So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to begin to relax.
And as you.
Begin to comfortably.
Flawlessly.
I'm just going to tell this bedtime story in the background.
And while I tell this bedtime story,
I don't know.
.
.
Whether you'll drift to sleep faster to the sound of my voice.
Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words.
And as you comfortably fall asleep.
You find yourself.
Walking through the most.
Beautiful field of sunflowers.
Their sunflowers.
Towering high above you.
The scent of those sunflowers wafting.
Gently.
Into your nostrils.
The warm sun.
Peaking down on your cheeks.
And the glow.
From the yellow petals.
Reflecting across.
Your skin and your clothes.
Amazing youth.
In the most beautiful light.
And as you will.
Through this field of sunflowers so you can notice.
An eagle circling high overhead.
Catching an up-draw.
The tips of its feathers.
Gently moving in the breeze.
As it glides.
Its head moving side to side slightly as it gazes out across the countryside.
The soft.
Rustling.
Of those sunflowers.
As the wind blows a gentle breeze.
As they sway almost hypnotically around you.
And the gentle crunching.
Of each footstep.
As you walk through this field absorbed in the moment.
Wrapped up in nature.
Wandering towards a nearby town.
And you're following the gap between.
The rose of sunflowers.
As you know you're walking in a straight line across the field Even though you're real.
Too short.
To be able to see over the tops of those sunflowers.
Occasionally noticing ladybirds wandering around.
Those sunflowers.
Noticing bees landing in the hearts of the sunflowers.
Among the geometric patterns.
The occasional butterfly.
Landing.
Carefully moving its wings.
Walking around.
Poking its long tongue into those sunflowers.
For flying to the next planet.
And as you continue to walk through this field so you notice something catching the sun in the distance Something glistening and glittering.
And you trudge through the field.
Reaching that glittering object.
Bending down.
And picking up.
A small purple stone.
That's shaped just right.
To reflect the sunlight.
And you hold it up.
Just above eye level.
In the direction of the sun.
You can see the way the sun reflects.
Off of that stone.
You can feel the smoothness of the sides of the stone.
And as you move that.
You can notice.
That some of the light just about penetrates that stone.
Almost like really dense.
Glass.
And it feels so cool even under this sunlight.
And you place that into a pocket.
Continue on walking.
Till eventually you reach the far side.
Of this field.
You wander out.
Through a hedge.
Out onto a bridle way.
Begin following that bridleway round towards the nearby town.
And each footstep.
Now sounds firmer on this ground.
Less of a crunch and more of a thud.
Able to now see around you.
Looking across those fields of sunflowers.
The distant hills.
The rows of hedges which divide the fields.
The way that shadows dance.
As trees gently sway.
And you continue on your way.
And you hear the distant ringing of a church bell.
From the heart of that tail.
It sounds muted.
Just carry it with the wind.
Wandering around the Bridal Way.
Until you reach the fork in the road and you take the right path.
Walking along the edge of a bank.
I've been to some woodland.
Sounds of robins and other birds.
Singing among the trees.
Continuing along.
Until you see in the distance.
Tucked neatly.
In a crevice among the hills.
That town.
And the church standing tall in the heart of the town.
And you wonder.
Down into the tail.
And as you get closer,
So you.
You can hear people milling around.
In a market in the center of town.
You see different traders.
You can smell.
The scent of a bakery.
The wall.
Past those traitors.
Heading to a tavern.
At the far side of the town.
You walk to that tavern.
Push the heavy wooden door open.
And notice the way that everyone stops talking as you enter,
Just for a moment.
Where everyone glances at.
To see who just came in.
They carry on talking amongst themselves.
That door shuts behind you.
And you head over to a member of staff.
You say that you're here for the night.
They check you in,
They give you a key.
They direct you to the stairs and tell you where the room is.
And so are you.
Head through the tavern.
Round the stairs.
The bar area of the tavern has a certain scent to it.
And the smell of cooking food.
Than the crackle of a log fire.
And the murmur of people talking.
And you creak your way up the stairs.
Around a corner and up some more stairs.
Around another corner.
And up some more stairs and out onto a corridor.
You wander down this corridor looking at the room numbers.
Some of the floorboards creaking beneath your feet.
A stillness and a silence up here.
With just the faintest sound of the talking downstairs.
Naching.
On the underside of the floor.
And you find your room,
Opening the door to the room.
The door.
Clicking open.
Close it behind you.
And the air in the room is so fresh,
The windows wide open.
The sheets so fresh and clean.
You place your bag down on the bed.
You sit on the bed and bounce up and down a couple of times with your bottom,
Just to get a sense.
Of the firmness of the bed.
And you feel it's just right.
You lie back.
Gazing at the ceiling.
Taking a few deep,
Comfortable breaths.
Feeling relaxed after your walk.
You go to the window and look out across the town.
Holding the net curtain aside.
Breathing in that fresh air.
As it wafts into the window.
You settle down for a moment.
At the dressing table.
You organize some of your bits on the dressing table from your bag.
Setting this room up just as you'd like it.
And then you decide to lie down on the bed just for a moment.
It was a long journey to get here and a lot of walking.
And as you lie back on that bed.
And fell.
How soft.
The pillow is behind your head.
The way it supports your head,
Resting there.
You feel yourself breathing in and out so calmly.
With your whole body supported by that bed.
Partly sunk into the bed.
In the most comfortable way.
And you feel so deeply relaxed that your eyes naturally close.
And your breathing naturally deepens.
You start to notice how the top of your head softens and relaxes.
How the muscles across your forehead around your eye.
Around the sides of your head and your ears.
Or soften and relax.
Almost as if each time you take an out breath You drift deeper.
And deeper relaxed.
With the muscles around your cheeks.
Your legs,
Your jaw.
Relaxing deeper.
And more comfortably.
And the muscles around the back of your head.
And down the back of your neck.
And around your neck.
All the way down into your shoulders,
Relaxing.
Softening.
So comfortably.
Your mind wandering.
To pleasant places,
Different thoughts and ideas.
With relaxation.
Passing down your shoulders.
Down into your arms.
Relaxing the muscles down both those arms.
I don't know which arm relaxes deepest fastest.
But those arms just continue to relax all the way down to the fingertips.
As the relaxation moves down around the chest,
The upper back the sides.
Lower back.
Down through the stomach.
All the way down to your bottom and down your legs.
Eventually reaching the tips of your toes.
And while your body continues to relax on that bed drifting so peacefully and comfortably asleep.
The mind feels almost like it's floating and drifting and dreaming.
Like you're running through a lavender field.
With your arms stretched out beside you.
Palms down.
The palms of those hands.
Stroking the tips,
The tops of the lavender.
The scent of the lavender as those hands strike the tips at the top of the lavender.
Wafting up.
Wrapping around you.
Breathing in.
That lavender scent.
Like a healing purple passing gently through you.
Like the most comfortable purple light.
Healing,
Passing,
Wrapping around your mind and body.
Breathing in that healing purple.
As it passes up.
Through your nostrils up.
To the top of your head,
Around within your head.
Before passing down through your neck,
Healing,
Relaxing.
Wrapping itself around.
Anywhere that needs healing and passing through you.
Down into your lungs.
Where it infuses through your body.
And spreads out with each breath.
All the way to the tips of your fingers and toes.
Almost humming and fizzing.
Like an effervescence.
Through your body.
Filling your body with healing bubbles.
That fill you with well-being and wellness.
As you run through that lavender field.
And while you run through that lavender field.
So you gaze down and you see the most incredible red shoes on your feet.
And the faster you run,
The faster your feet move.
And the faster your feet move.
The more you notice glitter sparkling off the backs of those shoes,
As if you're running on sparkling light.
Just above the ground beneath you.
To the point where you run so fast.
You begin to rise up.
On that glittery light.
Like running up a glittering rainbow.
From that feel.
Higher and higher into the sky.
And at some point while running.
You notice the sound of running has stopped.
You hear the sound of the wind rushing past your ears.
Tickling through your hair.
And with a bling.
You find yourself.
Suddenly is the most perfect white dove.
Flying through the sky.
The softest white feathers.
Flapping the feathers just enough to keep in the air.
Surveying the landscape below.
Seeing fields of lavender.
Stretching out to the horizon in all directions.
And you spin around.
And swoop down.
And fly among them.
The fronds of lavender.
Striking the lavender so delicately with your wings.
To spread that lavender scent.
Fills your nostrils and heals your heart.
And passes through you.
Feeling a deep sense of peace and wonder.
Before flying up higher and higher.
Heading towards the fluffiest of clouds.
Passing into the clouds,
Everything suddenly turning white.
With you just flying with a gentle glistening around you.
Breaking through the tops of the clouds.
Looking down.
Of those soft,
Bubbly clouds below.
Looking up.
At the sky overhead.
How pure that sky seems from up here.
Before diving back down through the clouds.
Piercing through those clouds,
The softest puff.
Flying back below those clouds.
Spinning around and heading down.
Towards those lavender fields.
And as you approach the lavender fields and land again.
So you notice your legs stretch out with the red shoes on.
As you learn.
In a gentle run.
And then slow to a waltz.
In the most effortless transition.
And then walking through the lavender fields.
You find yourself walking deeper.
And deeper into sleep.
With that lavender scent.
Enveloping you.
Almost like guiding you down levels of sleepiness.
From 10.
Nine.
8.
Seven.
Six,
Fine.
For war.
Three.
Too.
One drifting asleep now.
Now asleep.
Initially.
Drifting through from the lavender field to a dreamless,
Deep sleep.
And then following that sleep through deeper and deeper.
Before dreaming again of other things.
And then drifting even deeper asleep.
And you're only laid down.
With the intention of having a nap.
That you find yourself.
Sleeping deeply and comfortably.
Because the bed is so soft.
And just the right firmness.
And temperature.
And eventually you begin to.
.
.
Become aware again of the sounds outside the window.
And you remember you're lying on this bed in a hotel.
In this tavern.
And you awaken feeling so refreshed and revitalized and full of energy You sit yourself on the bed before standing up.
You notice that it has begun to get dark outside.
And so are you.
Go back downstairs and you have yourself something to eat.
Enjoying the most.
Beautiful evening mail.
People watching as you do.
Watching couples talking.
People in their own while sitting on their own.
Friends chatting with each other.
The most beautiful dog.
Lying on a rug in front of the log fire.
Enjoying its warmth.
Seeing that dog's legs kick gently.
As it dreams.
Hearing the dog snort from time to time.
As if it's almost talking in its mind.
After eating,
You rest for a while then.
Just sitting with a drink.
Noticing the outside now.
It's turned fully to night time.
You head back up to your room and you grab.
.
.
The chair.
To take outside with you.
And it's a camping chair that you have.
Like to have with you.
When you want to sit outside on your own.
Because the back of this chair gently reclines.
As you take that chair outside.
And outside the back of the tavern.
There's a garden where people can sit and eat and chat and drink.
And way down the end of the garden.
When no one really goes.
It's just grass.
Looking out.
Over the rolling hills.
Facing the opposite direction.
To the rest of the town.
As you take your chair all the way down to the end of the garden.
You set your chair up.
Recline the back of the chair to just the right angle.
You can feel the gentle coolness of the night.
You rest back in the chair.
You allow your eyes to begin.
To adapt to the darkness.
And as they do,
You notice more and more stars in the sky twinkling to light.
You can see.
The dusty,
Milky way stretched.
Across the sky.
And then you see your first meteor of the night.
Streak across that night sky.
Like a slither of light flashing past.
And then another,
And another.
Until many streaks of light.
Advancing across the night sky.
Each one seeming to almost fizz and hiss as it passes by.
Feeling a sense that you can almost smell each one passing overhead.
Most of them passing.
Like someone drawing a quick line on the sky.
That gradually fades.
Sometimes.
One would be like a line.
That then flashes with bright light.
Before the line continues and fades.
And you can hear everyone else behind you.
Sitting at the tables in the garden.
Under the lights.
In the seating area.
Just chatting among themselves.
Totally oblivious to what's going on over their heads.
The light show that you're witnessing.
And for many hours.
As the temperature cools down.
And you can feel that coolness of the breeze on your cheeks.
You continue to just watch.
As those meteors streak across the sky.
Occasionally there'll be a green one or a blue one.
But most of them just look white.
And after a few hours.
The number of meteors you see go past.
Begins to reduce.
And you spend a little longer there.
Until they get so infrequent.
And you start to feel so tired again.
And the people.
Sitting.
Chatting in the bar area.
And out the back.
Have all gone to bed or settled down themselves.
And so you're out here in silence.
With just the sounds of nature.
And this light show overhead.
And when you.
Don't get too tired to keep your eyes open.
You get out of that seat.
Take a seat indoors,
You head back to your room.
And you head back to bed.
And you drift so peacefully,
So comfortably asleep.
And the next day you head down for breakfast.
Still tired.
From only having a few hours sleep.
Enjoy that breakfast.
Before deciding to make the most of being in this area.
And so you set off and decide to walk and explore in the opposite direction this time in the direction you entered the town.
As you wander a little way.
Before turning off into the woods.
Walking.
Among the dancing shards of light.
As branches rustle overhead.
And birdsong echoes among the trees.
You smell that calming woodland smell.
A slight damp wood scent.
And you walk through the woodland.
Until you start to hear something in the distance You can hear a regular ticking.
And you head out into a slight clearing.
And then the clearing.
You can see two pixies.
It looks like they're playing a game.
And between them.
Is a metronome.
Left and right,
Left and right.
You watch from the corner of the clearing for a while.
Trying to work out what game they're playing.
And then one of them notices you and calls you over.
And so you head over and you ask them what they're playing.
They say that they're playing chess,
But they play their own unique version of chess.
They say that every move has to be made on a tick or a tock of the metronome.
And a move won't be counted.
If it's not made on a tick or a tock.
And one of the pixies makes moves on the tick.
And one of them makes moves on the top.
And they say.
.
.
That they have to move the prawns.
And take the other person's prawns.
And that the goal is to be able to take the king prawn.
And so you watch as they play this game of chess.
And they say that one of the characters of those chest pieces.
Is a little flamingo on a pogo stick.
That can bounce three squares forwards and two to the side.
Or two squares forward and three to the side.
But every bounce must be on a tick or a tock.
The glittering bananas can move diagonally.
But only on the colour that they're on.
They can move a number of squares,
But every square they move has to be on a tick or a top.
And there's a queen eagle.
Named Bubbles.
And if you can pop the opponent's Queen Eagle.
It makes it easier for you to win.
Because the Queen Eagle.
Can move in any direction.
And so you try to get the hang of this game as you want.
And you see the rhythm unfolding.
As one pixie moves on a tech and the other moves on a top.
And you notice.
As the game progresses,
So the metronome speeds up.
And they have to play faster and faster and think faster and faster.
To know what moves to make.
As they move,
On the tip,
Then on the top,
Then on the tip,
Then on the top.
You find your eyes darting left and right,
Left and right,
With each tick and tock.
And as your eyes move faster and faster,
Left and right,
Left and right.
So you notice yourself drifting.
Into a dream.
While watching them play.
And you take a book of matches out of your pocket.
As your eyes get heavier and heavier.
And you take two of those matches from that book of matches.
And you carefully prop your eyes open.
Holding your eyelids up.
So you can continue to try and watch.
This game play out with the ticking and the tocking.
As your eyes want to get heavier and heavier.
I want to close.
And eventually.
.
.
One of the pixies wins.
And the game comes to an end.
And you say that that seemed like a really intense game.
Especially as it was getting faster and faster.
And you remove the matches from your eyes.
As you don't feel so tired now the ticking and the tocking has stopped.
They say that it's much easier to watch these games.
If you're wearing.
The Magical Goggles they even out those ticks in the tocks.
They make it so that your perception of time flows at the rate of the ticking and the tocking.
So the ticking and the tocking sounds like it continues at the same rate and speed because your perception of time Speeds up.
To match the ticking and the tocking.
So that time seems the same.
Through to the end of the game.
And after watching that game.
You continue on,
You're walking.
And continue exploring.
Until eventually.
The sun is beginning to set again.
And you know in the morning you've got a long journey home.
So you head back.
That tavern.
You rest down and drift peacefully asleep in bed.
The next day making your journey home.
Having eaten the most beautiful breakfast.
And as you will.
Through the town.
You stop off briefly at the sweet shop.
You buy some treats.
For some loved ones to take back with you.
You buy yourself a postcard.
To give to a friend.
And you make your journey back.
Along that path.
Among the sunflowers.
And it's a long walk.
And then a long train journey home.
And eventually you arrive home.
And there's something refreshing.
About arriving home after a long day.
Journey away.
And settle yourself down at home.
And then a neighbour who's been looking after your cat,
Whiskers.
Brings them back home.
And Whiskers jumps up into your arms,
So pleased to see you.
And purrs away.
As you stroke their belly.
And that night,
You rest in the most comfortable chair.
Telling whiskers all about your adventure.
About the meteor shower.
About the pixies playing.
About that purple stone that you found.
Replace the purple stone up on top of the fireplace.
Brisk as settles themselves down.
And falls comfortably asleep.
And you go to bed.
And you settle down.
And you too drift so peacefully.
So comfortably relaxed.
Asleep.
Into slumberland.
