Me-Time By The Lake: Bedtime Story

In this soothing sleep story, a person retreats to a log cabin by a lake, encircled by woods and mountains, for some self-care. They spend days relishing the tranquility, exploring the woods, and fishing after visiting a treehouse they built. On the journey home, they stop at a hotel for the night. As they fall asleep, a vivid dream of an old train envelops them, taking them on a journey through its carriages to a quaint station. They follow a country road to a small stone building, where a welcoming man offers tea and a healing experience. This guides the person into a deeper, rejuvenating sleep.

Transcript

So,

As you listen to me tell this story,

You can begin to drift comfortably asleep.

And I don't know whether you'll drift comfortably asleep faster to the sound of my words or to the spaces between my words.

And as you drift comfortably asleep,

I'm just going to tell this story in the background.

A story about a person who has taken some time to find themselves.

They decided they needed some time alone.

Some time to recharge their batteries.

To have time for themselves.

A little bit of solitude for a while.

A time of peace and inner discovery.

And so,

To get that space that they desired,

They went to a log cabin on the edge of a lake surrounded by woodland and mountains.

And they were sat in a chair in front of a crackling fire,

Relaxing,

Drifting into a reverie,

Enjoying this space,

Enjoying being at one with the world around them,

Being in the moment,

Being present,

Hearing the crackling fire,

Hearing the slight whistling of the wind outside,

And with their eyes closed being able to hear some distant sounds of birds and the sensation of their breathing as they breathed in and out,

And the weight of their arms resting there,

As they relaxed and experienced being present and in the moment.

And most of their day was spent just being present,

Sitting still,

But occasionally they went out to have a walk,

To be present walking,

To do mindful walking.

They walked out of the cabin,

Descended the steps from the cabin to the path below,

Being present and counting each step as they went,

On step 10,

9,

8,

7,

6,

5,

4,

3,

2,

1,

Stepping on the soil below,

Noticing the change in the sound of the footsteps from the steps to the soil,

Following that soil path around into the woodland,

And beginning to walk into that woodland.

And as they walked into the woodland,

So they were present,

They felt the breeze of the air on their skin,

The temperature of the environment,

The feeling of each footstep,

The sound of rustling leaves as the breeze blew through the trees,

The way shards of light would sparkle and dance as the sun broke through the trees,

Enjoying the misty shards as they walked deeper into the woodland,

Smelling the smell of pine trees,

Walking deeper and deeper into the woodland,

And then arriving at a tree,

And climbing that tree to a makeshift tree house they've been building out here during their stay,

And resting in that tree house,

And noticing the slight sway of the tree as they rest up there,

High enough up to look over most of the woodland,

And to be able to see birds flying overhead,

And using their binoculars they watch as bird of prey fly overhead,

Circle around and occasionally dive down towards the ground,

Before appearing again high up in the air,

So gracefully circling,

Seemingly so relaxed,

And they take in the moment,

Enjoying being in the moment,

Watching those birds as they circle overhead,

And then gazing off through the binoculars,

Through the trees,

Seeing on the edge of the trees and the meadow in the distance,

Deer,

Feeding and weaving between the tree line and walking out into the meadow,

Before moving back into the safety of the tree line,

Just watching them grazing,

And watching how they interact,

And knowing that they're learning from the experience,

They're learning from being present,

From being able to be outside of their mind,

Being present in the here and now,

And what's going on around them,

Taking pleasure in simple tasks,

In simple observations,

Developing that sense of curiosity,

And then as the day moves on,

So they descend that tree,

They walk back through the woodland,

Back out in front of that log cabin,

And then they turn the other way,

And they walk down to the lake,

They walk along a slight jetty,

Climb into a rowing boat,

Unhook the rope from the shore,

And begin to row out into the middle of the lake,

Being present,

Hearing the sounds of the oars pushing against the water,

As they move towards the middle of the lake,

As the boat rocks ever so slightly in the water,

As the long and shallow waves pass by,

Rowing out towards the middle of the lake,

And as they reach the middle of the lake,

So they pull the oars into the boat,

Getting out a fishing rod,

And then they cast the line out into the water,

And rest back and wait,

And they just enjoy being present,

They just enjoy being in this moment,

Aware that they're waiting for their dinner,

And that how long they have to wait is out of their control,

And so they just wait,

And lie back,

And they can see the blue sky,

See the way clouds are passing across the sky,

Feel that slight rocking of the boat,

The slight sloshing sound as the water sloshes against the edge of the boat,

Relaxing in the moment,

And as they relax in the moment,

It's almost as if time stands still,

And then after a little while,

They hear a plopping sound,

They notice that something's pulling on the line,

And so they get up,

And they focus on feeling the experience of catching that fish,

They catch themselves the fish,

Before rowing back to shore,

And that evening,

Cooking themselves the fish for dinner,

Before settling down,

Drifting off asleep,

Knowing this is the last night here,

But it's not the end of their experience,

Because their journey is part of their experience,

And they still need to journey home,

And the next morning,

They awaken,

They leave the cabin,

They begin their long long journey home,

And they drive initially down a long straight road,

With woodland on either side of that road,

And then they turn onto another road,

With woodland on one side,

And vast open space on the other side,

And then after a long drive,

They turn onto another road,

That seems to be a better quality road,

As they approach civilization,

And they arrive at a hotel to stop for the night,

They check in to the hotel,

They go to their room,

Settle down in bed,

And they drift comfortably,

And relaxed asleep,

And as they drift comfortably,

And relaxed asleep,

So they begin to notice a spiral in their mind's eye,

Almost drawing them into the center of that spiral,

And they watch as that spiral spins in their mind's eye,

And notice in the center,

How a train begins to appear,

And the train seems to be forming as if it's forming around them,

From in front of them within the spiral,

At the front of the train,

And then carriages are forming in front of them,

And then around them,

And then off behind them,

And as the carriages are forming around them,

So they begin to hear the clipty-clap of the train on a track,

They begin to feel the movement of sitting on a seat on a train,

They begin to see movement out the window,

As scenery outside the window flashes past them while the train speeds along,

They begin to hear sounds of other passengers chatting with each other,

Until eventually the whole experience is formed,

That they're sat here on a train,

Traveling through somewhere they don't know and don't recognize,

And outside the window they can see grassland,

They can see low hills,

It looks like some towns and villages that they're passing by,

And a river running almost along near the track,

Weaving and winding,

And people walking along the riverbank,

Some boats in the river,

Thick fluffy clouds in the sky,

And they gaze out the window as that environment flashes by,

And they look around themselves,

They see the other passengers,

And they're curious where they are in this dream,

And what this dream means,

They continue their sense of curiosity,

They continue what they've been learning during their solitude in the log cabin,

To show curiosity,

External focus on what's going on around them,

And they see the different passengers,

And they decide to stand up and walk down the train,

And they notice this is like a really old steam train,

And they open one carriage,

They step across to the other carriage,

Open the door to that carriage,

And have that noisy moment when they're outside stepping between carriages,

And they walk through the next carriage,

And after a while they notice this steam train is slowing down,

And then the steam train appears to pull into a station,

And as that steam train pulls into the station,

So they hear someone saying,

All change please,

All change,

And all the passengers are getting up,

Getting their luggage,

And leaving the train,

And they leave the train themselves as well,

And they look around the platform,

They leave the platform,

Leave the station,

And find themselves walking down a country road,

Away from that station,

And they don't know where they're going,

They just know that they're here to learn,

And they walk down that country road,

Towards a small stone building,

And they arrive at that stone building,

They knock on a wooden door to the building,

And a man answers the door with a friendly smile,

As if he was expecting them,

And he welcomes them in,

And they walk in,

And he gestures for them to take a seat,

And he brings over a cup of tea,

He gives them that cup of tea,

And they feel the warmth of that in their hands,

And they have some sips of that tea,

Feeling the warmth with each sip,

Noticing how refreshing that is,

And then the person tells them,

They're going to have an experience,

To build on the experiences and the knowledge they've already gained,

And that this will cement those experiences in place,

And this man tells them to close their eyes,

Take a deep breath,

And begin to relax,

And as you begin to relax,

You can notice a healing light beginning to enter the top of your head,

And you can notice what colour that healing light is,

As it enters the top of your head,

And maybe you'll notice the temperature with that healing light,

And the way that healing light moves down the top of your head,

Down your face,

Your ears,

Your forehead,

Your cheeks,

Perhaps warming your cheeks a little,

Maybe a different temperature,

Maybe your forehead,

As that healing light continues down your face,

Your neck,

Down to your shoulders,

Almost like that healing light is giving you the most comfortable healing massage on those shoulders,

Relaxing any tension,

Relaxing,

Passing that healing light deep within you,

As it passes down those shoulders,

Down both arms,

Relaxing the muscles,

Healing as it goes down,

Healing muscles,

Healing bone,

Healing every cell in your body as it passes down,

Relieving tension,

And dis-ease,

As it moves down to the forearms,

Down into the wrists,

Healing as it goes down to the fingertips,

Healing all the way down to the fingertips,

And perhaps you'll notice as it's healing all the way down to the fingertips,

Maybe the energy that goes with that light,

Maybe a heaviness,

Or a lightness,

Or a tingling,

Or some other sensation of the energy as it heals all the way down to your fingertips,

And then passes down from your shoulders,

Down your upper back,

All the way down around your chest,

Around your sides,

All the way down to your stomach,

To your lower back,

Down deep within you,

Down deep within you,

All the way down through your body,

Healing deeper and deeper,

As that healing light passes all the way down to your waist,

All the way down to the buttocks,

And around your groin area,

And then down through your legs,

All the way down the upper legs,

Lower part of your legs,

Healing all the way down to your feet,

And then just noticing that healing light encircling you,

Passing through you,

Being a part of you,

And a part of your breath,

As you breathe in healing light,

And breathe out any stress or tension,

And this person guided them through this experience,

Before giving them a moment to absorb all that as a being,

And after they absorbed all that as a being,

They now understood what they needed to understand,

From their whole experience since the log cabin,

And once they understood all that,

So they drifted from this experience,

Even deeper and deeper,

Into a deep and comfortable,

Relaxing sleep,

Drifting deeply and comfortably asleep.

Reviews

Love this style of story. Voice and cadence are so soothing.

Sorry, I didn't catch the end! I must have fallen asleep! Great job!