Let's begin.
Get yourself into a place where you could fall asleep.
Chair,
Couch,
Bed,
Whatever is most comfortable in your living area.
Or wherever you find yourself if you're traveling.
Take care of physical coziness first.
Before you think too far ahead of meditating.
Just fluff your pillow,
Adjust your blankets.
Put on your socks,
Take off your socks,
Whatever you need.
Maybe as you do that,
You start to notice that you're tired.
That your muscles are sore and heavy.
That you've been working hard all day in the office,
Around the house,
With friends,
Alone.
Just doing the work of living,
Which is never simple and can be joyful.
You might like to stretch or yawn.
Adjust,
Scratch,
Whatever you need.
Take care of yourself.
With your mind,
Give yourself a little massage.
Do nice things for yourself.
Don't even think about trying to fall asleep.
In fact,
Maybe you want to try not to fall asleep.
It's not actually something you can control.
You can only clear out a path for sleep.
Create the right conditions.
And all that will only work if you're tired.
Maybe you're not tired.
Maybe you are.
Maybe you could spend this whole meditation trying to hold your eyes open until they get so heavy.
It's irresistible.
We're trying to stay awake to hear the very last word of this meditation.
And to see whether you might fall asleep on an inhale or an exhale.
You might be able to try to stay awake,
But I don't think you can try to fall asleep.
You can only get out of the way of sleep.
So we're breathing.
We're feeling our bodies getting heavy.
Maybe a little woozy and light.
Like you're rocking in a rowboat,
Perhaps.
Your bed has a gentle current or waves.
Your bed has a gentle current or waves.
Maybe you take a moment to give thanks for the day that was.
Something good you did that you're proud of.
Something good you experienced that you're grateful for.
Just being alive in a healthy body.
Or enduring lack of health.
Being resilient.
And needing sleep because you've worked hard to earn it.
Your brain won't turn off.
You'll be thinking this whole time.
It's not worth fighting.
The fact that you have stray thoughts,
Fantasies,
Anxieties means you're alive.
And that your brain is firing neurons.
And it will be firing neurons when you're asleep,
And they'll just be dreams.
There's no turning the self off.
That would be very dangerous.
So just enjoy your own presence.
And let the distractions be part of the game of falling asleep.
It'd be previews of dreams.
Take a moment to forgive the day that was,
The people who bumped into you,
Misadventures,
Anything.
Forgive and set aside,
Even let go.
Forgive and set aside,
Even let go.
It's totally okay if you're not ready to forgive something.
But you could provisionally forgive for now so that you sleep.
Try that on for size.
And you've probably blundered in your misadventures.
Done things wrong,
Things you regret.
Maybe you're not ready to say you're sorry,
To ask forgiveness.
Maybe you are,
But you could try it out for now.
Especially you could try forgiving yourself.
Making mistakes doesn't make you a bad person.
It makes you a person.
People make mistakes.
All the darn time.
May that be acceptable.
You probably feel your eyes getting heavy,
Your eyelids almost rusty or sandy,
Your pupils starting to dilate,
The light getting dim,
And the edges of dreams wandering in,
Strange images,
Odd possibilities that only exist when you're asleep.
Little miniature prophecies.
May you dream so you can be your best self.
With your highest thoughts when you wake up.
May you be illuminated through sleep.
And take a moment to feel the amazing universe in which you sit.
The incredible oneness of this vast solar system and galaxy and galaxies.
All from a common origin,
All with a shared structure and experience.
All unique,
All one.
And you within it,
A part of it.
Playing your role.
And you can sing out this joy and this love with every moment.
When you go to sleep,
When you wake up,
When you walk,
When you sit,
When you study,
When you go home,
When you go out.
It's always part of this oneness and uniqueness of creation.
May it be established.
You are protected,
Strengthened,
And you are loved.
Saved,
Covered,
In refuge,
Shielded.
Nothing to fear.
Not illness,
Not violence,
Not enemies,
Just you.
Nothing wicked this way comes.
And you are supported by forces you can't understand that protect you,
That lift you up,
That sate you,
That are with you in every distress and every stress.
Shielded and raised up.
Even when you sleep.
And you can take a deep breath and exhale with the word SELA.
SELA.
Like a great yawn with the ancient word of breath,
SELA.
You lie down peacefully.
And you will rise up peacefully.
Sheltered by peace.
Wholeness.
Good counsel,
Wisdom,
Equanimity.
Far from hunger,
Or enemies,
Or illness,
Or violence,
Or grief.
Just peaceful and pacific in your sleep.
You can go out of consciousness and into unconsciousness and come back again when the time is right.
Held in the hand of an amazing universe.
And you're breathing as the universe goes on and on forever with you playing your part.
And great and good forces follow you.
They protected those who preceded us.
Great and good forces look after you and your loved ones.
And great and good forces will look after those after us.
The universe blesses you and guards you.
Breathe that in.
The universe shines grace down onto you.
Dig it in.
And the universe looks towards you to offer you peace.
All that you want.
All that you need.
As much as you can take.
And even as you sleep,
The universe goes on.
Watchful.
And you're safeguarded by great and good forces as you sleep.
You walk through the day with questions and concerns,
Doubts and compromises.
And you can put that down at your right side with a great and good force responsible for all questions.
And you work so hard during the day,
Physically,
Mentally,
Emotionally,
Spiritually.
Now your body's tired.
Your mind is weary.
So you can put all that struggle down to your left side with a great and good force that will hold your vigor for you.
And through the night,
A great and good force holds a light to illumine your dreams and protect you,
Shine upon you as you sleep.
And behind you,
Great and good force for healing.
Easing your weary body as you sleep,
Refilling you,
Replenishing you with resilience through the night.
Massaging it into your bones.
And above you,
Something mysterious and grand.
A new energy.
And above you,
Something mysterious and grand.
Unnameable,
Unknowable.
All that we are and more.
Take a few more moments to shift and shimmy,
Get your body just right.
Widening down a little more,
Slowing down as much as you can.
Slowing down as much as you can.
Breathing in,
You can exhale with selah.
Selah.
And the world,
This amazing world,
Was here before us and it will be here after us.
And we get to play our part,
Have our time to exist.
Like a miracle.
It is a miracle.
And this world has no beginning,
No end.
And you live among it with your precious time.
Now it's time to sleep.
The world isn't going anywhere.
It's here for you,
Holding you.
You let your spirit and your body into the hand of this loving universe when you go to sleep.
With nothing to fear.
