Settle into softness and ease with tonight's sleep meditation.
You are listening to When Weary Finds You,
An autumn sanctuary for those times when you are tired beyond tired.
When exhaustion follows you like a heavy drag through the day.
And yet somehow,
When the time finally comes to sleep,
Your mind is still awake.
There comes a point.
Every season.
In every chapter.
Every day.
When weariness finds you.
Sometimes it's after an unusually difficult stretch.
And sometimes.
Through nothing more extraordinary than making it to the end of the day.
Tonight I invite you.
To lean into that weariness.
All you can.
As the magic of fall is here to remind you.
That it's okay to slow down,
Get cozy,
And drift into a deep sleep.
It's time to dream away.
Welcome to Michelle's Meditation Sanctuary.
I am Michelle and I am grateful to be your guide.
As you move from your waking life.
Into your sleeping life.
Crossing the invisible threshold.
Between everything.
That has been required of you.
And these quiet,
Healing hours for rest.
Think of me as your ally.
Or maybe even your dear friend.
There's nowhere else you need to be.
And now brighter,
Happier.
Energetic version of yourself.
You need to become.
Right now,
You are worthy of this rest.
So revel in how good it feels to not have to perform.
To accept the fatigue.
And know you are on your way to deep rest.
Even now.
Before you find sleep.
Your body is beginning to stand down and slowly repair.
Notice the air in your room begins to shift.
Taking on the notes of a lakeside retreat.
And a cool crisp autumn day.
Draw in a deep breath through your nose.
Feeling it warm before arriving in your lungs.
Expand and take up space.
And then let out a sigh.
Feeling the simple relief of letting something leave you.
Without having to decide where it goes.
With your next slow breath.
Your chest and belly expand naturally.
Feeling the lightness of a maple leaf.
Sailing on the lakeshore breeze.
Maybe a yawn arrives.
Before you breathe out and another sigh of relief.
Sighing with all the weariness you feel sinking into the support of the sanctuary.
With your next breath.
Imagine the cool fragrance of autumn filling your lungs.
Carrying the earthy perfume of fallen leaves and damp forest floor.
The resinous freshness of evergreens.
The faintest trace of wood smoke.
From the curling charcoal smoke trails in the sky.
As you breathe out.
Allow the world to have been tending to all day.
Drift a little farther away.
The space you need.
Becomes greater.
You revel in this time just for you.
Your sanctuary is waiting.
In the heart of a magnificent autumn valley.
Where you find yourself.
Already settled into a candy apple red canoe.
Floating on a sapphire blue glassy lake.
Beneath you.
A cushion softens the wooden seat.
While a wonderfully warm blanket is tucked around your legs.
With each easy stroke of the paddle.
The canoe glides farther across water,
So clear and calm.
To the mountains and autumn forest reflect on its surface in a doubled dreamy view.
As your tired eyes follow the ripples.
Created by each gentle pass.
You wonder what it might be like.
Dive into the reflection.
It's a silkier,
Softer version.
Another world created beneath you.
Perhaps a beloved pet has joined you.
Nestled comfortably near your feet.
Among the folds of the blanket.
Maybe you have come alone.
Accompanied by Mother Nature.
And all that unfolds around you.
There is no destination you need to reach.
Nowhere you need to be at a certain time.
Leaving you free to guide the canoe.
Wherever the lake invites you the smooth wooden paddle.
Cool within your hands.
The fresh autumn air caresses your cheeks.
And the subtle sway of the water.
Offers a bone-deep sense of peace.
As you gracefully paddle deeper.
Into this beautiful valley.
The lake stretches beneath a brilliant cornflower blue sky.
Reflecting the mountains.
Crown the valley.
Layers of deep violet and aubergine.
Their slopes covered by a forest.
Showcasing its most brilliant autumn colors.
Maples blaze in mulberry and paprika.
Mustard and apricot leaves catch the tangerine gold afternoon sun.
Unexpected flashes of chartreuse.
Reveal themselves.
Among a few olive and juniper green leaves.
As the wind travels through the branches.
Shuffling the leaves like a deck of cards.
Sunlight illuminates the highest points.
Until the leaves appear to glow from within.
Ethereal and gold.
Deeper mulberry maples.
Gather in the folds of the mountains.
Ribbons of ochre and cinnamon descend toward the shoreline.
The reflection stretching across the lake.
Wavering columns of color.
Whenever something disturbs the placid surface.
The air has the perfect contrast.
Found on autumn days like today.
Cool enough to awaken your senses.
The glittering sunlight still warm and comforting.
Along the shoreline.
Maple leaf releases itself from a branch.
And turn slowly through the air.
Flashing scarlet before touching the lake.
Rings spread outward from the place where it lands.
Widening through the reflection of the mountains.
The surface becomes glossy smooth again.
As you watch.
The leaf remains upon the water.
Carried without effort.
By a current too subtle to see.
Whenever you witness something around you.
So gentle.
So light.
You can't help but feel these same things within you.
There is something always happening here.
Though nothing seems rushed.
Dusky lavender gray cloud shadows.
Slowly inch over the distant mountains.
Changing the colors of the forest as they pass.
A breeze moves through the highest branches.
With a papery rustle.
Leaves take flight and skitter along the stones of the shore.
Water laps against these smooth stones.
The smallest rhythmic sound.
You allow the occasional paddle and gentle waves.
Deliver you to the shore.
And as you drift with the leaves.
Perhaps you can finally feel the exhaustion.
Has been waiting beneath.
All the momentum of the day.
There's no reason to push past it here.
No need for another reserve of energy to suddenly appear.
No desire to run on empty ever again.
As the canoe floats across the lake.
You may remember how freeing it feels.
To let the world move.
Without feeling that you must keep pace with it.
And if you had to keep pace with anything.
Fiery maple leaf beside the canoe.
Undulates at a languid pace.
Feels just right.
The autumn lake invites your mind.
To release all that noise that made you weary.
Routine plans.
Routine thoughts.
Lost in this new routine.
Simply drifting.
Now free from the grip of the day's demands.
You have a new understanding.
Aware this exhaustion was born and you embrace it.
It's your tiredness that was earned.
And that now becomes soothed.
One breath.
One fallen leaf.
One gently lapping wave at a time.
There are times your weariness Maybe somewhere among all those expectations.
Even weariness can begin to feel inconvenient.
As though being tired.
One more thing you ought to overcome.
Before you are permitted to stop.
Not anymore.
You can stop.
Breathe Welcome the weary waves meeting them at the shore.
As you drift toward the pebbled beach.
And rise out of the canoe.
Feel the heaviness of land.
Delightfully sleepy.
As you gather the blanket and cushions.
You start a fire in the fire pit.
And settle into a chair.
As the flames dance in the breeze.
By the lake by the fire.
You may feel however you feel.
Nothing is demanding you change.
Pretend to be.
Any less weary and tired.
And you feel The sun slips away beyond the mosaic of autumn leaves.
And the plum peaks.
But not without handing off the torch to your campfire.
Fiery sunlight meets flickering flames.
Before the glowing orb disappears.
There is no need to cast your fatigue away.
Or imagine it disappearing into the earth.
Because weariness is not something you have to make vanish in order to rest.
Allow yourself to feel it instead.
Heaviness behind your eyes.
Doorway.
May have gathered in your shoulders.
Tiredness.
Seems to have settled into your bones.
After a day of carrying yourself through the world.
Let it be here with you.
Surrounded by softness.
Warmed by the fire.
And held beneath a brilliant autumn sky.
Fatigue does not need to be conquered.
Simply needs somewhere soft and safe enough to settle.
The breeze crossing the lake.
Has grown cooler.
Carrying a chill that brushes your cheeks.
And finds the small spaces around your wrists.
Until you pull the blanket higher.
Tuck your hands beneath it.
The fire feels warmer now.
Because the air has grown colder.
And you turn slightly toward its glow.
Enjoying the contrast of crisp autumn air against your face.
And the delightful warmth.
Gathered around the rest of you.
Something about autumn.
That makes warmth feel more precious.
As though the cooling world has conspired.
To make every blanket softer.
Every fire brighter.
Every glowing window.
More inviting.
Even the shortening day.
Seems to draw the edges of the world.
A little closer.
Life in words.
The Sun slips earlier toward the mountains.
Perhaps your own world.
May grow a little smaller too.
Reduced for now.
The blanket around you.
The warm glow of the fire beside you.
The lake before you simple rise and fall of your breath.
The body naturally yearns.
To let the day end.
To draw in words.
To unwind.
As it did long before modern living.
Diminishing daylight.
Before electricity.
Brought a natural retreat.
More time resting by a fire and candlelight.
More time for sleep.
Transformation into night.
Dreamy and gradual enough.
To witness autumn changing its colors before your eyes.
Cerulean softens toward Periwinkle.
Distant mountains deepen from violet to plum black.
And the fiery forest.
Settles into copper and rust.
With a shadowy cast of blue.
You gather the blanket more closely around your shoulders.
Remain beside the fire.
Because there is nowhere else you need to be just yet.
In fact.
This may be your favorite moment of the day.
When the world is neither afternoon nor night.
The lake becomes darker than the sky.
Holding the reflection.
The first star that appears above the mountains.
And whether you are alone or cuddling with a pet.
You draw the blanket tighter.
As the night deepens.
The fire turns into burning magenta coals.
Quite hot at times.
Your weariness may begin changing.
No longer something.
You have to drag behind you.
Or push against.
Simply becomes a delicious heaviness.
That is allowed to exist.
You finally have somewhere to place it.
Somewhere to sink into it.
There is no need to ask yourself.
Whether you should feel this tired.
Or whether you have earned the right to stop.
Your body has already let you know.
It's time to slow down.
Your questions asked.
No arguments staged.
Only when you want to move.
Do you rise?
Carrying the blanket around your shoulders.
You pour a bit of lake water over the embers.
Listening to the soft sizzle as steam rises,
You cross the short distance from the lake.
Feeling as though you are floating.
More than walking.
Leaves give softly beneath your steps.
Releasing their sugary fragrance.
The cold evening air.
And as you approach your lakeside home.
You may imagine it however you wish.
Surrounding yourself.
The colors,
Textures.
Familiar comforts to make you feel most at home.
There is nothing here that needs your attention.
And nothing you need to prepare.
Before you can sleep.
Somewhere within the sanctuary.
Wonderfully comfortable bed.
Already waiting for you.
And whatever remains unfinished.
Beyond these walls.
Can remain unfinished.
Until another day.
Within the walls of this lakeside retreat.
You go through your bedtime rituals.
Steamy shower.
Cleansing the day.
Loosening the muscles.
Carry your weary favorite pajamas.
Soft against your skin.
Holding you close.
As you feel more weary.
Ones in the bedroom.
You glide beneath the covers.
You feel the cool clean sheets against you.
Before your own warmth gathers around you.
Your head sinks into the pillow.
Your body settles into the mattress.
Beyond the windows.
The lake grows darker beneath the mountains.
Holding the first scattered stars upon its surface.
And now that you are still.
Can truly feel.
Just how weary you are.
Notice the tiredness behind your eyes.
Across your forehead.
Allowing your face become completely neutral now.
There is no expression.
Left to wear for anyone.
Feel the heaviness gathered through your jaw and neck.
Across your shoulders.
And down your arms.
Through your hands and fingers.
All those places that I've reached and carried.
Create it and paddle.
Intended to so much.
Throughout another day.
Your breath continues naturally through your chest and belly as your awareness moves into your back.
Or muscles that have quietly supported you.
Hour after hour.
May stop guarding.
Finally reveal.
Just how tired they are.
All your defenses come down.
Beliefs continue to settle outside.
Whatever arrangement the breeze chooses.
And now your spine.
Finds its own natural arrangement.
Vertebra by vertebra.
Supported by the mattress.
No longer holding you up.
Now that something else holds you.
Feel the mattress.
Beneath every part of your back.
Supporting your hips as your weariness travels.
Through your thighs and knees.
Your calves and ankles.
All the way into your feet and toes.
Feel the fatigue in every muscle.
Perhaps even in every cell.
So your entire being.
Has reached the quiet end of a long day.
Can finally admit.
Tired it is.
You do not have to become less weary.
If our sleep can find you.
And as you sink more deeply into the bed.
See in your mind's eye the lake.
In a single autumn leaf.
And landed effortlessly.
Remember how it drifted upon the silky surface.
Imagine knowing that same feeling now.
Drifting.
Lightly and naturally.
As I leave upon the glassy moonlit lake.
Beneath a sky of a million stars.
Feel the weariness.
Still within you.
In your arms and legs.
Along your back and through your shoulders.
Behind your eyes.
Deep within your bones.
And rather than struggling against its weight.
Imagine giving all of it.
The water beneath you.
And when you are tired beyond tired and sleep has been difficult to come by.
Do not have to search for it anymore.
Drift like an autumn leaf on a lake.
Carried through the starry night.
With nothing left to guide.
And nowhere left to go.
When weariness finds you.
Remember that being tired means you have been living a full life.
Of obligations and emotions.
Decisions and responsibilities.
Joys and disappointments.
The meaningful and the mundane.
All the things that ask something of you.
Simply because you are here living.
When weariness finds you.
Honor all the ways.
Your body has carried you.
Farther than you sometimes realized it could.
When weariness finds you.
Celebrate this time to rest.
The invitation to soften.
Draw in words.
To feel some of the care.
You so freely give to others.
Finding its way back to you.
When weariness finds you Remember that even the most brilliant seasons knows when to let go.
And when weariness finds you.
May you remember.
There is strength in knowing.
When you have carried enough.
Wisdom in listening.
And your body asks for stillness.
And something so divine.
And allowing yourself to be held.
Sleep knows where you are.
Let it meet you here.
Finding serenity.
Finding surrender.
Finding sleep.
It's time to dream away.
