Just laying your burdens down.
Collapsing into your resting space,
Whether that's a chair,
A recliner,
A couch,
Bed,
Floor,
Wherever you need to take this time to give in,
Give up,
Let go.
Moving towards sleep.
If not there already,
Just slowing down,
Turning down the volume.
Becoming more still.
Happier with your lot.
Letting go of productivity and action.
Settling into being,
Not doing.
Feeling,
Not thinking,
Just reorienting from the cognitive to the sensory.
What do you notice?
Because your brain can't think two thoughts at the same time,
When you focus on your body or your breathing or the sounds around you,
You're not thinking about the PowerPoint you have to produce for work or one of your children's issues in school,
But just where you are.
And of course,
Of course you'll get distracted.
Maybe even some worrying thoughts will come and your cortisol will spike,
So just breathe.
Just go slow.
Taking it down.
Just falling in and getting heavy.
Not trying to control anything.
Not even the falling asleep,
You couldn't control that.
You can only get out of its way.
Just noticing all the small noises around you.
Little distractions,
Itches,
Fidgets.
And returning again and again just to where you are,
Wherever you notice little snapshots of life.
This moment and then this moment flowing into the next moment and you holding on to each moment.
If you get a little bored,
That's good.
Feel where your body is tired,
Go into that.
Let the tiredness expand,
Whether it starts in your shoulders or your feet or fingertips,
Your eyebrows,
Let the tiredness grow.
Like a wave through your body just expanding tiredness.
Letting it soothe you away from conscious time.
Apart from your concerns and stresses.
Start by forgiving the day and all of its injuries and all of its people.
Even yourself,
All the ways you've been wronged or injured or bumped into or unsupported or rejected.
You could hold a grudge,
You could be angry for the rest of time.
I wouldn't hold it against you,
But it's not going to make you happy.
It's certainly not going to let you sleep.
You can put aside all your anger and resentment and forgive just for now.
A truce,
A ceasefire.
Letting go.
Letting all that tiredness expand,
Loosen you up and get you to feel heavy.
And since you can forgive,
Know that you can be forgiven.
You just have to ask.
Just have to recognize and be accountable for our mistakes and learn the lesson therein and move on.
You can always get better next time.
May it be acceptable.
May it be so.
When your eyes get heavy,
Little portions of dream creep in at the edges.
Pleasant dreams,
Sweet dreams.
Good thoughts,
Kind thoughts.
Easy rest.
The light of the world starts to dim around you.
Your pupils go blur.
And you start to let go.
Let go of the grasping and holding on to the light.
Letting the darkness gently descend like a blanket.
And the weight of the earth pulling you down into a quieter,
Heavy place for sleep.
If you're awake,
Take a moment to acknowledge the oneness and the goodness of the world around you.
This is all holy time.
It all comes from a single origin and coheres and shares the principles of physics and biology in one glorious unity.
All of the same chemistry throughout a near infinite universe.
Maybe that fills you with a bit of joy or love or gratitude.
You're protected.
You're sheltered.
You have a shield and a refuge covered by great and loving wings.
Safe and healthy.
And great and good forces will guard you in all your ways.
Carrying you upon their hands.
You'll be strong.
You'll be sated.
You will be honored.
Now and in the times to come.
You breathe in deeply,
Out slowly.
You breathe in and exhale on the ancient gift word Sela.
Lying down in peace.
So that when the time comes,
You will rise up again in peace.
Peacefully through the night.
Through the lands of sleep and dream.
Shielded and covered.
Made way.
You can go out of conscious time into sleep time whenever you're ready.
Knowing that you will return when the time comes.
Great and good forces surround you.
They were with our ancestors and they will be with our descendants through the day and all through the night.
Gathering us up.
Spreading us out.
Making us whole.
The power of rest.
You can feel blessed and guarded.
The universe is looking out for you.
Breathe it in.
And the universe is shining light upon you with grace.
Take it all in.
In and out slowly.
Just breathing in deeply and exhaling slowly.
And the universe looks to you and shares its precious gift of peace and wholeness.
You can be complete.
Take it in.
Take it on.
Just breathing deeply,
Letting the heaviness pull you in and down.
Letting the stillness surround you and the quiet descend.
And great and good forces all around.
During the day,
We have questions.
So many questions.
So many doubts.
So many wonders.
So many worries.
And you can put them down to your right hand with the great and good force,
Some might say an angel,
Responsible for doubt and question.
During the day,
We lift weights.
We wear weighted vests when we hike.
Who knows why?
We carry more than we should.
We grapple more than we ought to.
So you can put all that vigor down at your left side with a great and good force who handles vigor and strength,
Heroism.
And ahead of you,
A gentle light held by a great and good enlightening force.
And behind you,
Another force massages healing into your body,
Maybe through your temples.
Through the force of sleep,
The productive capacity of the brain in dreams,
You will heal all through the night.
Just breathing.
Taking it in deeply,
Exhaling slowly,
Letting your body unwind.
Falling in.
Falling down.
It's starting to drift off,
Float away.
Maybe you stretch or fidget or scratch.
Maybe you adjust,
Shudder,
Shiver and shimmy,
And just inhale deeply and exhale the words,
Selah.
Letting the rest of the day go.
You surrender.
Nothing to prove,
Nothing to do.
No task list,
No obligations,
Just rest.
As soon or whenever it comes.
You can just linger feeling relaxed for as long as you want.
No pressure to sleep,
No pressure to stay awake.
Just be in a state of relaxation,
That's good enough.
When you get distracted,
Just keep coming back.
The world goes on.
The world holds you within it.
The universe was,
It is,
It will be with you.
Considering you,
Holding you.
No beginning,
No end.
And then you can entrust your spirit and body to sleep.
Giving yourself over into the hand of a loving universe.
The universe is with you and you have nothing to fear.
