
The Woman & Gerbil's Roadtrip Adventure: Long Bedtime Story
by Dan Jones
In this long sleep story, a woman returns from work, relaxes in a bubble bath, and slips into a reverie of walking through a forest. She watches a gerbil playing maracas, then imagines driving down a road with the gerbil. They camp out, continue through the rain, and find a cabin in the forest where a mystical being gives her a stone. A lake adventure with manta rays leads them to a chamber with a scroll revealing the illusion of time. Afterward, she awakens in her bath, pondering her experience before sleeping.
Transcript
Just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to Begin to relax and as you begin to relax,
I don't know whether you'll Relax deeper to the sound of my voice Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words and as you begin to comfortably Drift asleep I'm just going to tell this sleep meditation in the background And it's a sleep meditation about a Woman who has had a very long and hard day at work And she gets home and in the evening She goes and runs a bath and she fills that bath with plenty of bubbles And she lights a few candles around the bath and she can smell the scents in the bathroom and notice the dim flickering lights around the walls of the bathroom and she can hear that water running into the bath filling that bath and Notice the steam in the bathroom and the mirror misting up And then once the bath is full of bubbly hot water She gently relaxes herself down into that bath rest herself back and relaxes all the way down so that she can feel the water just under her chin She can feel the bubbles tickling As they touch and pop around her cheeks and around the back of her neck and she can breathe in the fresh scents in the bathroom and hear the silence of that bathroom And as she relaxes there,
She allows her eyes to gently close and she begins to just comfortably drift into her mind Drifting and floating into a pleasant reverie Where she starts to lose track of all time Where she's aware that there's silence,
But she's aware that there's a certain sound to the silence But not a sound that she could pinpoint as hearing That she would only be able to tell you that there was a sound by its absence if it disappeared and she allows her mind to wander and as she drifts deeper into that reverie Feeling the warmth of the bath Soothing and relaxing her muscles soothing and relaxing her neck Her shoulders,
Her arms,
Her body down her legs to her feet Relaxing her breathing Relaxing her heart rate as she drifts deeper and deeper into relaxation She starts to have this sense in her mind's eye of walking through a forest the sound of each footstep gently crunching on leaves and twigs Pushing through some of the thin small branches weaving between the trees and walking deeper and deeper into this forest noticing a slight fog hovering just above the ground and hearing this musical sound off in the distance a musical rhythm playing and with curiosity walking deeper into this forest towards that sound and after a while Noticing that the fog is beginning to lift slightly As she approaches a clearing and as she walks out into that clearing she sees the strangest of sights she sees a circle of different creatures She can see a fox.
She can see an owl a couple of mice some squirrels All standing around in a circle Bobbing up and down and in the middle of the circle standing on a stone on a gray and flat stone and bopping up and down and dancing around she can see a gerbil playing maracas and it's dancing around and twirling It's waving its arms in the air and all the other animals are standing around and bopping to that gerbils music and then all of a sudden one of those animals notices this woman standing there and the gerbil drops their maracas and all the animals start acting like normal and Start scampering off in different directions As if what she had seen hadn't really been seen And she walks over to that stone She can see that gerbil a little way off now Tucked behind a log keeping an eye on her She sits down near that stone crosses her legs becomes very still and quiet and after a few moments some of the animals poke their heads out and when they see that She isn't moving they start finding their way back and And investigating her and that gerbil climbs up onto her leg and She remains motionless And it looks up at her and then she looks down towards it And it flinches back ever so slightly but then notices that she seems safe to be around and so it moves forward again and Then she turns one of her hands palm up and the gerbil moves over to the hand and rests against the hand and she gently strokes that gerbil and then the others all those other animals start getting closer and Start gathering around feeling that she seems safe and then that gerbil goes and picks its maracas up again and starts playing Only this time it's playing a different rhythm And it's playing in front of this woman And she finds it somehow hypnotic To be listening and watching that gerbil playing those maracas And she finds her eyes Doing a few rapid blinks before relaxing shut She feels herself do one big breath in And then out As she drifts even deeper inside her mind And while she drifts deeper inside her mind she starts having that feeling of wind blowing through her hair And then a scene begins to form around her of her traveling along in a car down an incredibly straight road Where the road goes off so far in the distance That it reaches to at least the horizon And she looks out of the window one side And can see the countryside flashing past And she looks in towards the car looking the other side and in the passenger seat She can see that gerbil with its seat belt on Shaking its maracas to the music on the radio And it looks over and up at her and smiles Before getting even more invested in its playing Seeming so invested in the music That it closes its eyes to absorb itself in that music And she looks back forward and continues to drive And she doesn't even question the experience About going on a road trip with a gerbil And as she continues to drive So the sun begins to set And eventually they have to set up camp And she gets out of the car And can see in the back seat is a bag And she takes that bag off the back seat Finds a tent in the bag She puts that tent up A little way off the road She sees the gerbil Take a bag And take a tiny tent Out of that bag And she watches as that gerbil puts its tent up next to hers Then she heads into her tent Has a torch hanging down in the middle of the tent And she sits in the entrance to the tent With a campfire flickering away And as the last of the sun disappears over the horizon She can see the stars stretching across the sky She looks over towards the gerbil Who looks back at her?
And she can see it reclining on its back Lying there also looking up towards the sky And she feels a connection with this gerbil Like they're on this adventure together Even though they have no shared language She feels that they understand each other And they both head to bed in the tents for the night And the next morning they take the tents down And they continue their drive And the woman doesn't know where she's going,
But she feels that they're supposed to both Just be driving Until Arrival at the destination just feels right She has this feeling like the gerbil knows where they should be heading And partway through the day She can see the most incredible clouds on the horizon Towering over the horizon almost like There's some kind of a smoke machine bubbling those clouds out and as she drives so Those clouds get nearer and nearer as she gets nearer and nearer to the clouds Until she can see in the distance a wall of rain And as they get closer and closer to that wall of rain She notices the occasional raindrop landing on the windscreen of the car And they make sure all the windows are done up on the car As they head into that rain And there's a sound of the windscreen wipers Flicking left and right left and right left and right There's a sound of that rain on the roof of the car on the bonnet on the rear of the car on the windscreen On the windows and as that rain gets heavier and heavier So the woman decides to pull over at the side of the road And to stop for a while as visibility almost totally disappears And she reclines her seat and closes her eyes and decides to just Relax to the sound of the rain and the gerbil Just tucks itself down on the passenger seat and relaxes With the woman to the sound of that rain And the woman wonders whether she's fallen asleep at points When she starts to notice some hints of sunlight And starts to hear some distant sounds of birds sounds of birds that are almost chirping To celebrate the end of the rain And then she notices off in the opposite direction to the sun the most incredible vivid rainbow And then continues her journey And just as nightfall is setting in again the gerbil changes its behavior As if to suggest that they're arriving at their destination And the woman seems a turning off into a forest The gerbil seems to be looking in that direction.
So the woman takes that turning Heads down a dirt track into the forest bumping through that mud before arriving at a cabin deep in this forest And the gerbil unbuckles its seat belt exits the car heads into the cabin And the woman follows and on the floor near the fire It's a tiny little bed And the fire is a light and that gerbil Places its bag down near that bed And sits on the bed The woman comes in and places her bag down near a chair And sits down in the chair And while sat down she has a little look around She wonders if there's anyone else here And then she sees someone coming down some stairs Smiling holding a hand out to greet her She shakes hands with them as they then Head through to the kitchen And then walk through a door And a moment later She sees that person Walk in through the back door And greet her And she thinks i've just greeted you And then she sees the other person come back through again and realizes that These are twins But there seems to be something different about them And as they sit down and begin to talk to her Almost as if they both know what each other are thinking and saying Almost like they have shared thoughts Like their sentences come from both of them As if they're both one person and the two of them Smile and are friendly And they share about how this Gerbil has led her here And that the gerbil and this woman Will be heading out into the forest in the morning but for now They're here in this cabin And then those twins lift up one hand each They gently touch the palms of the hand together and as they do a white light Begins to form around their hand Begins to spread out Across both of their arms around their bodies until they're both totally contained Within a glowing white light And as that white light Begins to fade There's only one being stood there And this being doesn't look like Either Of the twins And they don't explain Who they are And how they were as twins or why?
But as this single being They hand the woman a single stone And it's a very flat very smooth gray stone And then they get surrounded by white light again And as that white light clears They're back to being the two twins Sat there as if nothing had happened carrying on the conversation And one of those twins says i'll go and make up the bed for you They head upstairs They make up that bed The gerbil will sleep downstairs in front of the fire and after eating They head up to bed Curious about what the next day will bring And the next morning they wake up early And head off out of the cabin with that gerbil And the gerbil leading the way leads them deep into the forest Until they eventually find a stream And they follow that gently rippling bubbling stream to a lake And this lake is incredibly calm with just the smallest of ripples And the gerbil seems to be excited jumping up and down And trying to draw attention to something And they realize that that gerbil is drawing attention To something that's sticking out of the water And it's sticking out of the water quite a long way away Then the gerbil's making gestures as if it's Suggesting to throw something And so the woman takes that stone out of her pocket And asks do you want me to throw this?
And the gerbil seems to gesture As if to say yes But is gesturing as if to say But you need to hit that thing out there And the woman isn't sure if she's going to be able to do it And so she picks up some other stones first She practices throwing those stones Skimming them to help them to travel further To be able to hit the right mark And once she was confident That she could do this She took that stone Got down low over the water And then launched that stone Across the top of the water And as it grazed the top of the water She could see white sparkles Coming from where it struck the water Almost seeming to propel it faster And each time it struck the water even more white sparkles appeared around that stone until eventually After about 10 bounces It struck the target And as it struck the target So she could suddenly hear a rumble And then could see the center of the lake beginning to move The water beginning to rise up And a wave beginning to travel towards the shore And then something broke the surface And the water was pouring down the sides pouring off the top And there was a lot of mist of water And that mist was catching a lot of the light that low morning light And making it very difficult to make out exactly what this was and then Once the rumbling stopped And whatever that was that came up from the water had stopped moving She noticed That it looked like a statue of something And she didn't know its significance She didn't know whether she had to get to it And if she had to get to it,
Couldn't she have just gone over to it?
And pressed that point instead of throwing a stone at it And then she noticed that there was something swimming in this lake And saw that whatever had just happened Seemed to have released some large manta rays into this lake Almost looking like shadows just under the surface And she saw as one started heading over towards her and the gerbil And as it got over near the shore She recognized how large it was compared to her And while she was so busy watching that manta ray swimming to the shore She hadn't even noticed that the gerbil Had changed into diving gear including a tiny little helmet and some breathing apparatus And by the time it got near the shore that gerbil was already Trying to run into the water and swim out to it and she realized that In the bag that she had brought along Was a tiny device She could pop in her mouth That would allow her to breathe underwater So she took that device Popped it in her mouth And walked into that cool water of the lake And followed the gerbil to that manta ray And the gerbil seemed to hold onto the back of the manta ray And she joined it holding onto the back before that manta ray then Began to descend into the darkness of the lake And as it descended deeper and deeper while swimming back in the direction of that statue She noticed how much silt Was down here in this lake And had been moved By what had just happened And how this lake now Almost took on a chocolatey color That was very difficult to see through And as they reached the point Where that statue had risen up She noticed that it seemed to have opened up a passage And the manta ray dived down into the passage And as it went deeper and deeper,
So the woman Had to make her ears pop a few times To remain comfortable While diving even deeper And then Diving through a passage Before the manta ray stopped swimming And the woman realized that just above her head She could notice waves She popped her head up And realized that she was in an underground chamber and as Her and the gerbil Walked up into this chamber It automatically sprung into light And she noticed the scale of this chamber And inside this chamber Was the most beautiful blue lagoon With water that was almost electric blue in color And the sound was so peaceful and echoing down here And she followed that gerbil to the blue lagoon and the gerbil Walked around the edge Of that blue water And she followed it walking around that edge And they arrived at a small row boat The gerbil jumped up and in And she jumped in And she rowed out into the lagoon Following the instructions of this gerbil And she could sense the gerbil wanted her to stop when she was in the middle of the lagoon And so she did And as she stopped That rowboat just bobbed gently up and down The gerbil got out its maracas And started creating a rhythm And the woman thought to herself this probably isn't the time or place but as it Created that rhythm She noticed movement from the top of the cave slight blue light moving like thousands Of particles of light moving from the top of that cave and seeming to flicker Then after a few moments she realized that She was now in a cave full of electric blue butterflies Flying around her With some blue sparkling coming out the back and off the wings of each butterfly And she watched as they seemed to dance around her and the gerbil Then out of the center A tube started lowering down And contained in that tube Was a scroll And she took that scroll out of the tube She opened that scroll up and was surprised to realize that Somehow she instinctively knew what it said And she knew that she didn't recognize the language but she somehow just from Doing her best to read it.
She could understand it and she realized that it was Teaching about the illusion of time About the ability to slow time right down so much That a moment Can last a lifetime It talked about being able to speed time right up So a whole lifetime could pass in a moment And how it could help You take a grasp of time Help you be in control of time help you Become a being that can transcend time And the gerbil climbed up onto the woman's leg And read this scroll with her And although she couldn't understand the gerbil the gerbil couldn't understand her The two of them could understand this scroll And she knew that somehow The knowledge from the scroll was becoming a part of who she is then the gerbil communicated to her to place that scroll back That they've got their learning they've come here for this knowledge And she places that scroll back And they row back across that blue lagoon those butterflies Head back up to the top of this cave And they find their way back to that cabin And back at the cabin They meet the twins The twins ask if they found what they came looking for And the gerbil just climbs into bed And the woman Says that she thinks they did And then that night the woman heads to bed And the next morning They leave this cabin The woman's still curious About those twins Who can become a single being And whether the single being is the main being Or whether the twins are the main being And what is going on with them?
She's aware that they looked incredibly similar But there were subtle differences in the way they communicated Almost like they're two sides of a coin And she continued her road trip Back the way she came And at some point during the road trip She found herself sat in that forest Surrounded by those woodland animals now With a deer leaning over her And they seemed so curious about her and that gerbil Started walking off into an area of the forest The woman instinctively followed that gerbil And she followed it through the forest out to a clearing Where she saw the most incredible sight She was looking over a field of sunflowers That stretched in every direction all the way to the horizon All the way off as far as she could see to the left to the right And she could see As that sun was setting over this sunflower field And the gerbil climbed up one of the sunflowers To get a better look And as that sun completely set over the horizon And the moon started shining in the sky She had a sense of everything fading away of smelling the scents in that bathroom Of feeling that tickling of the bubble bath And the warmth of the water and hearing the Relaxing sound the relaxing silence of the bathroom And opening her eyes in that bath feeling so deeply relaxed and then beginning to think about the experience And as she thought about the experience she just had which she imagined was just a reverie She had this feeling like somehow Time was slowing down like the flickering candles had more space between each flicker And she moved one leg Under the water And she could see the way that moved the water the way the bubbles bobbed up and down And as she thought about time slowing down She noticed that the bobbing waves in the bath Seemed to slow right down But she couldn't work out for sure Whether that was a real thing Whether The waves really were slowing Or whether the water just happened to move at that speed and after her bath She wrapped up warm in a dressing gown She sat outside on a bench Looking out over her back garden And she could see some fireflies Flying between Some trees at the end of her garden She had this sense of slowing time down and noticed those fireflies Become motionless at the end of the garden And while she held on to that focus in her mind She stood up And started walking towards those fireflies And realized that as long as she held her focus They remained motionless Then she had a sense of them moving faster And while she watched those fireflies dancing and darting around out of her peripheral vision She suddenly noticed something else the way the stars Began spinning across the sky And she stepped back a few paces and looked up at the sky while focusing On time going past quickly And could see those stars Rapidly moving across the sky and realized that What she thought was just a reverie Was more than just a reverie Then she heard a noise And turned around And saw something scampering off And she headed back To her back door And on the ground at her back door was a little gray stone And she picked that gray stone up She could feel how smooth That stone was between her fingers How smooth it was touching the palm of her hand She headed in to her home closed the back door behind her And sat comfortably down And while she sat comfortably down She focused on that stone almost drifting into a meditation Thinking about the stone Thinking about her experience Wondering whether that was the gerbil that just came to her back door Wondering who that gerbil was And where they are now And imagining in her mind's eye That they perhaps have gone off on another adventure Maybe with their backpack on A little hat on Maybe to play music elsewhere And that night She headed to bed Still thinking about the experience Still trying to process this new learning About time and how time Isn't a fixed thing But is relative And can change depending on your perception And as she thought about that So she Began to drift and float So comfortably And so peacefully asleep
