Magical sleep awaits.
In tonight's sleep story and guided meditation,
The gingerbread house.
Inspired by the beauty of nostalgia,
This fantasy escape and dream within a dream will activate all your senses and enliven holiday memories and hopes for the future.
In a cozy home,
Adorned with holiday decorations and the sweet smells of Christmas,
You are sheltered from the wintry weather.
You assemble gingerbread homes with fresh baked cookies and you are met by past and future versions of yourself.
You are the architect of the gingerbread village you craft with these other versions of you,
In the same way that you are the architect of your own life.
The snow falls outside the window and you sit by the fire where you fall asleep on a velvet sofa.
You awaken to find yourself inside the gingerbread village that smells of sugar and spice.
It's time to dream away.
I would like to welcome you to Michelle's sanctuary.
While you relax and tune in,
You may think of my voice as that of your sleep fairy and trusted guide.
I am here to help you let go of all concerns as you embrace feelings of warmth,
Safety and peace.
I am here to remind you that just as anything is possible in your dreams,
Anything is possible in this story,
You are free to go with the flow and wherever your mind takes you.
You earned this time for yourself to restore and spoil yourself with thoughts and feelings that make you feel good before you cross the bridge to your sleeping life.
The world within this story is meant to be designed by your own imagination and reservoir of memories.
At any point,
You may let go of my voice and drift to sleep because this is your journey.
This is your special time to do whatever works for you.
I am simply here to help.
Get cozy beneath your bedding and snuggle and shift your body to get as comfortable as you can.
Feel as your closed eyes become heavy and tired as they relish the darkness.
Take in a deep breath that is so grand your whole body feels like a balloon that could float away in the night sky and then blow out this air,
Sighing out any feelings that you no longer wish to have.
And as you blow out this air,
A soft,
Silvery blue light appears glowing just over your bed.
It is the light of a fairy who softly murmurs your name and mysteriously gets to work.
She sprinkles a handful of shimmering fairy dust on you that makes your body feel good and tingle all over.
Her magical tiny fingers dance on the air and each motion creates something new in your room.
With an agile flicking of her hands,
She turns your bed into a canopy bed.
You are suddenly surrounded by sheer luminous curtains made of chiffon embedded with tiny holiday lights in shades of frosty blue and silvery white.
You are within this magical sanctuary that fills your heart with a warm feeling and sparks joy.
The fairy points to the curtain and encourages you to draw it back.
With heightened curiosity,
Your hand reaches for the soft fabric.
You pull back the curtain and step out of the bed into a new world.
You find yourself in an open lofty space that combines a kitchen and living room.
There is a fireplace where a fire roars and marmalade-hued flames lick the soot-covered walls.
On a mantle above the fireplace,
You recognize photos of yourself throughout your life taken during the winter months.
In one photo,
You are adorned in a snow suit as a child,
Posing next to a sled.
In another,
You are standing next to a snowman.
A Christmas tree is set up in the corner,
Decorated with familiar ornaments and colorful lights.
The home smells of freshly baked gingerbread and balsam fur.
You feel as if you have been here before,
Even though so many things appear new.
Your feet are adorned in plush slippers that are fuzzy and warm.
You are wearing holiday flannel pajamas that have been washed many times and have a softness that comes only in time.
A furry pet comes up to you and rubs against your legs.
You bend down and pet your loving companion.
The winter's wind howls around the home.
Snowflakes pelt against the bay windows that look out on a dark village street and a yard that is blanketed with fresh snow.
There is a long wooden table that could easily seat twelve people.
It is the stage for decorating supplies to make gingerbread homes.
You walk over to the table and take a seat on a long upholstered bench.
Your pet follows you and curls at your feet,
Warming them.
You find pieces of glossy mahogany gingerbread in cutouts shaped as walls and roofs.
They are from an old German recipe and smell of molasses and ginger.
You run your hand along the shiny surface and lift a piece to your nose to savor the aroma.
The gingerbread still retains the warmth from the oven and you relish this feeling in your hand.
Jars of gumdrops and lemon drops and a rainbow of assorted hard candies form a line down the table.
There are sprigs of rosemary and cinnamon sticks and tiny branches left over from the Christmas tree trimming that are in a wooden crate.
You find a piping bag full of white icing and get to work.
You create foundations for the homes and long paths that become snowy lanes between the gingerbread houses.
Once you map out the village,
You create foundations and long paths that will become snowy lanes between the gingerbread homes.
Once you map out the village,
You begin to assemble the homes.
Memories of holidays are carried on the warm air as you surrender to the meditative and creative experience of building your village.
You are suddenly joined at the table by different versions of yourself throughout this life.
You see your childhood self at the end of the table,
Grabbing handfuls of candies and counting them before adorning the houses with confections in your favorite color palette at that age.
You see versions of yourself in this life that you most enjoyed at times when you were healthy and confident and eager to learn and have fun for the sake of fun.
You take the piping bag and feel the warm icing squish in the palm of your hand as you guide the nozzle to create ivory icicles that hang from the roof's edges.
A bit of icing falls on your finger and you lick it off,
Noticing how the tiny sugar crystals melt on your tongue.
You hear the chatter of your younger selves.
It is like a joyous melody that sings along to the whistling winds and soft tapping of snow.
The cookie homes are designed in different styles from Victorian era mansions to classic cottages to log cabins,
Candy cane trees and confetti sprinkles pepper the village.
You build a stream of icing that is rife with red gummy fish and flows into a wide frozen lake.
You take a silver metal sifter that is full of confectioners sugar and turn the handle so the village is covered with a dusting of sweet powdery snow.
And as you put the finishing touches on the village,
You make bridges out of red licorice and a holiday tree in the center of town that is made of kelly green ribbon candy that swirls towards the sky.
You dress the village with golden fairy lights that twinkle like blankets of stars spread throughout the fantasy world of sweet confections.
And as you finish,
The energy in the room changes.
There is a soft gust of warm wind.
At the head of the table,
You and your younger selves are joined by the you of the future.
This older version of you is still and wise,
Calm and self possessed.
As this older self takes a seat and smiles warmly,
You feel soothed by this older version of you.
And in a voice you recognize as your own,
But yet is somehow different,
More seasoned,
More self assured,
You hear your older self say,
You have done well,
You are on the right path.
Keep following your inner voice and know that with the highs and lows,
It will all be worth it.
Conspiratorily you look to your younger selves and feel childlike for a moment,
As if questioning this authority figure from the future.
You trust that all you have heard is true.
Deep inside you enjoy the safety in believing this and feel centered.
You once again inhale the magical aromas of the holiday air.
You take a piece of an unused gingerbread cookie and coat it with warm icing before you break off a piece for yourself and share the rest of it with your younger and older selves.
You all raise your cookies like a toast to the holidays of the past,
The present and those to come.
You let the sweet and spicy cookie melt on your tongue.
The ginger warms your throat when you swallow and the rich taste of molasses lingers.
You look at the village with your other selves and they begin to vanish into thin air.
You are left alone with your masterpiece and your furry friend and feel a sense of peace and deep relaxation.
You rise and turn off the lights in the room and tend to the fire adding another heavy log.
You feel the dry bark in your hands and the warmth of the fire as you place the log in the center and stoke it with a cast iron fireplace poker.
The room is cozily lit by the glow of the Christmas tree,
The fairy lights of the gingerbread village and the flickering fire.
You walk to the bay window that looks out onto the ebony night illuminated only by the holiday lights that line the perimeters of your neighbors homes.
The snow continues to fall in large crystals and clumps that stick to the glass.
In front of the window is a luxurious velvet sofa in your favorite color.
You run the palm of your hand along the rich softness before you lie down and rest your head on a satin pillow.
Your furry companion jumps onto the sofa and nestles within a crook in your body.
You sigh together in a surrender to the cozy peaceful moment.
You look into your pet's watery eyes and feel the love and devotion to one another that you share.
Your pet's eyes close and your attention turns to the fire.
And then to the gingerbread village across the room.
Your eyes close almost involuntarily.
Your lids are heavy and in the sleepy haze the lights of the gingerbread village begin to blur like an impressionist's painting.
At last your eyelids become like heavy sandbags that fall on your tired eyes.
You are drifting from this moment towards sleep with a dreamy sensation that you are falling,
Falling,
Falling,
And through the darkness of night your gingerbread village comes to life.
You are floating above it until you land on the sugary white path.
A cloud of the fake snow puffs around your feet that are cloaked in gummy bear boots.
Your whole body is suddenly limber and made of candy as well.
There is a softness and flexibility that you feel with this new body.
You have let go of the heaviness of being on earth and feel as light as a dollop of freshly whipped cream and as flexible as a vine of licorice.
The village smells as if a bakery of holiday goods opened its doors in the depths of an enchanted evergreen forest.
The colors of the candy palette are playful and shimmer like rainbow pearls.
The other inhabitants of the village come to life.
The mayor is a gingerbread cookie who stands taller than you and is the first to greet you.
You are thanked profusely for creating this magical village.
Gummy bears and snowmen and towns people made of marzipan also come to life and start a parade towards the Christmas tree in the center of town.
You are celebrated for giving life to this world and met by a sleigh made of chocolate with upside down candy canes that serve as rails.
You are lifted into the sleigh by the townspeople and you inhale the aroma of fine chocolate as you settle into the seat.
You are suddenly in the center of a candy parade being pulled along on the sleigh until you make it to the town's center.
The ribbon candy tree is lit and holiday songs are sung.
A match that is nearly as tall as the mayor is struck and erupts in a flame that lights tea light candles around the center of the village.
The flames dance on the night's air like small campfires.
The songs continue and you are reminded of times long ago when your favorite seasonal melodies would play and you would be invigorated by a season of giving and hope and dry as you may to carry this hope with you throughout the year.
The holiday season is like a march that sparks the flames of optimism again.
As the festivities die down,
The gummy bears and townspeople begin to slip away to their gingerbread homes.
They say good night and wish you a happy holiday.
You come down from the sleigh and explore the town on your own.
You walk down a snowy lane passing by a frozen lake made of icing.
Beneath the darkness of night,
You venture onto the ice and glide across it in your gummy boots.
You feel a cool breeze as you extend your arms and take flight on it.
Traveling from one side of the lake to another.
The confectioners sugar snow falls all around you.
It's like being in the middle of a candy snow globe.
You leave the lake and walk through the illuminated village.
You turn onto memory lane and shuffle your feet in the powdery snow.
The sugary embellishments are now larger,
Or rather you are smaller.
And you take in the oversized details of each home.
You hear the whispers of your younger selves and the wisdom from your older self.
It is as if they are looking over you while you explore this magical night.
They encourage you to savor each moment and relish the fantasy your own imagination has created.
As you walk by the gingerbread homes,
They become more than mere homes.
Each house contains memories of the past.
And you approach and look into the windows that are surrounded by shutters made of icing and rectangular chocolate covered mints.
These reenactments appear in a hologram form.
In the first window you see yourself gleeful.
You are surrounded by the people you have loved most in this life.
The gingerbread homes you created are now sanctuaries that protect your dreams for the future and memories of the past.
Because wherever you go and whatever you create,
You bring with you all that you have experienced because it has shaped you.
And you bring all your intentions for the days to come.
You continue down memory lane and look into the cut out windows of the homes,
Letting the memories wash over you.
Nostalgia is the theme of the night.
Your yearning to be connected again brings you through the village and to each home.
Sweet nostalgic love permeates the imaginary village you designed.
In the next home,
You peer in to see the person you hope to become.
Living out the best of your dreams,
You can feel this experience as if it is happening right now.
And as you come back to the moment,
You feel as if everything is existing at once.
This gives you the confidence to believe that you can really manifest the life you most desire.
You arrive at the last gingerbread home on the lane and this is the one you have designed just for you.
It has been crafted in the way you would design your dream home.
The gingerbread door opens into the magical candy interior.
You climb the rich brown cookie stairs to the bedroom and you feel ready to sleep the night away,
Comforted by the smell of baking spices.
The air is warm and pleasant in the way a kitchen feels after cookies have been baking in it all day.
The interior of the home is a creative canvas for candy art.
There are portraits of you and your loved ones made of powdered candy in glass cases.
Their colorful designs are like an Andy Warhol masterpiece.
Sprigs of rosemary are wrapped around the railing and the second floor landing that you float through to your bedroom.
You enter the room for sleep and guide yourself to a marshmallow bed that is so plush it contours to your body.
You relish the warmth from the fireball blazing in the fireplace that makes the room smell of cinnamon.
You drift between worlds,
Between the gingerbread fantasy,
To the cozy home where you are the architect of this vision,
To the sanctuary of your room where this all began.
A dream within a dream within a dream fitted as complimentary as a Russian nesting doll.
You waft on the holiday memories that come to you with the slightest of smells and images and you surrender to the tide of their nostalgic bliss.
You connect with the you that is always there,
Regardless of time,
Regardless of circumstance.
You allow yourself to believe in the possibilities brought to you by the future version of yourself and you trust.
You trust yourself and this life as you float across the bridge to your sleeping world where you may dream of your passions and all you hope for in your future with a special twinkle of fairy dust and holiday magic.
I am going to count you down to this place of restorative and beautiful dream filled sleep.
Ten Nine Eight Seven Six Five Four Three Two One Finding release,
Finding peace,
Finding sleep,
It's time to dream away.
Beautiful night!
You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You
