Dreaming Under The Redwood (Long Bedtime Sleep Story)

Take a moment to allow yourself to get comfortable and let your eyes close.

And with your eyes closed,

I'm just going to tell a story in the background.

And as I tell this story,

I don't know whether it'll be the sound of my voice or perhaps the spaces between my words that help you drift asleep quickly and comfortably.

And so as you begin to fall asleep,

I'm just going to tell a story in the background.

And you find yourself walking through a pine forest on a misty morning.

And in this pine forest,

As the sun is beginning to rise somewhere outside the trees,

You can notice that mist just above the ground,

Gradually evaporating up.

And you can be curious about how that mist seems a bit more dense than you would usually notice.

And you can notice it moving out the way of your feet with each step that you take.

And hear the cracking of twigs beneath your feet.

And hear that morning chorus of birds in the trees.

And as that sun continues to rise outside the forest,

So the low light can occasionally manage to get into the forest,

Sending long,

Stretched out shards of light,

Dancing with the movement of the trees.

And as you continue walking,

Deeper into the forest,

You can notice the smell of the pine,

Other forest smells,

Walking on that uneven ground,

Occasionally touching the bark of the trees,

Really having that sense of the fact these trees are old and have been around for far longer than you have,

That curiosity of what those trees may have seen,

What events have played out in this area over the centuries that those trees have been there.

And by being tactile,

By touching those trees,

You almost feel a sense of connecting with nature.

Almost like you can feel that nature on an emotional level,

Feeling what it's like to be a tree,

To be standing just as an observer,

Moving slowly through time,

Really feeling a connection with that forest with nature,

As you hear other animals,

Perhaps occasionally noticing deer or a stag through the trees,

And having to really pay attention for the slightest sign of movement to confirm that that's what you're seeing,

As they blend in so well,

And as you continue deeper into the forest.

So you're looking for a bit of a clearing.

You're looking for a clearing that exists because of a tree.

You've always been fascinated on some level by the way trees grow,

The way other plants grow,

The way everything is interconnected,

Aware of how trees cast shadows,

And so only certain things can live under trees.

And as you continue exploring,

So you discover a clearing and in the middle of that clearing,

You see a giant redwood tree,

Stretching high above the surrounding trees.

And you gaze up to the top and perhaps feel just slightly dizzy and decide to look back down again and keep your eyes forward or just scan up a little way,

Aware that it's almost like a living skyscraper,

And that in a sense it is,

Because there's life here at your level,

And then there's different life all the way up that tree.

And different animals,

Different plants will find their niche.

And you walk over to the tree and you touch that tree.

You allow your fingertips to just be as gentle as you can,

To really get the texture of that bark,

Getting yourself close to that tree to really smell the bark,

And smelling the soil on the ground,

Aware that that damp soil has a certain type of scent to it,

And aware that you ordinarily don't notice these things,

Because your attention is elsewhere thinking about different thoughts,

Thinking about what you have to do,

Where you have to be,

Things you feel you've got to remember,

Things that you think are important,

Rather than paying attention in the moment to the world around you,

In a non-judgmental kind of way,

Just being aware of what your senses are taking in,

Because your senses take an awful lot in,

That they don't bother sharing with you unless you choose to pay attention,

In the same way that everyone's had that experience of looking at an optical illusion,

Of perhaps thinking,

I don't get it,

And as soon as you do get it,

You can't unsee it,

Because now you're paying attention,

And you put a rug down on the ground next to that tree,

You sit down on that rug resting your back against the bark of the tree,

Just listening to the sounds,

Watching as the rays of light become more vertical,

As the sun rises in the sky,

Hearing the movement of the branches in the breeze,

Sounds of birds and other animals,

As you just rest against that tree,

And you gaze over at a fallen down log,

And that log is beginning to rot,

And you get curious about the worms you see just underneath that log,

Popping out of the soil,

Churning that soil up,

Aware of the good they do for the soil,

For other life,

And the woodlice in the log,

Seeing them occasionally come out of the log,

Scurry along the bark,

Find a little hole and head back inside again,

And you know that they've got their own little lives that they get on with,

That they work,

And they just do A,

B,

C,

Oblivious to you there,

Or to anyone else or anything else,

Just getting on with their tasks,

And you rest back and let your eyes close,

You take a few deep breaths,

Almost like you're breathing in comfort,

And breathing out any tension,

Making each out breath slightly longer than the in breaths to really enhance that relaxation,

As you drift and float asleep,

Resting against that tree,

And while you're drifting,

Floating asleep,

Resting against that tree,

So you allow your ears to broaden out your hearing,

To pinpoint in space the different sounds you hear,

A little bit like the pings on sonar or radar,

Identifying where different things are that are making sounds around you,

Really honing your senses,

And as you continue to drift and float comfortably asleep,

So you start to begin to imagine being a small child,

Kneeling down in a playground,

And there's another child opposite you,

Both kneeling down,

And you realise you're watching with excitement,

As two snails with numbers written on their backs in Tippex,

Erasing from a chalk line to another chalk line,

And a part of you is enjoying the excitement of the child you are here,

While another part of you is curious about how a child can find it exciting,

To watch something so slow,

And even more curious by the fact that the snails aren't even trying to get to the finish line,

The snails themselves are just going about their life,

Just moving along from where they were placed,

They've got no concept that they are heading towards a line,

When they're facing the line that's just incidental,

And you know that with your adult head on,

And yet that child you is excitingly cheering on that snail,

As if somehow that would make a difference,

But as you watch that snail,

So you do get curious,

You get curious about the way it's moving,

The way it's eyes move,

To scan the environment,

The waves or pulses down it's body,

And curious about whether that snail knows it's moving really really slow,

Whether that snail realizes,

And perhaps thinks it wishes it could move faster,

Curious about what level of consciousness that snail may well have,

You're aware that it's got consciousness but unaware whether it's got insight,

And as you watch that snail pass the halfway point,

So you begin to hear the sound of water in the background,

That long sound of water rolling on a shore,

Of a calm beach,

And as you look up from the snail,

So you begin to realize you're resting down on the most beautiful golden sand,

And that in front of you that sand turns dark nearer to the water,

And clear water is lapping on the shore,

And then pulling out some distance,

And then gently rolling back in again,

And as you continue scanning up,

You notice that the color of that water towards the horizon,

Blends in with the color of the horizon,

And you can look at the sky,

Discover whether there's any clouds in the sky,

And what time of day this is,

As that blue sky and blue water almost merge into one,

And you gaze around the horizon,

And you can't see any boats in view at the moment,

And you stand up and walk along the sand,

You walk down to the darker sand,

Noticing the way the sand changes sound under each footstep,

From a dull thud,

To a kind of scratchy sound,

As your foot sinks a little way into that wet sand,

And as that water rolls in over your feet,

You notice that your bare foot,

And that water kind of tickles your feet with the bubbles,

And the movement of the sand,

As it moves that sand,

The bubbly water,

Over your feet,

As the wave comes in,

And tickles even more as that wave pulls back,

Drawing more sand over your feet,

You walk along the shoreline,

Heading down to where you notice there's some trees and grass,

Quite close to the water,

And you move down near to that area,

Prop yourself against a tree,

Gaze out to sea,

And you have this feeling like it would be really nice to go in the water,

To go for a swim,

You think to yourself how long it's been since you've dived down under water,

And you walk into that water,

And as the water reaches your knees,

You can see through that clear water,

Down to the sand on the bottom,

You can notice small fish swimming around your legs,

Occasionally brushing next to your legs and your feet,

And as you walk a little further,

You notice the warmth of the water moving up your legs to your waist,

And as the water reaches your waist,

You allow yourself to comfortably fall forward into the water,

And you dive under the water,

And just swim slightly above the bottom of the water,

And you feel comfortable under the water,

The way the sound changes,

The way time seems to slow down,

And as you float,

Looking around under water,

So calmly,

So comfortably,

So you watch,

As a stingray glides past,

With its wave emotion,

Just gliding through the ocean,

And you just watch and look around,

Noticing some areas of seaweed,

Waving gently under water,

And then you come up to the surface,

You swim a little way further,

Along the side of the shore,

You find an area where the waves come in a little larger,

And you see a surfboard on the shore,

Stuck upright,

In the sand,

So you go to that surfboard,

You can't see anyone around,

So you think to yourself,

No one will mind me just having a go,

You pick up that surfboard,

You get the balance just right,

And you carry it out into the water,

Before holding it in front of you,

Then jumping down onto it,

Resting your belly on it,

Paddling your way out,

And the waves are larger,

But not too large,

And they're reasonably predictable in their timing of coming in,

And you push through some of the waves,

And you go out a little way,

And then you turn the board,

See a wave coming behind you,

And you paddle along,

And as that wave reaches you,

You jump yourself up into a standing position,

But then find you lose balance,

You're too rigid in your stance as that wave reached you,

And you fall in,

And you think to yourself,

You'll try again,

But this time,

Be a bit more flexible with your body,

With your legs,

Feel through your feet,

Be one with that water,

Rather than thinking about having to stand in the perfect position,

And focusing on you,

You decide to focus on just being a part of a system,

Being one with the ocean,

And you see a wave coming,

You turn,

You paddle as it reaches you,

You jump yourself up,

And this time,

You're focusing on the wave,

On the movement of the wave,

On feeling the movement of the board beneath your feet,

On just observing what's happening,

And responding to what's happening,

Rather than deciding somehow that you know better,

Almost like you're not thinking at all,

You're just experiencing,

And you pick up speed as that wave moves towards the shore,

And you travel along that wave,

And as that wave begins to break behind you,

And that breaking water is following you,

Just before it reaches you,

You turn off,

And head down and follow it all the way in,

Being followed by some white water,

As you glide into the shore,

And you give this a go a couple more times,

Deciding that it feels exhilarating,

To be able to have this kind of experience,

This opportunity,

And after doing that,

You decide you just need to take a moment to rest,

You put the surfboard back where you found it,

You go back to that tree,

Sit down under that tree,

Just gazing out,

Over the ocean,

Just letting your mind wander with the rhythmic sound of the ocean,

Of those waves rolling in and out,

And as you do that,

So your mind begins to wander,

It's almost like your mind latches on to that idea of the moving in and out,

That you start to feel this sense of rocking gently side to side,

And then you start to hear in your mind's eye the clip-clop of horses hooves on a cobbled street,

And the sound of solid wheels rolling on those cobbles,

And discovering yourself sitting in a carriage of a horse and cart,

You pull back the small curtain beside you,

You feel how velvety and smooth that curtain is,

And as you look out the window,

So you realise that you're in a horse and cart,

Trotting down a Victorian street into a city,

You can see people in their Victorian dress,

Men with top hats,

Women with wide skirts,

Women holding umbrellas to protect them from the sun,

Men walking with canes,

Even though they don't look like they need them,

And after a little while the horse and cart stops,

Someone opens the door on the pavement side,

And you climb out and take a look around,

And the first thing you notice is that the sun is a lot warmer than you'd expected,

And you can hear the hustle and bustle from down the street,

Noticing shops down there on either side,

Noticing lots of shops selling food,

Selling clothes,

Selling hardware,

And a market place with many market stalls,

Selling fruit and veg,

Many different things,

And you wander down to explore,

And as you explore you're surprised at how busy this area is,

And decide that you want to get somewhere a little quieter,

A little less overstimulating,

So you head down a side alley and you see a door at the end of the alley,

And you walk down towards that door,

And it's an old wooden door in a brick wall,

And you knock on the door,

And a shutter slides open,

Someone looks at who you are,

Closes that shutter,

You hear that door being unbolted,

They then open the door and let you in,

And you realize it's a vast shop selling rugs,

And you walk around looking at the rugs,

You run your fingers on the different rugs,

Feeling the different materials,

Some so soft your hand just sinks into them,

And you just want to stay touching them,

And the person comes over to you with a rug rolled up under their arm,

And they offer it to you,

And you try to say that you don't really want it,

You're just trying to get off the main street,

And they say it's yours,

And you don't want to appear rude so you accept that rug,

And they gesture down the shop,

And so you walk in the direction they gestured,

Heading down that shop,

And they gesture to a door at the back of the shop,

You walk through that door,

And find yourself in an empty room,

And they make a gesture as if to say,

Unroll the rug,

And you don't do anything so they make the gesture again,

So you unroll the rug,

And then they cross their arms,

And pretend to sit down,

They partially bend their body,

And you get the idea,

And so you go to that rug and you sit down on the rug,

And you cross your legs,

You cross your arms as they were demonstrating,

And as you do,

You notice almost like a blue light,

Emanating from your stomach area outwards,

Almost like a light bubble,

And it emanates outwards to fill the area of the rug in yourself,

And then that blue light suddenly collapses back in towards you,

And with a white flash,

You suddenly feel floaty and light,

And sitting on the rug you can't feel the solid floor beneath you anymore,

And then as that flash disappears,

And your eyes adjust,

You notice that the carpet's flying,

And that beneath you is golden desert,

Sand dunes,

At night,

You can see the most beautiful carpet of stars overhead,

Twinkling brightly in the sky,

And the carpet begins to move,

And you can see in the distance some lights,

That look like perhaps there's a town over there,

And the carpet seems to be moving towards that town,

And as that carpet moves,

So you just look around,

You see the ground moving past beneath you,

You admire the beauty of those stars overhead,

And you wonder where and when this is,

And as you arrive on the outskirts of that town,

So the rug lands on the sand,

You roll the rug up,

Put it under your arm,

And walk through an archway into this town,

And it's night time so it's quiet,

There are few people around,

You can see a dog just walking gently along the edge of some buildings and then crossing the street,

And cutting down an alleyway,

You can see a cat sleeping on some material on a wicker basket,

And you see one place that looks open,

And so you head to that location,

You go in,

You ask for a room for the night,

They direct you upstairs,

You go upstairs,

You put the rug down on the floor beside a bed,

You rest down in the bed and drift and float comfortably,

And relax to sleep,

And the next morning you decide to explore,

And you set off with your rug,

You walk from the town,

Noticing that there are some hills in the distance,

And as you arrive at the hills you notice that there are ancient buildings that were built into these hills,

And you decide to explore some of those homes or caverns or whatever it was that was built into these hills,

And as you near that area,

The rug seems to be stopping you,

And then you notice that beside you is a slightly orangey kind of sand,

And the rug suddenly feels heavy,

Falling to the floor,

Too heavy for you to lift right next to that sand,

And you realise that rug is trying to communicate to you,

To tell you,

To get some of that sand,

So you scoop up some of that sand,

You put it into a jar that you had some food in,

And suddenly the rug leaps itself up under your arm again,

And you walk into a cavern in those hills,

And the cavern is lit by flame torches at even spaces,

And it doesn't look like anyone's been here for a very long time,

But at the same time someone must have lit these torches and must keep them alight,

And you can hear the occasional echoey drop of water,

So you know there must be some water down here somewhere.

You can hear the sound of wind as it blows in the entrance,

Swells around in the cavern,

And so you continue to explore,

And as you walk deeper and deeper,

So the cavern begins to descend,

And you descend some steps,

On step ten,

Nine,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Descending all those steps to a lower level of this cavern,

And after a while the cavern opens out into a chamber,

And in this chamber you notice a lake,

And the flamed torches go halfway round the lake,

And you notice the way the light from the flames dances on the walls,

The way it dances on such still water,

That has just the tiniest ripples from the slight breeze that blows through the cavern,

And near the water you see a sign,

And the sign says that there's a medallion in this water that you have to collect,

But that medallion has to be kept dry,

And that somehow you have to get it from the bottom,

And out dry,

And you're unsure how you're going to do this,

But you have this feeling like that's what you're meant to do,

Like somehow you've been bought here to get this medallion,

And just then you hear a breathing sound coming from another direction,

And footsteps,

And you see this large creature coming through,

That looks very much like an ogre,

And as it arrives,

So it begins to talk to you,

And you're taken aback a little bit by how friendly its voice sounds,

And how it greets you almost as if it's known you for years,

And that ogre offers to help you to solve this puzzle.

It explains that that sand that you've gathered isn't just ordinary sand,

It's magic sand.

It has a certain property that doesn't allow it to get wet,

And that although that medallion is at the bottom of that water,

If you can get the medallion into the centre of the sand in that jar,

The outside of the sand will stay dry,

And whatever is in the centre will stay dry,

That the water will essentially just be resting on a cushion of air around that sand,

And so you give that a go,

You attempt to scoop up that medallion,

And you find out you have to climb in the water to do so,

That you need to be able to get down in the water,

Get your hands into the water,

Dig that jar a little way into the water,

Then push that medallion into the sand,

And rest your hand over the top so as not to let that magic sand fall out,

And make sure it's all around that medallion,

So that you can rise it out without it getting wet,

And once you've got that medallion,

So you are curious what it's for,

Why you felt drawn to it,

And the ogre tells you to put the medallion on,

And once you put that medallion around your neck,

As soon as it rests against you,

So your eyes close,

You become very still,

You get this light,

Floating feeling,

As you drift up out of your body,

Almost like rising up as a consciousness,

While remaining there as a physical person,

And you rise up out of your body,

And feel those arms getting lighter and lighter,

Lifting up from the side of your body,

Almost with a bit of a tingling,

And you float up out of your body,

You rise up through the cavern,

You pass through all that stone,

And you rise up into the sky outside the cavern,

And as you gaze around you,

So you notice there's almost like a golden thread,

A glowing golden thread,

Connecting you with where your body is,

And as this consciousness,

You float and explore,

And you realize there's more to be experienced here,

Than just floating out of your body,

You realize just from the power of thought,

That you can roll time forward or backwards,

You can roll time forward or backwards slowly,

Or fast,

You can see the past,

You can see the present,

And you can see the future,

And you watch as you roll time back,

Watching everything go in reverse,

Sunset to sunrise over and over again,

As you watch as those dunes move,

Like waves across the desert,

And you roll time forward,

Watching sunrise to sunset,

Watching those dunes move through the desert like waves,

Watching as people build the town larger and larger,

And then create roads to the town,

And then roads through the town,

And then the town gets overtaken by larger buildings,

And you watch as progress happens,

And you watch as progress happens,

And you find it a very curious experience,

Realizing that this medallion gives you this ability to see the past,

Present,

Future,

To experience being just consciousness,

Able to travel to any time or place,

And you're curious why you've been led to this medallion,

And as time is continuing to progress forward,

You notice a flash up in the sky,

Getting brighter and brighter,

And realize there's been a supernova,

And you know that you can travel in space and time,

So you decide to see if you can travel that far,

And just with that thought you find yourself much closer to that supernova,

Seeing the beauty of it,

But then you notice that there's a planet that had been destroyed,

And something feels like there's relevance to you having this ability,

And you noticing that supernova,

And you now seeing the remains of that planet,

And you turn back time to before that star went supernova,

And you realize that planet contained life,

And you travel to that planet,

And you've always been told not to interfere,

You've always been told that's the rule of these things,

Don't interfere with primitive life,

You've seen enough science fiction to know,

You shouldn't interfere,

And yet something compels you to turn back time,

And to just help that life to know what's going to happen in the future,

Help that life progress that little bit faster,

That it'll have time to make its own decision,

To change its own path,

Its own destiny,

And as time runs forward again,

This time you notice a young civilization beginning to grow up on the planet,

You notice as they become aware of the fate of the star,

You notice as they spend a few generations preparing for that fate,

And before that fate happens,

They leave the planet,

And you watch as they head off as explorers,

With a whole new destiny,

And you only made one small change,

But that one small difference made a large difference that saved all those people,

And saved many of the species from that planet,

And you travel back following that thread to the you resting there,

By that lake in the cavern,

And you leave the cavern,

And start heading back the way you came,

And you get onto that carpet,

And with a flash,

You find yourself back in that room,

And you roll up the carpet,

You find your way out of the shop,

You turn off to avoid all the people,

And head off to a park,

And you unroll the rug under a tree in the park,

And you sit down in that park,

You get out a jar of jam,

You get out some bread,

You make yourself some jam sandwiches,

And you sit and rest there eating those jam sandwiches,

Watching people walking dogs,

Curious about how the dogs that you can see here in this Victorian time period are so different to when you see people walking dogs in your usual present,

And you just watch those people,

You watch children playing with hoops,

With sticks,

Throwing things to each other,

Chasing each other around,

And you notice when you hear a noise in the undergrowth,

In the hedges alongside where you're sitting,

There's a little hedgehog scurrying around,

Nose twitching away,

And you watch as it searches around under the hedge,

And when it sees that you've seen it,

It becomes very still and quickly rolls itself up into a ball,

But you can see that it's kind of peeking at you still,

Just keeping an eye on you,

And when it realises that you're not moving anywhere,

You're not reacting to it in any way,

It unrolls itself and carries on,

Scurrying around,

Finding food,

Before heading out of sight deeper into the hedge,

And you can see a little robin start hopping its way along the ground,

Before darting off into a tree,

Hear the distant horse and carts going along the road the other side of the park,

Then as you finish your jam sandwich,

You decide to just have a little wander through the park,

Smell the flowers,

Watch the bees going in and out of different flowers,

Watch butterflies,

And birds,

And just enjoy this experience,

And as you do that,

So you realise,

There seems to be circles on the ground,

Some small circles,

Some larger,

And then you notice,

That in some of those circles,

There are mushrooms,

And you take a closer look,

And as you do,

You think you catch sight of a butterfly,

But when you get nearer,

You see that it's a small fairy,

And it notices you,

And it turns to you and realises,

That you've got a magic carpet,

And that to be given a magic carpet,

You have to be deeply trusted,

Because people don't just give magic carpets to anyone,

And so that fairy begins to talk to you,

It tells you that you've got to go and search,

Of a giant tortoise,

And that you'll know when you find that giant tortoise,

And you've got to help that giant tortoise,

And only once you've done that,

Only once you've done that,

Will you begin to journey out of this space and time,

And so you go and sit down on the rug,

You sit down on that carpet,

You close your eyes and you focus on the idea of that giant tortoise,

And as you do,

You get that same flash of light,

And you find yourself in a different part of British countryside,

With undulating hills,

And small villages,

And narrow country paths,

Almost like just dirt tracks connecting the villages,

And you walk through one of the villages,

Assuming somewhere around here is that giant tortoise,

And everyone you ask says they don't know what you're talking about,

And so you ask if there's any strange happenings around here,

And many people say that up on the hills in the distance,

There used to be a farm,

And then one day,

Something changed,

And they described it as earthquakes happening,

They said it was as if the ground was unsettled,

And the farm became unusable,

And so you decided that that's where you would start exploring,

And you followed the path all the way,

Up to that hill in the distance,

And you entered the farm,

And you found an abandoned greenhouse,

Rows of overgrown plants,

Many of the glass panes damaged,

Signs that nature has been reclaiming this greenhouse,

And then you felt the ground move and rumble,

Only unlike all previous times the grounds moved and rumbled,

This time there was an explosion of mud on one side of the hill,

And then you saw as this head of a giant tortoise turned to face you,

And then that hill rose up,

And mud fell away,

And the trees on the hill toppled,

And you realised that this entire hill is actually a giant tortoise,

And you jumped onto your flying carpet,

You flew off the back of that giant tortoise,

Off in front of it,

Landed on the ground,

And began to talk to that tortoise,

And the tortoise explained that they had been cursed,

That they'd been turned into this giant,

And trapped as a hill,

And that they'd been trying to move to free themselves,

To find an answer,

They'd been trying in vain for many years,

And that it's only now they've been able to break out enough to free their head,

To be able to stand,

And that something about having magic near this magic must have amplified their ability to overcome being trapped,

But they still haven't been able to get back to their normal size,

And they ask you for help,

And you don't know how you can help,

And they tell you it's all in that medallion,

It's all about the medallion,

And you get onto the flying carpet,

You hold the medallion,

You focus on turning back time,

To a time before that tortoise was here,

And you watch as time around you flashes back rapidly,

Until that farm looks normal,

Is operational,

And you know that that tortoise isn't there yet,

And you know that the flying carpet can tell you where to go,

That by thinking about where to go,

It'll get you there,

And so as you think about where to go,

You find yourself travelling to a location of a giant white palace,

And you enter that white palace,

And you find a room that seems to have an aquarium,

That looks a bit like a mirror maze mixed in with the aquarium,

And mirrored walls,

And you're aware that at the far side of this room,

That you have to somehow navigate,

Is another door,

And you just have this sense that it's through that door,

That you need to go,

And so you carefully start walking,

In this room,

Noticing your reflection,

In front of you,

To the sides of you,

Very carefully walking in that room,

Seeing fish in the aquarium,

Just swimming around,

Oblivious to their location,

Noticing that this room has a really strange effect with all these mirrors,

Making everything in every direction look like it goes on for an infinity,

Making it hard to judge exactly how large this room is,

As you carefully navigate using your intuition,

Around the mirror maze,

Eventually finding your way to a door at the far side of the room,

And at the far side of the room,

You pass through that door,

And you see that tortoise,

Only it's a normal size here,

And that tortoise doesn't know why you're here,

And you see someone else in the room,

And they've got a book open in front of them,

And they're midway through casting some kind of a spell,

And you hold the medallion,

And time seems to freeze,

And you can see what looks like some kind of a light beam or energy beam,

Heading from that person down towards the tortoise,

That's frozen in space and time,

And you walk around that and you pick up the tortoise,

You move it out the way,

You take that book and close that book,

And then you travel through space and time,

To such a distant time that that book will never be discovered,

And then you go back to that room,

And you follow the life of that person back,

Trying to find a crossroads,

A point where a simple different decision could lead them on a better path,

Perhaps just a friendly acknowledgement,

And you find that moment,

And like with the planet you make a tiniest of changes,

Allow things to play out and see how they change,

And you know that that tortoise will never know what you did,

That there are multiple timelines that you now seem to be aware of,

That you know what you did,

But where you came from isn't where you'll go back to,

Because that tortoise won't be in that hill anymore,

And you take all these learnings from this whole experience,

And realize that somewhere deep inside you,

You've been on a journey,

Learning,

Discovering,

About yourself and the world around you,

As you feel yourself resting against that redwood,

And open your eyes and you walk away from that redwood,

With your mind filled with learning,

And you walk through that forest,

You notice how now the sun is beginning to set,

How the shards of light passing through that forest,

Are in the opposite direction,

How the sounds in the forest have changed,

There's no longer a dawn chorus,

There's the evening sounds,

Some animals settling down and birds settling down,

And other animals and birds just waking up,

And you walk through that forest,

Finding your way to a cabin that you live in,

You relax down in that cabin,

You sit by a fire,

You enjoy the sounds of that crackling fire,

Enjoying the warmth in the cabin,

Before heading to bed,

And when you head to bed,

You find yourself drifting and floating and dreaming asleep,

About the journey you went on in your mind,

The learning from that journey,

Curious about what it teaches you,

About yourself,

About nature,

The world around you,

Just continuing to drift deeper and relax asleep,

Having your mind drifting asleep,

Your body drifting asleep,

Knowing that you will wake up feeling rested and refreshed,

And alert in the morning,

As you just continue to drift and float asleep.