quietly,
Without announcement.
Your eyelids are growing heavy now.
That is the sea calling you deeper.
There is nothing to resist,
Only surrender,
Soft and willing.
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
The sea of dreams is vast and kind.
It holds within it everything your waking mind cannot reach.
Images,
Feelings,
Memories woven into new shapes.
Colors that have no name,
Places that feel like home.
You are moving toward all of that now.
With every breath you drift a little further from the shore.
With every exhale you go a little deeper.
Let your thoughts become like foam on the water.
They rise for a moment,
And then they dissolve.
You do not need to follow them.
Just watch them drift away.
The rocking of the boat has slowed.
Or perhaps it is you who has slowed.
The boundary between the boat and the sea.
Between you and the night is growing soft.
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
You are far from the shore now.
The land is gone from sight.
There is only water and stars and stillness.
This is where sleep lives.
Right here,
In this quiet.
In this gentle rocking,
In this vast,
Soft dark.
Let yourself go.
The sea will carry you.
Through the hours of the night.
Through the dreaming and the deep.
The sea will carry you.
