The Country Walk In The Rain And Other Bedtime Stories

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to begin to relax and as you begin to comfortably drift asleep I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background and I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words.

You can have a sense of walking through woodland while it's raining and while you amble along through that woodland you can hear the sound of the rain hitting the leaves overhead and the sound of the rustling of those leaves in the slight breeze and as you walk through this woodland so you can hear each footstep that you take and you can smell that fresh smell of the rain soaked woodland around you and occasionally notice some of the raindrops making it through the canopy and splashing down on the dirt around you around the floor of the woodland and while walking through this rain soaked woodland you can be aware of how peaceful and calm the experience is being absorbed in your own thoughts as you continue to wander and while you continue to wander through this woodland so you can notice the light at the end of the woodland,

The light from a clearing and you continue to walk towards that clearing and as you walk towards that clearing so you can hear the sounds of some of the birds in the trees,

The occasional singing of a bird and as you walk out into the clearing you can have a sense of putting an umbrella up before fully stepping out into that clearing and as you walk out of the woodland into the meadow,

Noticing the way the smells change as you enter this meadow and can smell the smell of the wet grass,

The enhanced smell of the flowers as that water enhances those smells of the various flowers you can see off in the opposite direction of the Sun the most vivid and beautiful rainbow arching across the sky as the rain clouds begin to disperse and thin out and yet there's still some light rain in the air as the Sun shines through that rain creating that most beautiful vivid arch of color across the sky and the sound of a gentle pitter-patter of the raindrops on the umbrella,

The feeling of the slight breeze on the umbrella as you adjust your grip to hold that umbrella steady above your head keeping you dry underneath that umbrella,

A slight sploshing sound of each footstep as you continue to walk along this path through the meadow,

Still ambling along slowly and gently and peacefully,

Feeling the slightly cool breeze on your cheeks breathing in that fresh air while feeling very comfortable in the clothes you've chosen to wear in this environment,

Seeing off in the distance as the rain continues to pass by,

The graying effect of the rain falling on distant hills,

Almost like there's a haze over there and continuing to follow this path heading down the hill through this meadow,

Approaching a stream that's rougher than usual with the extra water flowing down that stream from the rain,

Walking along the edge of the stream,

The bubbling sound of the stream as it churns and flows alongside you while you walk alongside that stream and continuing along the stream towards the footbridge and encountering a large puddle in front of the footbridge and so carefully navigating around the puddle,

Stretching over the puddle to the steps of the footbridge and walking over that wooden footbridge,

Aware of the change to the sound of the footsteps,

Aware of how this wood of this footbridge sounds different to when you've crossed it during dry weather,

As you walk over the rain absorbed wood,

Walking over that stream,

Doing a large almost jump step over a puddle the other side of the footbridge,

A slight splash of your foot as you land on that path and continue to so peacefully and comfortably amble along the path,

Down towards the road into the village,

Arriving at that road,

Hearing more sounds of birds singing,

As you notice that the rain has stopped falling on the umbrella,

Shaking off that umbrella a little,

Putting the umbrella down and just carrying that umbrella and feeling the warmth of the Sun that's breaking through those clouds,

Warming your cheeks,

Noticing the way the Sun is warming the road in front of you,

The way the water is beginning to evaporate into mist before your eyes and as you look around yourself,

Noticing that mist beginning to rise up from the fields around you,

As you continue to follow this road towards that village and arriving at the village,

Walking along the pavement into the village,

Seeing a couple of people out and about,

They've perhaps only just come out after the rain had stopped,

But knowing that going out while it was raining meant that you were able to have such a peaceful and calm walk without too many distractions of other people that you may have encountered during your walk,

If you had gone at a different time,

Aware that normally you encounter people walking dogs,

People out on morning walks,

But you're able to enjoy the most pleasant walk to the woodlands,

Through the woodland,

Around a path in the woods and then back out through the meadow,

Over the stream and back to the village and now you arrive at your gate,

You walk through the gate,

Through your front garden,

Up to your front door,

Into your front door,

You take off your footwear at the front door,

Take off your jacket,

You place your umbrella down,

You make yourself a warm comfortable drink and relax down in the most comfortable chair and as you relax in the most comfortable chair,

So you decide to drift into the most pleasant reverie,

The most pleasant meditation,

Closing your eyes,

Relaxing in that chair and counting back to yourself from ten to nine,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Becoming deeper absorbed,

Drifting so peacefully,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

All the way,

One,

So peacefully,

So deeply relaxed,

Knowing this will help you sleep so well at night,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to begin to relax and as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just gonna tell this sleep story in the background,

And you head to bed one day and as you comfortably drift asleep,

You start to drift deeply into a dream and while you drift deeply into a dream,

You begin to have a sensation of flying and at first you wonder whether it's a sensation of falling,

Almost like there's a slight jolt,

But then you notice that it's actually a sensation of having jumped off of something and you're now flying,

And as you fly,

You're looking around yourself,

You can see the clouds around you,

You can see the blue sky around you,

And as you continue to look around,

You notice something unusual,

That you're flying on the top of the most incredible mushroom,

That this mushroom seems to have a very wide and flat top and it seems to almost have a skirt beneath the top of the mushroom that helps with the lift of this mushroom and a short stubby stalk,

And as you fly on this mushroom,

Just leaning left or leaning right,

Steers this mushroom left or right,

Leaning forward makes the mushroom begin to dive,

Leaning backwards makes the mushroom begin to rise up higher into the sky,

And you notice that there's almost like a seat cut into the top of the mushroom that you're sitting on with your legs hanging into a space within the mushroom,

And while you fly on that mushroom,

You can feel how soft and silky the outside of that mushroom feels,

You can feel the breeze against your face,

And occasionally you can notice the moisture against your face as you dive through clouds,

Or pull up through clouds,

And while pulling up above the clouds,

To get a greater look over your environment,

You notice there seems to be some rainbows that seem to arch from one cloud to the next,

And don't seem to be made in the usual way,

Because there doesn't seem to be any rain or any moisture to form those rainbows,

And it doesn't seem to matter what direction you look,

The rainbows just seem to be there,

And you fly down and swoop around and fly between the arching rainbows,

Almost like it's some kind of a slalom competition,

Swerving left,

Swinging round through an arched rainbow overhead,

Looking at that rainbow as you pass underneath it,

And beyond it,

Swerving round right,

Passing through another arch of a rainbow,

Doing a loop in the air,

Twisting like a corkscrew to face towards some more rainbows,

Speeding up as you pass through those rainbow arches,

Swinging around through some more,

Diving down to lower rainbow arches,

And after you've been through all the rainbow arches that you can see here,

You fly beneath the clouds,

Flying over rolling hills of countryside and meadows and farmland,

Just gliding silently,

Effortlessly,

Enjoying the view,

Enjoying the experience,

Feeling the breeze on your face,

Breathing in that fresh pure air,

Almost feeling so comfortable and as if you're drifting into the most pleasant,

Relaxed state of mind,

As you swing around and you dive down in your arm,

Between some arching trees,

Flying down through those arching trees,

Hearing the sound of passing those arching trees at high speed,

Watching them pass all around you,

Like a green tunnel,

Before exiting the other side of those arching trees and pulling up,

Swinging around,

Surveying the landscape below,

Flying low to the ground,

Along a hilltop towards a cliff edge,

And diving down the other side of that cliff edge,

Before swooping back up again as you approach the ground,

And just enjoying this surreal experience,

This lucid dreaming experience,

Of dreaming of flying on a mushroom,

Until eventually you notice a slight glistening light towards the horizon,

And that glistening light gets your attention,

You don't know if it's the sun reflecting perhaps off some water in the distance,

Or if it's an actual light,

But you're curious and so you fly over towards that light,

And as you approach that light,

So you notice that it seems to be a throbbing,

Pulsing light coming from the ground,

Almost like a circular light,

Like a cylinder,

Beaming light impulses from a certain point on the ground up towards the sky,

And you fly that mushroom closer and closer to the light,

And as the mushroom nears the light,

So you notice that light begins to change,

And as it changes,

So you feel compelled to move the mushroom closer and closer,

And as the tip of the mushroom touches the edge of the light,

So that light turns green,

And the pulsing slows right down,

And so you continue to slowly move your mushroom forward until the whole mushroom is within the green light,

And then you notice it's as if the mushroom goes into autopilot,

And it begins to land itself into that space beneath that green light,

It lowers itself down,

And you feel a slight spongy feeling,

Just the slightest sensation,

As the stalk of the mushroom touches the ground,

And gives slightly,

As it seems to fully connect with the ground,

As if it's pushed itself ever so slightly into the ground,

And then the green light fades away,

And everything around you is still,

And you climb down off the mushroom,

And you notice that the mushroom has planted itself in this spot,

You can notice that it seems to be passing roots out from the stalk,

Down deeper into the ground below,

Fixing itself in this position,

And then you notice some small mushrooms beginning to spring up around this larger mushroom,

And this larger mushroom begins to grow taller,

The cup stays the same size,

But the stalk begins to extend,

And the mushroom grows taller,

And taller,

And taller,

Almost like a tree towering overhead,

And you sit yourself down beneath that mushroom,

As it comes to a halt,

Resting your back against the stalk,

And you close your eyes,

And you begin to count down from ten in your mind,

As you drift and float so peacefully,

So deeply,

So relaxed asleep,

From ten,

Nine,

To eight,

To seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

All the way,

So deeply,

So peacefully asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my words,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably drift asleep,

You can have a sense of being at home,

And getting yourself dressed up in some warm clothes,

Ready to go out,

And as the evening is setting in outside,

You get the most comfortable,

Warm jumper on,

You overlay that with a thick,

Warm coat,

You make sure that your neck and your ears are wrapped up warm,

And the top of your head is wrapped up warm,

And then,

As the last of the sunlight is passing,

You leave your front door,

And after leaving your front door,

You wrap your hands up warm,

In gloves or mittens,

And you begin to walk towards the seafront,

And it's a long but comfortable walk,

You can breathe in that fresh,

Cold air,

Feeling the way that cold air flows in through your nose,

Feeling as it passes down into your body,

And breathing warm air back out,

Seeing your breath in front of you,

Hearing your footsteps reverberate around you as you continue to walk towards the seafront,

Heading down one road,

And then down the next,

On a journey towards the seafront,

Perhaps tucking your hands into your pockets to keep them extra toasty and warm,

And within all these clothes,

You feel almost like you're wrapped up so comfortably,

And you continue walking,

Until eventually you arrive by the seafront,

You walk along the promenade next to the seafront,

Hearing the sea on one side,

As it gently rolls in on the shore,

Hearing people,

And the occasional bit of traffic on the other side,

And you continue walking along the promenade,

Until you reach a point where there are no longer any roads on one side of you,

And all you can hear is the occasional person,

As they walk past,

You can hear the occasional person's footsteps,

Perhaps the occasional few people walking past having a conversation between themselves,

And you can hear on the other side,

The gentle sound of the sea lapping on the shore,

And once you've walked as far as you need to go,

You turn off at some steps down from the promenade,

Down to the stony top area of the beach,

Hearing the change in the sound of your footsteps as you walk so softly along the promenade,

Barely making a sound,

And then the crunching sound of walking on the stones,

And noticing how it's more difficult to walk along the stones,

And so your rate of walking slows right down,

And you comfortably crunch your way through those stones,

And you walk down to the bottom of the stones,

And as you walk down,

So the stones get smaller and smaller,

From those large stones at the top of the beach,

Down to fine stones at the bottom of the beach,

Noticing the changes to the sound,

How those larger stones at the top of the beach made a very different sound,

To the stones down at the bottom of the beach near the sand,

And the increased sound of the water lapping on the shore,

And you settle down on the beach in this location,

Sitting on the stones,

Pulling your jacket slightly around underneath you,

Under your bottom as you sit down,

And resting yourself back onto your arms,

And from here on the seafront,

With all the lights of the town behind you,

You have a better view of the night sky,

You can see the twinkling stars overhead,

You can see the moon low on the horizon just above the water,

And the way the light of the moon is dancing on the gentle waves,

Like silver light dancing on a deep blue ocean,

And a little way down the coast is a peninsula jutting out into the sea,

And you gaze in the direction of that peninsula,

Just constantly checking over there,

While also watching the stars overhead,

Watching the occasional satellite moving slowly across the sky,

Watching the occasional aeroplane blink its way across the sky,

And then a flash catches your eye,

And what you came here for begins,

You see over on that peninsula,

A large firework exploding high in the sky over the peninsula,

Some distance away,

So that after perhaps 20 seconds,

When you hear the sound of that firework,

It's just the faintest sound,

And you watch as you see a red streak stretch into the sky,

Before it explodes into a petal of red sparkles that gently fall and fade away,

As you watch as a silver streak heads into the sky and explodes in a petal of silver sparkles,

And then they accelerate,

The fireworks heading up into the sky,

Making multiple streaks timed just slightly after each other,

As you see one large explosion of sparkles of colour,

And then another,

Then another,

Then another,

And then a large one head up higher than that and explode in the sky,

And then down near the horizon of that peninsula,

You see some low fireworks dancing at the horizon,

And you sit here and enjoy this firework display on the horizon,

Knowing that from this distance you get to enjoy the full display,

Without the loud sounds or the crowds of people,

Just you relaxing on the beach,

Listening to the water gently lap on the shore,

Watching those coloured lights exploding in the sky,

And you watch through to the end of the firework display,

And as you watch you can notice the way the light of the fireworks illuminates the water near the peninsula,

Illuminating that dark blue ocean,

And then after the fireworks cease,

You sit there a while longer just in case there's any more fireworks,

And after 5 or 10 more minutes of resting there,

With nothing happening over on the peninsula,

You know the display has ended,

You lie back on the stones for a little while longer,

Enjoying the relaxing sensation of listening to the waves rolling in on the shore,

Knowing you're wrapped up so warm,

So comfortable,

And then after a little while,

You head back up the beach,

Back to the promenade,

You walk slowly and relaxed along the promenade,

You cut back down through the roads heading all the way back home,

And on arriving home,

You open your front door,

Immediately feeling the warmth of the inside of your home on your cheeks,

Close the door behind you,

Take off all your outdoor clothes,

Prepare yourself for bed,

And you head to bed,

And as you relax in bed and begin to drift and float peacefully and comfortably asleep,

You think about that firework display,

You think about lying on that beach,

Relaxing,

Drifting,

And floating peacefully and comfortably asleep.

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to relax,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And you head out one day,

And it's springtime,

And you walk down to a local park,

And as you walk through that park,

You can see people walking their dogs,

You can hear the distant sound of children playing,

You can smell the smells of the spring flowers,

Notice all the colours of those flowers,

So bright,

So vivid,

And the butterflies and the bees flying from plant to plant,

Dutifully going about their business,

As you continue to walk through this park,

Following the winding path through the park,

Heading down towards the pond,

And as you approach the pond,

So you have to pass through a gate,

That separates the main park from the pond,

That stops dogs and other animals from getting to the pond,

And you open that gate,

Pass through the gate,

Close that gate behind you,

And you walk around this large pond,

And around the pond are some trees,

And there are some areas of tall grass on the bank around the pond,

And many areas where the grass is mown short,

And then there are reeds in some areas,

Heading down from the bank,

Into deeper parts of the pond,

And in the middle of the pond is an island,

And on that island,

You can see many ducks with their heads tucked under their wings,

Resting,

And there's a tree on that island,

Just a small tree,

And some of the ducks seem to be sheltering in the shadow of the tree,

And occasionally ducks will waddle out of the water,

Up onto that island,

Tucking their heads in and resting down,

And drifting asleep on the island,

And you walk around to a bench,

That's on the bank of the pond,

And as you sit on that bench,

You notice how quiet this area is of people,

That most of the people are enjoying the park,

And very few people come into the pond area and enjoy the pond,

And you gaze out over that calm water,

Almost like a slightly shimmering mirror,

And you watch as three swans gracefully swim across the surface of that pond,

Almost like ice skaters,

Ice skating and turning and spinning,

And you watch as some male ducks are following a female duck,

And you can see how they're trying to impress that female duck,

And you see the occasional bubble appear at the surface of the water,

As some fish pop their mouths up through the surface,

Before disappearing back beneath the surface again,

And you can feel the slight breeze on your cheeks,

You can hear the rustling sound of the reeds as that breeze blows across the surface of this pond,

And you can see fish in the pond,

In shoals,

Seeming to be swimming on the spot,

Hovering in the pond,

And a part of your shadow is stretched out slightly across the pond,

And you notice that as you move your head,

And your shadow touches the edge of some of those shoals of fish,

The fish dart away from that location,

And then after a little while,

They slow down,

Swim around,

A bit chaotic,

And then they seem to realise it's safe,

And they swim back to their location,

And continue hovering,

And just swimming almost on the spot,

And you realise that the fish seem to be gathered in areas where the sun is most catching the water,

Probably warming,

Creating slightly hot spots in those areas of the water,

And you take out a bag of fish food,

And you throw a little bit of that fish food out to the surface of the pond,

And watch as many fish pop their mouths up to the surface to grab bits of that fish food,

And then notice that some of the ducks are heading over your way,

Having noticed what you are doing,

And you have some food for the ducks,

And so you throw some of that food for the ducks onto the grass on the bank by the pond,

And you spend a little bit of time feeding the ducks on the side of the pond,

And throwing some food for the fish in the water,

And after a little while of relaxing and feeding the ducks and the fish,

You sit back on that bench and let your eyes close,

So that you can enjoy just being here in nature,

That this park is a bit like an area of sanctuary from all of the grey of the rest of the town,

All of the buildings,

The concrete,

All the roads,

The hustle and bustle of people and cars,

And this large park with this pond is a welcome area of greenery,

Somewhere you can walk to,

You can relax and just enjoy being with nature,

And so resting on that bench you close your eyes,

And you just focus on listening to the sounds around you,

The sounds of the birds flapping their wings in the water,

The sounds of the ducks quacking,

The sliding splashing sound of a bird arriving in the pond,

The slight popping sound of fish poking their mouths above the surface before disappearing beneath the surface again,

The rustling of the trees,

The leaves around you,

And of the reeds along the water's edge and jutting into the water,

Feeling your cheeks relaxing and softening,

Your breathing deepening and slowing,

As you just enjoy the experience of relaxing by the pond,

And after a little while of relaxing by the pond,

You open your eyes,

Your eyes adjust,

And after a minute or two,

From being closed to being open with the sunlight,

You leave this pond area,

Close the gate behind you,

Walk back through the park,

And you head home,

And that evening as you climb into bed,

Snuggle up deeply and comfortably,

And close your eyes,

You begin to count down in your mind from ten,

And as you do,

You begin to form that image of resting by that pond on that bench,

Listening to those sounds,

Feeling what it feels like to rest by that pond,

Drifting deeper and deeper asleep from ten,

Nine,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

All the way drifting peacefully,

And relax,

Asleep.

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And while I tell this sleep story,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably drift asleep,

You can just have a sense of walking through a meadow,

And as you're walking through this meadow,

So you're thinking about where you're going,

And where you're going is to visit an old lady who lives in a little cabin in the woods,

And you've not visited her for many,

Many years,

You remember visiting her when you were a child,

But you haven't seen her since then,

And then the other day a letter arrived,

Inviting you to visit,

Saying that they would like to see you,

And you're unsure why,

But you haven't seen them for so long,

That you really want to go and visit,

To see what they're like now,

You thought of them back then as being an old woman,

And so you wonder what you'd think of them now,

Wondering how old they must be,

Because when you last saw them you were a child,

And you thought they must be nearly a hundred back then,

But now as an adult,

You're assuming they must have been younger,

In the same way that it's common for all children to think that anyone over forty is probably an old person,

And so you walk through this meadow,

Pondering what they might want,

Curious what they'll be like,

And whether they'll be as you remember,

And while you walk,

So you can notice the occasional bird of prey,

Circling in an updraft overhead,

Scanning the meadow below,

You can notice other birds flying around,

Some birds flying into trees,

Perching in trees,

Some birds landing on the ground,

Walking within the meadow,

The way the wind blows the grass of the meadow,

And seems to make it look almost like there's a wave passing across that grass,

So gently,

So softly,

Hearing the crunching sound of each footstep as you walk through that grass,

Treading down the grass as you go,

Before heading over towards a stile,

Climbing over that,

And into the woodland,

And almost immediately noticing how the sounds change,

That a lot of the sound is absorbed by the woodland around you,

The sound sounds more compressed,

More condensed,

As you walk,

Following a path through this woodland,

And each footstep sounds more like a thud with the occasional cracking sound of a twig beneath a step,

And you can smell the smell of the mud,

You can smell the smells of the trees around you,

You can hear the rustling leaves above you,

And the sounds of squirrels jumping from one tree to another,

And the sounds of the scurrying around the trunk of a tree,

As squirrels are chasing each other,

Twirling around up and down,

And jumping from branch to branch,

And hearing the echoing chirping of some birds within the woodland,

And after a while you turn off the main path,

Onto what is barely a path at all,

Heading down towards the old ladies cabin,

And this path has roots from the trees sticking out across the path,

Making the path a bit more uneven,

And so sometimes as you walk along,

You lean your hand on the bark of a tree,

Feeling that bark beneath your fingertips,

The temperature,

The roughness of the bark,

The slight springy feeling of it,

As you apply some pressure,

Propping yourself up as you climb over some of the roots,

And ducking under some overhanging branches,

And pushing through other branches,

Until eventually,

You find a little clearing,

With a quaint cabin here in the middle of the woods,

And you walk over to the front door of the cabin,

You knock on the door of the cabin,

And you wait for a few moments,

And you can hear someone walking towards the door,

And then a little elderly lady answers the door,

And invites you in,

And she says it's been a very long time since she last saw you,

But when she last saw you,

You were knee high to a grasshopper,

And you find that a strange saying,

Because you know no one has ever been knee high to a grasshopper,

But you greet her in kind,

And she directs you to the seats in the living area,

And you sit down in the most comfortable of seats,

With a log fire crackling away beside you,

A cat resting,

Sleeping on the floor in front of the fire,

And the old lady makes you a drink,

And she tells you that you had a very memorable impression upon her,

When you were much younger,

And that now she's much older,

And that she wanted to reach out,

Because there's something that she thought you'd really like,

When you were much younger,

That she thought when she's much older,

She's going to give to you,

And she reaches beside herself,

And picks up a box,

And it's a large box,

And she places that box gently on her lap,

Lifts the lid of the box,

And takes out a really old book,

And she says that you used to be fascinated,

By the fact that she seemed really old,

When you were younger,

And that you seemed interested,

In the idea of history and of old things,

And that she has this book,

And she's now getting much older,

And she wants to make sure that the right person,

Continues to have this book,

Someone who may well appreciate it,

That this book has been passed down,

Through many generations of the family,

But there's no further family to pass the book down through,

And so she wants you to have it,

And she hands you this old book,

And you can feel that old book in your hands,

And even before it's handed to you,

You can smell that old book's smell,

And you see that this old book,

As you turn the first couple of pages,

Says that it was published in the 1700s,

And the book's titled,

The Book of Modern Knowledge,

And as you look at the first few pages,

You see the names of the previous owners,

Written one below the next,

You see an inscription,

From the father,

To their son,

Who is the first owner,

And you look at the contents of this book,

And you see that,

It seems to be sharing what was deemed,

The modern knowledge of wisdom,

And understanding the world,

At that time,

And while you hold that book,

And begin to glance through it,

You find it amusing,

That this book is about modern knowledge,

And yet,

It's anything but modern,

And after spending some time,

With this old lady,

Talking about the book,

About the past,

About her history,

Saying that you'll visit,

Far more frequently to learn more,

Which she really likes,

And hopes you'll visit,

Many times in the future,

You head back,

Through the woods,

You find your way,

All the way back home,

Through that meadow,

And that night,

You're resting in bed,

With the blankets up over you,

Feeling snuggly,

You read through some of that book,

Before placing a bookmark,

In the page you've reached,

At the point you feel,

I just want to fall asleep,

And you place that book,

Down beside you,

And you comfortably,

And relaxed,

Drift and float,

So peacefully,

Asleep,

So,

Just take a moment,

To allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to,

Begin to relax,

And as you,

Begin to relax,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story,

In the background,

And while I tell this sleep story,

I don't know whether you'll,

Drift asleep faster,

To the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces,

Between my words,

And as you comfortably,

Drift asleep,

You can have a sense of,

Walking,

Into a grand library,

And as you walk into this grand library,

You can be aware of how quiet,

The library is,

How everyone's footsteps,

Sound so muted,

With the dull thud,

Of the footsteps on the carpeted floor,

And the books absorbing,

Any reverberation of the sound,

And the occasional slight,

Whisper of people,

In this library,

Unable to really make out,

What anyone's saying,

And you walk into the library,

And you look at a piece of paper,

That you've brought with you,

Looking at what it is,

You're looking for,

And you've written down,

The title of a book,

And you walk,

Down the centre of the library,

Looking left and right,

Looking at the,

Headings for the different,

Book sections,

Until you find,

The section you're searching for,

And you find a shelf of books,

On consciousness,

And you walk along,

That aisle of books,

Looking along that shelf,

Until you find the specific book,

You're trying to find,

And it's a really old book,

On enhancing conscious awareness,

And you take that old large book,

You head all the way to the end of the aisle,

And there's an ornate,

Grand looking window,

Up above the end of this aisle,

A narrow window,

And the slightest,

Indirect sunlight,

Comes in through that window,

And you sit down on the floor,

Out of the way of anyone,

Who might be walking around,

You place that book,

On the floor in front of you,

You sit,

As comfortably as possible,

As comfortably as you can,

And you open that book,

And as you do,

You can notice the old book smell,

You can hear the sound,

Of each page as you turn it,

You can feel the sensation of the,

Slightly coarse,

Old,

Paper,

As you handle each page,

As it runs through your fingertips,

As you gently,

Turn those pages,

And hold the pages down,

With the thumb,

Of your other hand,

And you look through,

For the page that you're after,

And you find a page,

With the heading,

The practical applications,

Of enhancing conscious awareness,

And you begin,

To read,

This section,

And as you read,

So it begins to describe,

The process for focusing your attention,

For reducing awareness,

Of non-essential stimuli,

To enhance awareness,

Of that which is important right now,

And a process of then,

Working from that point,

To broadening out,

Your awareness,

So that your awareness,

Is both narrow,

And wide,

At the same time,

And the book goes on,

To explain what it means,

By this seeming,

Contradiction,

About your awareness,

Being narrow,

And wide,

At the same time,

And then you get,

To the technique,

You read through the technique,

A couple of times,

To internalize,

That technique,

So that you can follow it,

Without having to read it,

Then you,

Place a bookmark,

In that page,

And close the book,

For a while,

As you then close your eyes,

To try the technique,

And with your eyes closed,

You focus on your breathing,

You focus on breathing in,

And breathing out,

You focus on the top of your head,

You focus on your ears,

On the side of your eyes,

On the sensations around your eyes,

The weight of those eyes,

You focus on,

The sensation of breathing in,

And breathing out,

The feeling of the air,

As it flows in and out of your nostrils,

You focus on the feeling of the air,

On your cheeks,

Of the muscles,

Relaxing around the cheeks,

Around the jaw,

The cheeks seeming to get heavier,

And heavier,

The sensations around the back of the neck,

The side of the neck,

Around the throat,

And those muscles relaxing,

And that relaxation moving to the,

Tops of the shoulders,

Down through the shoulders,

Down the shoulder blades,

Down into the back,

Into the upper back,

Down through,

To the lower back,

And with each comfortable out breath,

Deepening that awareness down,

Through your chest,

Down through to your stomach,

Down your sides,

Down one arm and the other,

All the way down to the tips of the fingertips,

On both hands,

And allowing that awareness,

To spread down,

To your bottom,

Down your legs,

All the way down,

To the tips of your toes,

And as that awareness,

Spreads so peacefully,

So comfortably,

Through your body,

So a stillness,

Begins to set in,

To your mind,

And as that stillness,

Begins to set into your mind,

It's almost as if,

Nothing else really matters,

That you have an awareness,

Of any other external sounds,

Or sensations,

But they're just like,

They're in the background,

As if you're not even,

Really aware of them,

And that awareness focuses,

Deeper and deeper,

Onto just being present,

In the here and now,

Onto your ongoing experience,

And then you follow that process,

Of having a sense of a blue light,

Channeling down from the sky,

Into the top of your head,

Down through your head,

Softening,

Relaxing down,

Through your neck,

Your shoulders,

Your arms,

Down your back,

Down to your bottom,

Down through your legs,

To the tips of your toes,

Out to your fingertips,

And having a sense of that blue light,

Then very gently,

Spreading out,

From where you are,

To touching,

The wall behind you,

To touching,

The bookcases beside you,

Until the blue light,

Spreads out enough,

To fill the library,

And then that,

Blue light,

Continues to expand out,

Through the town,

This library's in,

And effortlessly,

Continues to spread out,

Broader and broader,

Wider and wider,

Helping you to discover,

The secrets behind,

Having a very wide,

Narrow focus,

And the contradictions,

That seem to exist,

With that statement,

That can only be experienced,

To be understood,

That can't really be understood,

Through vocalization,

And description,

That's an experience,

Beyond description,

And after a while,

Of having this experience,

You carefully,

Bring yourself back,

Out of the experience,

You take down some notes,

From the book,

Before placing that book,

Back on the shelf,

And it's a book,

That's among the books,

That can't be taken,

From the library,

And yet,

You've never found this book,

Anywhere else,

To be able to try and get a copy,

For yourself,

So you know you'll be back here,

In the library in the future,

To learn more,

From the book,

To read through the whole book,

To learn more about the contents,

And really absorb and learn,

From this book,

In the future,

As you leave the library,

And you head home,

And that night,

As you drift and float,

So deeply and so comfortably asleep,

You practice,

That same technique again,

While you fall asleep,

And you find yourself,

Drifting,

Deeper and deeper,

Into the most pleasant,

Most relaxed,

State of mind,

Drifting,

Dreaming and sleeping,

So deeply,

So comfortably,

Asleep,

So just take a moment,

To allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself,

To relax,

And as you begin,

To comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell,

This sleep story in the background,

And I don't know whether,

You'll drift asleep,

Faster to the,

Sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces,

Between my words,

And as you comfortably,

Drift asleep,

You can have a sense,

Of finding yourself,

In that savannah,

And as the morning,

Approaches,

You can hear the,

Sounds outside the tent,

In that savannah,

You can hear,

The increasing sounds,

Of birds,

And other sounds,

Around you,

In this location,

And you can notice,

The glow,

Of the morning sun,

As it shines,

On your tent,

As you feel,

So comfortable,

And so relaxed,

Waking up,

Naturally in the morning,

Waking up,

Just at the right point,

In your sleep cycle,

As you awaken,

And you get yourself ready,

Inside the tent,

Before unzipping,

The door to the tent,

Feeling the warmth,

From outside the tent,

And then stepping,

Outside the tent,

And setting up,

A little chair,

Next to the campfire,

Lighting that campfire,

Hearing the crackling,

Of the fire,

As the flames,

Dance in front of you,

Enjoying the environment,

While you cook up,

Some breakfast for yourself,

Looking out,

Over the view,

Seeing that,

Pure blue sky,

The occasional,

White wispy clouds,

High up in the sky,

Looking down,

Over different animals,

Down nearer,

Shallow lake,

And savannah,

Herds of animals,

The unique looking trees,

Dotted through the savannah,

And the mottled grass,

A mix of dark greens,

Through to browns,

And yellows,

And some areas,

That look,

Like just mud,

And look very dry,

And shrubs,

Dotted around,

And the smell,

Of that breakfast,

You're cooking for yourself,

And the sound,

Of the breakfast cooking,

And you eat the breakfast,

Have some drink,

Before packing away,

Your tent,

Covering over,

And clearing up,

The campfire,

Packing away,

All your belongings,

Into a backpack,

And placing that backpack,

On your back,

And continuing a journey,

Of hiking,

Through this savannah,

And as you hike,

Through the savannah,

So you see,

This enormous,

Bird of prey,

Circling,

Overhead,

Occasionally,

Seeming to squaw,

With its squaw,

Echoing,

Across the savannah,

And as you,

Continue through the savannah,

So you notice,

There's the slightest,

Trickle of a stream,

Heading into,

That lake,

And you walk,

Towards the stream,

But diagonally,

Away from the lake,

And as you arrive,

At the stream,

You gather up,

Some of the water,

In a bottle designed to,

Filter and clean the water,

While gathering that water,

And you can feel,

The coolness of the water,

And are perhaps,

A little surprised,

At how cool that water is,

Given how warm,

The day is becoming,

As you approach,

The middle of the day,

And you continue to walk,

Through this savannah,

Following this stream,

Heading upstream,

And as you continue,

To follow the stream,

So the sun,

Continues to pass,

Across the sky,

And you just,

Enjoy your hike,

Enjoy the environment,

Enjoy the sights,

The sounds,

The sensations of walking,

So methodically,

So peacefully,

So calmly,

Along the edge of the stream,

And after some time,

Deep into the afternoon,

You approach an area,

Where,

The ground appears greener,

With more grass,

And lush vegetation,

The stream,

Has broadened out slightly,

And you can see beyond,

The distant trees,

And mountains,

And you know that this stream,

Starts in those mountains,

But your goal for today,

Is to head into the trees,

And to walk deep,

Into those trees,

To find somewhere to camp,

For the night,

Before continuing your journey,

The next day on,

Towards the mountains,

And just as the sun,

Is beginning to set,

So you arrive at those trees,

You walk into the trees,

Still following the stream,

Hearing that bubbling,

Babbling of the stream,

Passing by,

Walking deeper and deeper,

Into the woodland,

Before finding somewhere,

To set up camp,

Lighting a campfire,

Sitting by the campfire,

And eating,

Some evening food,

Having a drink,

Before putting the fire out,

Getting into the tent,

And settling down,

For the night,

And drifting and floating,

Peacefully and comfortably asleep,

And the next day,

You awaken,

You do the same,

As you do everyday,

You leave the tent,

You light the fire,

You have some breakfast,

By that fire,

You pack all your stuff away,

And you continue to hike,

Your way to your destination,

And follow that stream,

Through the trees,

Exiting the other side,

Of the trees,

At the foot of the mountains,

And you follow that stream,

As you climb the mountain,

And occasionally,

You have to weave a path,

So your path,

Is much longer than the direct route,

Of the stream,

But it's easier to climb,

And after some time,

You have to stop,

And change into different clothing,

As you approach a point,

Where the air is thinning,

And the temperature is dropping,

And you can really tell,

That you're heading up,

Into the mountains,

And yet you continue,

To follow that stream,

All the way up,

To a cave,

And this cave,

Is where this stream begins,

And deep in this cave,

You know that you're going to find,

The source of the stream,

That a spring,

Starts deep,

In this cave,

And it's an unusual spring,

Starting high up here,

Inside a cave,

Inside a mountain,

And as you head through this cave,

So you find,

A pool of water,

Bubbling in the middle,

You find the spring,

And you've heard,

That the source of this stream,

Contains healing water,

Which is only healing,

At its source,

As after it leaves the source,

It mixes with other minerals,

Changes its composition,

And becomes less effective,

At healing,

The further from the source,

And you notice,

A very slight twinkling,

And sparkling,

Glistening at the source,

And you drink,

Some of that healing water,

And you can feel the healing,

Spreading,

Through your body,

You can feel,

How cold this water feels,

Here,

Being formed inside,

The top of a mountain,

And you're curious,

Exactly how this water is formed,

Whether perhaps,

The snow,

Somehow,

Ends up melting a little,

Or what the process is,

That leads to water,

Being able to be a spring,

This high up,

And you drink that water,

And you feel,

The healing water,

Pass down,

Through to your stomach,

Pass down through your body,

Out to your fingertips,

Down to the tips of your toes,

And you know that,

This healing,

Will help to rejuvenate you,

And then you camp,

In this cave,

Preparing for your journey home,

The next day,

Which will be a couple of days,

Of hiking and camping,

You settle down in the tent,

And you drift and float,

More peacefully and deeply,

Than you have done in a long time,

Drifting,

Floating,

And relaxing so peacefully,

So deeply,

Asleep,

So just take a moment to,

Allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably,

Drift asleep,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep,

Faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces,

Between my words,

And as you drift,

Peacefully asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story,

In the background,

And it's a sleep story,

About sitting in a back garden,

In a deck chair,

On a summer's day,

And you work incredibly hard,

And you find that you're often busy,

And don't have enough time for yourself,

And so now this is your peaceful time,

You're making time,

To experience,

A moment of calm,

And so you relax back,

On that deck chair,

In your back garden,

And the environment is just right for you,

And the sun is warm,

And bright in the sky,

And you are lying back there,

Reading a book,

And you're enjoying,

Just taking some time,

To absorb yourself,

In that book that you're reading,

Just carefully,

Slowly,

Reading through that book,

And after a while of reading,

So you decide,

To place that book down beside you,

You have a few sips of a drink,

Before shuffling a little in the chair,

To make yourself extra comfortable,

Closing your eyes,

And just being absorbed in the moment,

Absorbed in a sense of peace,

And calm,

Just listening,

To the sounds around you,

The sounds of some country birds,

In your garden,

The occasional sound of other birds,

Flying overhead,

The sound of,

The breeze,

Moving the leaves of the trees,

The feeling of the breeze on your cheeks,

On your nose,

On your forehead,

The warmth of the sun,

And other sounds,

Some distant,

Around you,

As you're aware that,

With your eyes closed,

Resting so peacefully,

So comfortably,

Your breathing is deepening,

Softening,

Becoming slower,

More measured and relaxed,

As you just lie there,

Then noticing,

While you drift deeper,

And deeper,

Into a sense of peace and calm,

That you start to see,

Lines of,

The faintest hint of colour,

Passing across your field of view,

With almost like shadows of shapes,

Almost circling your field of view,

With your eyes closed,

And sweeping across your field of view,

And the slightest hint,

Of some pulsing light and colour,

Beneath your eyelids,

And sometimes,

You see,

More light than darkness,

As relaxation continues to set in,

And those random lights,

Dark patches,

Streams of colour,

Begin to form in your mind's eye,

Into an inner experience of pleasure,

Of deep calmness and relaxation,

As you find yourself in your mind,

Beginning to wander,

Along a country path,

With hedgerows either side of that path,

Almost as tall as you are,

The sounds of birds,

In those hedgerows,

Singing,

Their tune to each other,

And as you look out over the hedgerows,

Seeing fields,

Seeing some birds in the fields,

Seeing fields of cows,

Fields of sheep,

Fields off to the horizon,

Over hills,

Flat land,

Birds flying overhead,

Enjoying a country walk,

Along a country path,

Surrounded by fields,

Walking past a yellow field,

With the sweetest of smells,

Walking past,

A purple field,

With the most beautiful,

Hint of lavender filling your nostrils,

Seeing how much,

The bees seem to enjoy the lavender field,

Walking past a field,

Where,

Over in the distance in the field,

You can see some white beehives,

And you know,

That the bees,

In those hives,

Will be making,

The most incredible honey,

From the lavender,

They've been visiting,

And continuing on this path,

Into some woodland,

And as you walk,

Through the woodland,

So you,

Catch a glimpse of a deer,

Standing incredibly still,

Among the trees,

Trying to hide,

And pretend it hasn't been seen,

Seeming,

To be having a staring competition with you,

And you carefully,

And slowly,

Continue walking,

To try not to disturb,

That deer,

And continuing,

Through the woods,

Sounds of the rustling leaves overhead,

And running your fingers,

Across the bark,

Of some of the trees,

Noticing how,

The bark of the different trees,

Feels different,

From the rough,

Bumpy bark of oak,

To the soft bark,

Of some other trees,

And some of the young trees,

And finding deep,

In this woodland,

A rope swing,

Hanging from a tree,

And the rope swing,

Consists of a rope,

And a short branch,

For a seat,

And you take that,

Rope swing,

You hold the short branch,

You walk a little way,

Up a bank,

Beside the tree,

You pop that branch,

Between your legs,

You swing yourself a little,

And jump a little,

And throw yourself out,

Stretching your legs out,

In front of you,

And you swing out,

Swing around,

And swing back,

Managing to land on your feet,

Back near where you started,

And you do that a few times,

Really feeling young,

Enjoying the experience,

Before leaving that swing,

Passing deeper,

Through the woods,

And then passing through,

What's almost like,

A narrow path,

Of dense woodland,

And finding yourself,

In a dreamy,

Pleasant place,

And in this dreamy,

Pleasant place,

You find somewhere to sit down,

And you realise,

This is your special place,

In your mind,

Where you can come,

And drift,

And float,

And dream asleep,

Deeper and deeper,

And so you rest there,

For a while,

And after a while,

Of resting there,

So you awaken,

In your garden,

And that night,

You head to bed,

And when you head to bed,

You think again about that journey,

And while you think about that journey,

So you have a sense,

Of drifting deeper,

And deeper,

With your thoughts,

As you pass through the woods,

As you pass,

Out,

To that dreamy,

Sleepy location,

Beyond the rope swing,

And you settle down,

In this location,

In your mind,

And in what seems like,

Almost no time at all,

You drift,

And float,

Deeply,

Peacefully,

And soundly,

Relaxed,

Asleep,

So just take a moment,

To allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to,

Begin to relax,

And as you,

Begin to comfortably,

Drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell,

This sleep story in the background,

And I don't know whether,

You'll drift asleep,

Faster,

To the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces,

Between my words,

And as you comfortably,

Drift asleep,

You have the experience,

Of sitting,

On a train,

And it's an old fashioned,

Clunkety clunk,

Steam train,

And as you sit,

In this old fashioned,

Steam train carriage,

You have a small table,

In front of you,

You're sitting,

On the soft fabric chairs,

You can smell,

That old steam train smell,

The smell of the old carriage,

You can see out the window,

As countryside,

Passes you by,

And in front of you,

You have a large,

Newspaper,

And you have that large newspaper,

Folded over,

To make it,

Smaller in front of you,

And you're filling in the cross word,

And as you,

Sit there,

You're reading the clues,

Working out the answers,

Writing the answers,

Into the available squares,

Trying to work out,

What the answers are,

For some of the clues,

You don't know the answers to,

Based on the letters,

That you have,

And you find,

That a lot of your attention,

Is just focused,

And filling out that cross word,

With the slight rocking,

Of the train on the tracks,

The clickety-clack,

Clunkety-clunk sound of the train,

On the tracks,

The sliding sound,

Of doors being open,

The clunk-clunk sound,

Of doors being closed,

And you're sitting in your own,

Private little compartment,

In the carriage,

And occasionally,

The carriage bobs up and down,

As it continues along the tracks,

While you focus,

On that cross word,

And you find yourself getting stuck,

With a couple of the clues,

And that you can't even guess,

What the answers may be,

And so,

You put that cross word aside,

For now,

You pull across,

The curtain,

That's next to you,

Over the window,

Hearing the sound,

Of that curtain slide across,

The bar,

Dimming the,

Light in the compartment,

Dimming the light in the carriage,

Shutting out,

All the movement,

That you could see outside,

You slide your bum down slightly,

You make yourself comfortable,

And rest yourself back,

And you close your eyes,

Thinking about,

Those clues,

That you haven't yet,

Been able to guess,

You begin to let yourself drift,

Into the most pleasant,

Reverie,

Just feeling,

The bobbing around,

Of the train on the tracks,

Feeling almost like,

You're being rocked,

Gently asleep,

And as you,

Have that sense,

Of almost being rocked,

Gently to sleep,

So you notice,

Your breathing slowing,

You feel,

More comfortable,

And you start to,

Almost see in your minds eye,

This idea,

That you're travelling,

On a boat,

Bouncing over waves,

On the sea,

Before cutting the engine,

Skidding to a halt,

On the sea,

And the boat,

Just being risen up,

And lowering down,

As waves pass beneath you,

And in,

This moment,

Where the boat,

Is just bobbing gently up,

And down,

You're able to look out,

Across the sea,

And everything's so calm,

And quiet,

Just the gentle rise,

And fall of the boat,

As waves pass beneath you,

And then you hear the sound,

Of a whale,

Breathing out,

And you turn,

And look,

And see the top of the head,

Of a whale,

Popping above the surface,

It's spray coming out,

Above the whale,

That spray catching,

Some of the light,

Making a twinkling rainbow,

Falling from the sky,

Above the whale,

As the whale drops beneath the waves again,

Followed by its tail,

So gracefully disappearing,

And you watch,

And enjoy the stillness,

Before you see another whale,

Come to the surface,

And this whale swims over,

Beside the boat,

And as it swims,

Close to your small boat,

So it,

Seems to flick once,

With its tail,

To speed itself up a little bit more,

So that it can just glide,

Without having to flick its tail,

Any more than that,

And it glides past your boat,

And as it does,

So it turns on its side,

Very close to the surface,

And it's almost as if time,

Has stood still,

But this moment,

As you make eye contact,

With that whale,

Feeling the intelligence,

Of this whale,

As it glides past,

Feeling like this whale,

Is observing you,

As much as you're curious,

About them,

And as it clears the boat,

It straightens itself up,

And drops beneath the water,

Out of sight,

And at some point,

Beneath the water,

It's obviously circled around,

And it comes back up,

Near the boat,

It carefully,

Pops its head,

Above the water,

So its eyes are just above the water,

And manages to so delicately,

Hold its weight,

And hold itself in that position,

Looking over at you,

Looking over at it,

Before seeming to,

Drop back down,

Vertically,

Beneath the water again,

And then once,

Beneath the water,

It swims back off,

Away from the boat,

And then,

With a very slight,

Jolt,

You find yourself,

Hearing the sounds,

Of being on that train again,

And drifting back,

To the experience,

Of being on the train,

Realising,

You're approaching your destination,

You draw back the curtain,

You pack away the newspaper,

Knowing you'll finish those last,

Few clues later,

And not long later,

The train pulls in,

To your destination,

You'll be continuing your journey,

On this train the next day,

As the train waits overnight,

You disembark,

You head to a quaint hotel nearby,

You check in,

You have dinner,

Before heading to bed,

As you sit in bed,

So you,

Work on those last,

Few clues,

You solve,

Those last,

Few clues of the crossword,

You feel a sense of pride,

At having completed that,

You know what time you need to be up,

In the morning,

Feeling refreshed and alert,

And revitalised,

To re-board the train,

To continue the next leg,

Of the journey,

And you then,

Settle down,

You make sure your pillow,

Is just right,

You rest your head down,

Onto the pillow,

And you comfortably,

And relaxed,

Begin to drift,

And float,

So peacefully asleep,

And you find yourself,

Instinctively drifting,

And floating,

Peacefully asleep,

Into that experience,

Of being on that boat again,

Of floating on the water,

With that inquisitive whale,

And while dreaming,

Of that whale encounter,

You drift and float,

So peacefully,

So comfortably,

And deeply relaxed,

Asleep,

So,

As you just take a moment,

To begin to drift,

Comfortably asleep,

I don't know whether you'll,

Drift asleep faster,

To the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be,

To the spaces,

Between my words,

As you comfortably,

Drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell,

This sleep story,

In the background,

And you find yourself,

On holiday,

In the Mediterranean,

And as you're walking around,

Exploring,

Enjoying the most beautiful,

Blue water,

Of lakes,

And the ocean,

Enjoying the most beautiful,

Blue sky,

And wispy,

White clouds,

And enjoying the warmth,

Of the sun,

On your face,

And encounters,

With cats,

With dogs,

With other animals,

And enjoying,

A horse ride,

Out to a distant location,

You then set up,

Camp,

In this distant location,

On the edge of a lake,

And in this camp,

You set up,

A camera,

And you're tucked away,

So as to allow,

Nature,

To take its course,

To not scare off,

Any of the animals,

To keep yourself,

As hidden as possible,

And from this space,

You take photographs,

Of different birds,

You manage to take photographs,

Of some birds,

Flying high in the sky,

Some birds,

On the lake,

Some coming in to land,

On the water,

Some seeming to run on the water,

To try and take off,

Into the sky,

And other animals,

Coming down to the water,

To drink,

And you keep yourself hidden,

And quiet,

While enjoying,

Taking these photos,

And then you see,

The strangest of sights,

Something that you've never seen before,

You see,

A very large pelican,

Land in the water,

And it's so large,

You wonder,

How it managed,

To fly,

And you've seen,

Other pelicans before,

With their smooth plumage,

Looking,

So graceful,

In the way they stand,

Tall,

And yet,

This one,

As you zoom in,

To take a photo,

Of it's face,

Looks like a parent,

Had just placed a bowl,

On it's head,

And given it a bowl cut,

Hair cut,

And then scruffed up,

It's hair,

And unlike other,

Pelicans you had seen,

This one,

Seemed to have,

A scruffy hairstyle,

And so you took,

Plenty of photos,

While it went about,

It's business,

In the water,

Catching fish,

Seeming to keep itself,

To itself,

Just quietly,

Moving around,

And yet,

You were really,

Drawn in,

By the fact,

That to you,

It looked like,

It had this strange,

Hairstyle,

And after,

Taking the photos,

You watched,

As this enormous bird,

Managed,

To struggle it's way,

Into the sky,

And take off,

And fly,

And disappeared,

From view,

And as the sun set,

So you,

Lit a campfire,

Had yourself,

Some food,

And then rested,

In your tent,

Reviewing the photographs,

That you had taken,

Still curious,

About that pelican,

With the strange haircut,

How large,

It seemed to be,

That it seemed,

To easily stand,

Taller,

Than a child,

And it's wings,

When it launched,

Into the air,

Were probably,

Twice the length,

Of a child,

And it looked,

Bigger,

And heavier,

Than something,

Which,

Should have been able,

To fly,

And you had never,

Encountered something,

With what looked,

Like such a strange,

Head of hair,

And you wondered,

To yourself,

What that scruffy,

Hairstyle,

Of feathers,

Must mean,

What it's purpose is,

For that pelican,

And you reviewed,

Your photos,

Before settling down,

And drifting,

And floating,

So deeply,

So comfortably,

Asleep,

And the next day,

You looked out,

To see,

If you could see,

That same pelican,

Again,

And you didn't see it,

That day,

Before you had to,

Pack away,

And head back off,

On the horse,

And continue,

Your holiday,

Here,

In the Mediterranean,

And you explored,

Many places,

Around,

The Mediterranean,

Exploring,

Old ruins,

On different islands,

Seeing,

Colourful birds,

All different types,

Of birds,

All different types,

Of birds,

Always,

On the lookout,

For more,

Of those pelicans,

With the strange hairstyles,

Curious,

About why,

They have,

That hair,

Curious,

About them,

And their size,

And then one day,

You stumble,

Across a lake,

Where you see,

That they're actually,

Far more common,

Than perhaps,

You'd first thought,

When you only saw,

One on its own,

And you manage,

To take plenty of photos,

Of graceful,

Pelicans,

With their smooth,

Plumage,

And of these,

Larger pelicans,

With the messy feathers,

On top of their heads,

Photos,

Of pelicans,

Walking in the water,

Catching fish,

Taking off,

And landing,

And flocks,

Of pelicans,

All flying together,

And after,

Your Mediterranean holiday,

And your encounter,

With these different pelicans,

You headed home,

And once home,

It felt good,

To be back,

In your own home,

You packed everything away,

And that night,

There was something magical,

About settling down,

Into your own bed,

And drifting and floating,

Comfortably asleep,

In your own bed,

And while you comfortably,

Drifted and floated asleep,

So you began,

To dream with a smile,

Dreaming,

About these animals,

About those pelicans,

And them seeming to have,

Human like characteristics,

Hearing them talk with you,

And interact,

In some kind of magical land,

In your dreams,

Hearing the voice of the pelican,

With the funny hair,

And the slightly posher voice,

Of the pelicans,

Who look smart,

And prim and proper,

And the sounds of the horse,

Talking on the shore,

And this creation of your mind,

As you drifted and floated asleep,

Brought a smile,

To you,

As you fell,

Gently,

And peacefully,

And relaxed asleep,

All night long,

So just take a moment,

To allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to,

Begin to relax,

And as you begin to,

Comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether,

You'll drift asleep,

Faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to,

Spaces between my words,

And as you drift asleep,

Comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell,

This sleep story in the background,

And it's a sleep story,

About finding yourself,

Walking through a cave,

And you're searching,

In this vast cavern,

For a sphere,

And this sphere is supposed to,

Be able to bring,

Knowledge,

It's supposed to be,

An ancient artifact,

From a prior civilization,

And so you're exploring,

This old cave system,

And many of the chambers,

In this cave system,

Are huge,

Almost like,

Underground cathedrals,

And your footsteps,

Echo around the cave system,

With each step that you take,

The air whistles,

Through the cave,

The wind whistles,

Through the cave,

And the illumination,

In the cave,

Is just from,

The light that you're carrying,

And the shadows,

Dance around,

Opposite the light,

Dancing on the walls,

As you pass,

Stalagmites,

And they appear,

Almost like columns,

In this cathedral like,

Cave of caverns,

And after a while,

You find,

What looks like,

Man made markings,

On a wall,

And so you suspect,

You're getting close,

To your destination,

So you head,

To those markings,

You move the light,

To the markings,

You read,

What those markings,

Say,

And you're able,

To understand,

This ancient text,

And the ancient text,

Talks,

About a secret door,

That can only be opened,

By stepping,

On specific,

Flat stones,

On the ground,

In a specific order,

That's in this chamber,

And there's a puzzle,

A cryptic clue,

And you read,

That cryptic clue,

And you work out,

That the cryptic clue,

Relates to,

The planets,

In the solar system,

And you realise,

That the order,

Of those flat stones,

That you have to step on,

Is in the order,

Of the planets,

That were known at the time,

By those who wrote,

That message,

And so you then,

Go round those stones,

And you try and work out,

From the images,

On the stones,

And the markings,

On the stones,

Which ones refer,

To which planets,

And you work that out,

And once you think,

You have it figured out,

You go and step,

On those stones,

One at a time,

In the order,

You think,

They need to be stepped on,

And each one,

That you step on,

Depresses slightly,

And leads to the sound,

Of moving stone,

As if perhaps,

Unlocking some stone,

Mechanism somewhere,

Unseen,

And you step,

On the second one,

And the third one,

And the fourth,

And the fifth,

And the sixth,

And then you hear,

A larger,

Moving stone sound,

And you see,

A part of the wall,

Roll aside,

And as that part,

Of the wall,

Rolls aside,

So it reveals,

A new cavern,

For you to explore,

And you head in,

To this new cavern,

And the first thing,

That surprises you,

Is that the walls,

In this cavern,

Are highly reflective,

And you go over,

To the walls,

And touch the walls,

And they're incredibly soft,

And smooth,

And cool,

And you realise,

That the walls,

Have been coated,

With silver,

And the floor,

Has been coated,

With gold,

And in the middle,

Of this cavern,

Is a bronze plinth,

And on the top,

Of the bronze plinth,

Is what looks like,

A sphere,

Made of,

A mix of,

Silver,

And glass,

Or some kind of,

Clear crystal,

And as you approach,

That sphere,

You realise that,

The glass,

Or crystal parts,

Have a very slight,

Electric blue tinge,

To them,

And you carefully,

Place a hand,

Either side,

Of that crystal,

And silver sphere,

Carefully lift it,

Off the plinth,

And as you do,

It begins to glow,

Electric blue,

With the light increasing,

Getting brighter,

And brighter,

And yet,

The sphere,

Doesn't feel,

Any different,

It still feels,

Exactly as it did,

Before anything happened,

And then surrounding,

The sphere,

Filling the room,

Reflecting,

Off the silver walls,

And ceiling,

You see,

A whole universe,

Stretched out,

In 3D,

In all directions,

Almost like the sphere,

Is a projector,

Projecting this out,

To view,

And then,

The view that you can see,

Begins to move,

As if zooming in,

On certain places,

In this,

Projected galaxy,

Zooming in,

To a specific planet,

Around a specific star,

Right down,

To the planets surface,

And then the view,

You can see around you,

Is from this planets surface,

Of the night sky,

And highlighted,

In this night sky,

Is one specific star,

And a symbol,

Next to that star,

Which you know,

Is the symbol,

In that ancient text,

For earth,

And so you know,

That,

That star,

Is probably,

The sun,

And then no sooner,

Have you got used to,

Seeing this view,

And the view changes,

And that,

Camera seems to pan,

Off of there,

The view moves,

Elsewhere in the universe,

Elsewhere in this galaxy,

And then,

The same as before,

Once it arrives,

On a planet,

One star,

In the night sky,

Gets highlighted,

As earth,

And then the,

View changes again,

And it zooms out,

And up,

So incredibly fast,

Until you appear,

To be looking down,

On what you assume,

Is the milky way,

Except,

That it doesn't quite look,

How it's depicted,

With it's neat,

Spiral arms,

It has areas,

Of waves,

Throughout it,

It has messy,

Arms,

In some places,

With only,

Parts,

Of the spiral arm,

Being fixed,

And orderly,

And it looks,

More chaotic,

Than pictures,

Normally depict,

And the camera continues,

To zoom back,

Further and further,

And you can notice,

Some arcing,

Light,

Around the milky way,

Attached,

To small,

Galaxies,

Of stars,

And you can see off,

In the distance,

A large galaxy,

Looking like it's heading,

Straight for the milky way,

And then as before,

One star,

Gets highlighted,

With the symbol,

Earth,

And then the stars,

Disappear,

And a voice,

Begins to come,

From the sphere,

That begins to share,

Ancient knowledge,

With you,

About the location,

In the galaxy,

About the other,

Which at the point,

Of this sphere,

Being left here,

Were the dominant,

Advanced,

Space faring,

Civilizations,

That had been able,

To travel,

And visit the earth,

The voice shared,

How you can identify,

Space faring,

Civilizations,

And the locations,

Of them,

And how they travel,

And how when they travel,

There'll be,

An instantaneous flash,

At the point of departure,

Followed,

Shortly after,

By an instantaneous flash,

Elsewhere,

In a galaxy,

For the arrival,

That it takes,

A high amount of energy,

To open,

A path,

Through space time,

And moments later,

Open the exit,

And after all,

The knowledge is shared,

So the sphere,

Goes quiet,

Place that sphere,

Back in its location,

You head back,

Through and out of the cave,

And you'll be writing up,

And recording,

All this information,

But you won't be sharing,

The exact location,

And you head all the way home,

You spend some time,

Writing up,

Your discoveries,

Your learnings,

Before heading to bed,

And drifting,

And floating,

So peacefully,

So comfortably,

And relaxed,

Sleep,

So just,

Take a moment to,

Allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself,

To begin to relax,

And as you begin,

To comfortably,

Drift asleep,

I don't know whether,

You'll drift asleep,

Faster,

To the sound,

Of my voice,

Or whether it'll be,

To the spaces,

Between my words,

And as you gradually,

Drift,

And float,

Peacefully asleep,

I'm just going to tell,

This sleep story,

In the background,

And this sleep story,

Is about you,

Walking,

Through a town centre,

And as you walk,

Through this town centre,

You can hear the sounds,

Of the people walking around you,

See them all,

Looking in shops,

Talking with each other,

And while walking,

Through the town centre,

You glance,

Into the shop windows,

You see,

That there are certain sales,

On in some shops,

You see the different items,

Being promoted,

In shop window displays,

And posters,

In the shop windows,

And then you turn,

Off of the main,

High street,

Of this town centre,

You walk down,

A quiet street,

And at the end,

Of this quiet street,

Is an old fashioned,

Looking toy shop,

And you walk,

All the way down,

To the end,

Of that street,

The sounds,

Of the high street,

Fading into the background,

And you approach,

That toy shop window,

And this toy shop,

Looks really old fashioned,

And in the window,

You can see,

Old fashioned toys,

You can see dolls,

Teddy bears,

You can see,

A train set,

With a wooden train,

And carriages,

On the track,

And you see a toy,

That reminds you,

Of your childhood,

And that toy,

That reminds you,

Of your childhood,

Makes you feel this urge,

To be drawn into the shop,

So you walk,

To the door,

You open the door,

It dings a bell,

And you walk in,

To the cosy environment,

Of the toy shop,

The door closing behind you,

Dinging that bell again,

And it's warm,

And comfortable,

In this shop,

The lighting,

Is a pleasant,

Low glow,

And there's a smell,

Of wood,

In this toy shop,

And it's quiet,

In this toy shop,

And there's someone,

Stood behind a counter,

At the back of the toy shop,

Who greets you,

As you enter,

And they smile,

And then they carry on,

With what they were doing,

Behind the counter,

And you look around,

At the different toys,

You pick up,

A teddy bear,

That reminds you,

Of the kind of teddy bears,

People had,

When you were a child,

And you feel,

The softness,

Of it's fur,

The firmness,

Of it's body,

You place that back down,

You see,

Some of those toy cars,

In boxes,

And there's a bin,

Of second hand,

Toy cars,

You pick a couple of them up,

Feeling,

How cold,

Those metal cars,

Feel in your hand,

And how heavy,

They feel,

As you pick them up,

And handle them,

And you spin the wheels,

With your fingertips,

And place them back down,

And continue looking,

And you find,

Some lego,

And you see,

Bins of used lego,

Where you pay,

By weight,

And there are tubs,

That you can fill,

With the lego,

And then you weigh,

The tub,

And you pay,

For the weight,

Of the lego,

You purchase,

And you run your fingers,

Into that,

Second hand lego,

And the sound,

Of the lego,

Moving,

Between your fingertips,

As you pick it up,

Turn it around,

The feeling,

Of those lego blocks,

The smell,

Of that lego,

And you continue looking,

Around this toy shop,

And you see,

Some stickle brick,

And you place,

Some of those stickle brick,

Pieces together,

The sensation,

Of sticking them together,

Making a small tower,

Out of stickle brick,

You continue to look,

Around this shop,

Seeing an area,

Of hand puppets,

And looking at those,

Different hand puppets,

And as you explore,

Around the shop,

So your mind,

And your heart,

Flash back,

To happy memories,

With certain toys,

When you were a child,

And you see,

A telephone,

With a smiley face on it,

And wheels,

And a caterpillar,

That can be pulled,

On some string,

And an assortment,

Of jigsaw puzzles,

And you continue,

To look around,

This shop,

Until eventually,

You reach,

The back,

Of the window,

And as you reach,

The back of the window,

So you see that toy,

From your childhood,

That really makes you,

Reminisce,

About childhood,

And you pick that toy up,

And it's as if,

Picking that toy up,

Warms your heart,

And you can feel,

The weight of that toy,

In your hand,

The smell of that toy,

What the toy feels like,

Under your fingertips,

As you handle that toy,

And the sound of that toy,

As you move it around,

And you have this sensation,

Of reminiscing,

To playing with the toy,

As a young child,

And you see that,

It's a very reasonable,

Price,

As you take the toy,

To the counter,

And the person,

At the counter,

Acknowledges,

That they can tell,

That,

That toy,

Has special meaning,

To you,

Special significance,

And that there's something,

Magical,

About making,

A discovery,

Like this,

And they smile,

And they talk,

So kindly,

So pleasantly,

To you,

While they,

Wrap the toy,

And bag the toy up,

For you to take away,

With you,

And you leave that shop,

Carrying the toy shop bag,

With the toy,

In that bag,

And you take that toy home,

And at home,

You place that toy,

On a counter,

While you sit,

On a chair,

And you know,

That you're going to show,

Certain people,

That toy,

That you found,

And share,

This discovery,

With them,

And while you,

Handle that toy,

On the counter,

You think about,

Where would be,

A good place,

The perfect place,

At home,

To display this toy,

You know,

You'll probably,

Not play with it,

Anymore,

But you know,

That by displaying it,

Somewhere,

Whenever you see it,

As you walk past it,

Or glance over at it,

It'll bring a smile,

To your face,

And good feelings,

To your heart,

And you think,

Of the perfect location,

For that toy,

And you organize,

That location,

And then place the toy,

In that location,

Before heading to bed,

And once you head to bed,

So you drift asleep,

And find yourself,

Dreaming,

About when you used to play,

With that toy,

When you were a child,

And with a warmth,

In your heart,

Smile on your face,

You drift and float,

So peacefully,

So pleasantly asleep,

Drifting and dreaming,

Deeper,

And deeper asleep,

So just take a moment,

To allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself,

To begin to fall asleep,

And as you drift,

Comfortably asleep,

I don't know whether,

You'll fall asleep,

Faster,

To the sound,

Of my voice,

Or whether it'll be,

To the spaces,

Between my words,

And while you comfortably,

Drift asleep,

You can have a sense of,

Arriving on holiday,

In Iceland,

And you're heading,

In a taxi,

To the hotel,

That you'll be staying in,

And it's a long journey,

Across barren landscape,

And as you head,

On that long taxi journey,

Across the barren landscape,

So you gaze out the window,

Camera at the ready,

Taking photos,

Of the landscape,

As you pass it,

Photos of black ground,

And sparse plant life,

And areas of steam,

Rising up,

From the ground,

And in the distance,

The occasional,

Splutter from a volcano,

And as you continue,

Your journey,

So you,

Notice,

Increasing amounts of snow,

And eventually,

You arrive,

At the hotel,

And the hotel,

Looks almost futuristic,

In it's design,

With it's all glass front,

It's a couple of stories high,

And you head,

Into the foyer of the hotel,

Noticing the marble floors,

And the way,

Each footstep,

From yourself and others,

Walking around,

Echoes,

Reverberates,

Bounces off the glass,

Off the walls,

Inside this hotel,

And you walk up,

To the counter,

Get pleasantly greeted,

As you check yourself in,

And you head,

To your hotel room,

And the hotel room,

Has marble floors throughout,

The same,

As the rest of the hotel,

You've been walking around,

And you place your bag,

On the bed,

And explore,

The hotel room,

Turning the light on,

In the bathroom,

Seeing a square,

Shower head,

Over a square shaped,

Shower,

With rows of holes,

And you test,

Turning that shower on,

And see that,

It seems to almost make,

A mist of water,

Fall down,

Changing,

Changes,

How the water,

Falls from the shower,

You turn the water off,

You run your hand,

Along the sink,

You admire,

The shape and size,

Of the bath,

You open,

And look,

In the storage,

Closet,

And then walk back,

To the main bedroom,

Walk over to the window,

Of the bedroom,

And through,

The large glass window,

You can see,

The most incredible,

Landscape,

All the way off,

To the mountains,

In the distance,

And you sit back,

On the bed,

And you rest,

Just for a little while,

Feeling a sense,

Of warmth and peace,

Here in this hotel room,

Admiring the silence,

In this room,

And what this hotel,

Is famous for,

Of the outdoor springs,

The natural hot springs,

That this hotel,

Has been built next to,

And after,

Settling in,

You head down,

Out the back of the hotel,

And walk around,

To the springs,

And you notice,

The water at the springs,

Seems to almost glow,

Blue,

With a fine mist,

Hovering,

Above the water,

And outside,

All you can see on the ground,

Is snow,

And then the paths,

Between the hot spring pools,

And you can really feel,

The cold,

Out here,

While also as you pass,

Those hot springs,

Feeling the warmth,

As the wind blows,

Across the top of the hot springs,

And you head to some steps,

And you descend those steps,

Into one of those hot springs,

And you notice,

That it feels like,

Gently walking,

And lowering yourself,

Into the warmest,

Most comfortable,

Healing bath,

As if you filled a bath,

With healing bath salts,

And these natural hot springs,

Contain a mixture,

Of minerals,

That have bubbled up,

And mixed up,

With the hot water that rises,

Naturally up,

Through the ground,

And you walk,

And lower yourself,

Gradually,

Into this hot water,

Lowering yourself down,

So that you're,

Submerged up to your neck,

In the water,

And then you push off,

From the side,

And using your hands,

You gradually,

Work your way,

Resting on your back,

Lying back,

With your head resting,

On the water,

Just drifting,

And floating,

Further out,

Into the pool,

Feeling the bubbling water,

Gently rising up,

Beneath you,

And while out,

Resting,

In the middle of this hot spring,

So it begins,

To snow,

You stand up,

In the hot spring,

You place your arms out,

Beside you,

And you feel that snow,

Tickling,

And falling onto your arms,

Balancing so gently,

On your arms,

On your shoulders,

On the top of your head,

And on your nose,

Those large snowflakes,

Building up,

Across your arms,

While the rest of your body,

Is submerged in the water,

Feeling so comfortable,

And warm,

And then once your arms,

Have some snow on them,

You gently,

Lower your arms,

Into the hot water,

Feeling,

The pleasure of,

Relaxing deeply,

In this hot spring,

And there are plenty of other people,

Here in this hot spring,

In these various hot springs,

Or hot spring pools,

All just relaxing,

And floating,

And enjoying,

The water,

Enjoying the,

Minerals within the water,

Helping to,

Heal their skin,

And the smell of the spring,

The smell of the mix of minerals,

While resting there,

And then after spending some time,

Out here,

Swimming,

And resting in the hot spring,

You head back to the steps,

You notice the cold,

As you walk up those steps,

You wrap a robe around you,

You head into the building,

And you head up to your room,

And you know that this is the start,

Of a great vacation,

You're here for a while,

You're going to be going downstairs,

Eating the most incredible meal,

In the restaurant,

You've heard great things,

About the cooking here,

You're going to be travelling out,

With a group,

To get a closer look,

At volcanoes,

To have an opportunity,

To take photographs,

Of things normally unseen,

To be able to see,

Geysers,

Firing out hot water,

Like clockwork,

And every day,

You can go and enjoy,

The hot springs,

And as you think about,

What you're going to be doing,

Over the next few days,

You settle down in bed,

That night,

And you drift and float,

So peacefully,

So comfortably asleep,

With the silence,

In this hotel,

Relaxing and floating,

Deeper,

And more comfortably,

Asleep,

So just take a moment,

To allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to,

Begin to relax,

And as you,

Begin to comfortably,

Relax,

I don't know whether,

You'll drift to sleep,

Faster to the sound,

Of my voice,

Or whether it'll be,

To the spaces,

Between my words,

And as you comfortably,

Drift to sleep,

I'm just going to tell,

This sleep story,

In the background,

And this is a sleep story,

About you walking,

Through the woods,

One evening,

And as you walk,

Through the woods,

So you can hear,

The rustling of the leaves,

Overhead,

You can hear,

The kicking and the rustling,

Of the leaves,

As you walk along the path,

And you can hear,

Footsteps,

Of a wolf,

Walking in the woods,

And you're walking,

In these woods,

In search of that wolf,

Trying to walk,

Quietly,

As the sun is setting,

And evening is setting in,

And while you walk,

Through the woods,

You can feel,

The slight breeze on your face,

And eventually,

As you're approaching,

The edge of the woods,

And you can see,

The moonlit exit,

From the woods,

You see the silhouette,

Of the wolf,

That you've been following,

And you head,

Towards that wolf,

And that wolf,

Looks back at you,

And then continues to walk on,

And you reach the exit,

Of the woods,

And you're looking down,

Across the moonlit meadow,

And you can see,

The shadowy figure,

Of that wolf,

Walking through the meadow,

In the direction,

Of a stream,

And you follow that wolf,

Walking through,

That moonlit meadow,

With everything looking,

Dark shades of blue,

And the silver glistening,

Of the moonlight,

On the stream,

In the distance,

And you have to keep looking,

Up and away,

From that wolf,

So that you can continue,

To see it and follow it,

Allowing your peripheral vision,

To keep track,

Of where the wolf is at,

And from time to time,

That wolf stops,

And looks back at you,

To check that you're still there,

That you're still following,

Before continuing on,

Its journey,

And you follow that wolf,

Down to the stream,

And you see that its heading,

Along the edge of the stream,

So you continue,

To follow that wolf,

And it continues,

To look back,

And check that you're still there,

And the stream gets wider,

And faster,

And then you encounter,

A mill along the stream,

With the wheel,

Turning as that water,

Flows,

Into the wheel,

Down a waterfall,

To a lower level of the stream,

You walk around that mill,

Hearing the,

Clinking and the clunking,

Of the wheel,

Turning,

In its regular fashion,

You continue,

To follow the stream,

The other side,

You see the wolf,

Stop and turn,

And look back again,

Making sure you're still there,

Still following,

You continue following,

Down to a bridge,

You see that wolf,

Passing across the bridge,

The bridge illuminated,

In the moonlight,

You walk down towards that bridge,

Walk up and over the bridge,

Continuing the journey,

On the other side of the stream,

Continuing to follow,

That wolf,

And as you continue,

To follow the wolf,

So night,

Continues to set in,

And get darker,

And darker,

With just the moonlight,

Illuminating the environment,

And you follow that wolf,

Along this side of the stream,

And then you see,

That the wolf has turned off,

Into some woodland,

And it looks back,

Just before turning off,

To make sure,

That you have seen,

Where it has turned,

And you walk down,

To where you saw,

That wolf turning off,

You follow,

The footpath,

Deep into this woodland,

Walking through the woodland,

Aware of how quiet,

The woodland sounds at night,

With just the sound in the distance,

Of that wolf,

Padding along,

Continuing to walk,

And your footsteps,

As you follow,

And as you continue,

To follow,

In the direction of the wolf,

So you begin to notice,

Some fireflies,

Flying through the trees,

You notice some glowing,

Toadstools on the ground,

You continue to walk,

And deep in the woods,

You discover a cabin,

And you see,

That the entrance to the cabin,

Is that wolf,

And you walk up,

To the cabin,

And the wolf is resting there,

Waiting,

You open the cabin door,

The wolf walks in,

And the wolf,

Pulls a blanket,

Off of the bed,

In this cabin,

Wraps the blanket,

Round itself,

And rests on the floor,

Near the fireplace,

And you go and,

Put some of the wood,

In the fireplace,

And light that fire,

Lighting the cabin,

With just the light,

From the fire,

In the main room,

You sit down on the floor,

Near the wolf,

You pull a blanket down,

Off of a chair,

And one of the,

Cushions down off a chair,

You rest yourself back on the cushion,

Wrapping the blanket over you,

To help you feel a bit more snugly,

And comfortable here,

And you gently stroke,

The fur of the wolf,

While that wolf rests there,

Beside you,

And while stroking the wolf,

You feel deeply relaxed,

Just listening to the crackling fire,

Seeing the light,

Dancing around the room,

And then at some point,

During the night,

You notice,

Sparkling white light,

Sparkling all around the wolf,

Aware that it's illuminating,

Under the blanket,

The wolf has resting over them,

And as that,

Sparkling white light,

Fades away,

So you see the wolf,

Looking like a human,

And once they turn back,

Into a human,

They snuggle up,

Into your arms,

They smile at you,

And you get another cushion down,

Off the chair,

And two of you,

Resting on the floor,

Wrapped in blankets,

Drift and float,

So peacefully,

So comfortably asleep,

In each other's arms,

With you aware that,

This is an interesting part,

Of this relationship,

And you fall so deeply,

So comfortably,

Relaxed asleep,

So just take a moment,

To allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself,

To begin to relax,

And as you begin to relax,

I don't know whether you'll,

Drift asleep faster,

To the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be,

To the spaces between my words,

And as you,

Comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell,

This sleep story,

In the background,

And it's a sleep story,

About,

You finding yourself,

Walking along a beach,

And it's a warm,

Summer's day,

And it's a sandy,

Deserted beach,

And the sand,

Is the most beautiful sand,

It's incredibly soft,

And your feet,

Just sink comfortably,

Into that sand,

And you walk along,

This beach,

With the sound of the,

Sea,

With those waves,

Lapping on the shore,

The sounds of seabirds,

And after walking,

For a while,

You find a location,

To sit down,

And you sit down,

On that beautiful sand,

And you sink,

Comfortably into the sand,

As you sit down,

And you can rest your hands,

Down on the sand,

And feel,

The warmth,

Of the surface of the sand,

And the tickling,

As the breeze,

Blows,

Grains of sand,

Across and between your fingers,

And as you push,

Your fingertips,

Into the sand,

Just a little,

You notice,

How cool the sand is,

Just beneath the surface,

And you move,

Your hands around,

Gathering sand up,

In the palms of your hands,

And just letting that sand,

Lie flat again,

Just feeling the temperature difference,

Of the top,

To just beneath the surface,

Of the sand,

And you rest your elbows back,

In the sand,

And you lie back,

Listening to the sound,

Of that sea,

Rolling gently in,

On the shore,

Rolling gently,

Onto the sandy beach,

Before pulling back out,

To sea,

And you feel,

So relaxed,

You feel,

So calm,

Just resting here,

Enjoying the experience,

And while you rest there,

You drift in your mind,

You close your eyes,

And you point your head,

Towards the sun,

Feeling almost like,

The sun's energy,

The heat,

Warmth from the sun,

On your face,

When it's evenly spread,

Across your face,

It's almost empowering,

And invigorating you,

You find,

You find your breathing,

Deepening and relaxing,

And then you hear somebody come over,

And they ask you,

If you would be able to help them,

With something,

But they don't specify what,

And you think to yourself,

Should you accept or not,

Because you're enjoying,

Relaxing on this beach,

And perhaps if you say no,

They'll go away,

And you can continue to be on your own,

Relaxing on this beach,

But you decide to be helpful,

So you say that if there's some way,

That you can help,

Then you don't mind being helpful,

And the person thanks you,

For offering to help,

And says they need you to come with them,

To another part of this island,

And so you walk following them,

Along the beach,

And then just off the beach,

Into the trees,

Walking a little way through the trees,

And then you come to,

Some open grassland,

And you walk along that grassland,

And in the middle of this grassland,

Is a grand looking tree,

And they walk up to the tree,

And they tap the tree,

And a door seems to open in the tree,

And they say this island isn't what it seems,

And they invite you to come down the tree,

And they say it's dark,

Mind your step,

There's 20 steps,

So they'll go ahead,

And they'll count down the steps,

So that you know how many are left,

And as they walk ahead,

And you follow down the spiral staircase,

Within this tree,

Still slightly confused about the experience,

They count down from 20,

19,

18,

17,

16,

15,

14,

13,

12,

11,

10,

9,

Going deeper and deeper into the tree,

8,

7,

6,

5,

4,

3,

2,

1,

At the bottom under the tree,

And as you reach the bottom under the tree,

And stand next to them,

You notice there's a steel door,

And a circular handle into the door,

And they twist that circular handle,

And open that heavy seeming steel door,

And as it opens,

Light starts flooding through,

And they walk through,

And you follow,

And they close the door behind them,

Spinning the handle,

Shutting the door behind them,

And they say that this island,

Was built,

As a secret,

Underground base,

And that the island on the surface,

Is just a cover,

There never used to be an island here,

And they've built a series,

Of what on the surface,

Seem like islands,

But they're actually,

Vast underground bases,

And on the surface,

They're covered,

With sand,

With mud,

And with plants,

And animals,

And as far as they seem,

On the surface,

They're islands,

Where no people live,

And people aren't allowed to live,

On the surface,

But in the centre of each island,

There's a fake tree,

And underneath that tree,

Is the entrance,

To these underground bunkers,

These underground,

Habitations,

And they say,

That they need you,

To head to one of the other,

Bunkers,

One of the other locations,

And at the same time,

As they do,

They need you to flick a switch,

Because it was designed,

So that it only powered,

And had key,

Operations,

Done by two people,

At the same time,

In two different locations,

To make sure,

That no one individual,

Could just turn everything on,

But no one really knows,

About these bunkers anymore,

They went out of use,

And were only used,

And made for a very short,

Period of time,

And they tell you,

They need you,

To head down a corridor,

Which is actually,

A tunnel,

Which passes along,

The ocean floor,

And the roof of the tunnel,

Can see out,

Under the ocean,

But if you're in the ocean,

Looking down at the tunnel,

It'll just look like sand,

And they need you,

To head down that tunnel,

To the next island,

And in the room,

The other side of the door,

There's a console,

And once you're there,

They need you,

To flick the switch,

As they flick the switch,

And so you take,

A communication device,

And you head through the door,

You head along the tunnel,

You look up,

You can see,

The way the water,

Is rolling overhead,

The waves rolling towards the shore,

You can see the way,

The light dances,

Through the surface of the water,

You can see the fish,

And other creatures,

Swimming in the sea,

And you head over,

To the other island,

You walk,

Into the room on the other island,

You talk on the communication device,

And they say you're ready,

To flick the switch,

They identify which switch,

You have to flick,

And you flick that switch,

And as you do,

This island's electricity,

Comes on,

And turns on the light,

Through this location,

And you head back,

To that person,

And they tell you,

That's all they needed,

Your help for,

That they'd bought,

These islands,

Because they knew,

Of this base,

And they allow people,

To come on holiday,

To these islands,

To camp on the islands,

Only allowing,

A couple of people,

Per island at a time,

While they live,

Underground,

In these bases,

And can always go up,

Above ground,

And they'll be building,

A little house for themselves,

On one of the islands,

Above ground,

For anyone who wants to find them,

When they come on holiday here,

And you head back,

To the beach,

Being thanked,

For your help,

And they ask you,

Not to let others know,

That they have a plan,

Of potentially building,

Something,

Underground,

That people can come on holiday,

And perhaps,

View under the sea,

But for now,

This is their secret base,

And you don't think anyone,

Would believe you anyway,

That you went down underground,

In a tree,

You head back,

To that beach,

You rest back down,

On that sand,

And you drift,

Into the most pleasant reverie,

While resting in the sun,

Before,

At the end of the day,

Heading into a tent,

And drifting,

And floating,

So peacefully,

So comfortably,

Asleep,

So just take a moment,

To allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself,

To begin to relax,

And as you begin,

To comfortably,

Drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell,

This sleep story in the background,

And I don't know whether,

You'll drift asleep,

Faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to,

The spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably,

Drift asleep,

You have a sense of being out,

In a garden one day,

And as you rest in that garden,

So you're just enjoying nature,

Enjoying a moment of relaxation,

Of peace,

You can hear the rustling leaves,

In the trees,

You can see butterflies,

Landing on different plants,

Before moving on to another plant,

You can see bees,

Darting from one flower to the next,

You can see birds in the trees,

Occasionally birds flying,

To a bird feeder,

Where they'll have some food,

Before flying off,

And you have a bird bath,

In the garden,

And you can sometimes see birds,

Land in the bird bath,

Splash water over their wings,

Have a little bit of a drink,

Ruffle up their feathers,

Before shooting off from the bath,

And disappearing again,

And you just rest on a chair,

In the garden,

Enjoying a moment's peace,

And calmness,

And after resting there,

For a little while,

You decide to stretch your legs,

To walk around your garden,

And you walk down one side of your garden,

Near the flower bed,

Smelling those flowers as you walk,

Smelling the roses,

Feeling the silky smoothness,

The waxiness of some rose petals,

Smelling daffodils,

Continuing to walk,

Along the edge of your garden,

Until you come to,

Some trees and bushes,

And as you approach the trees and bushes,

So you can see,

A chrysalis still hanging,

Under a branch,

And you watch that chrysalis,

And there are already butterflies,

Flying around,

And you wonder to yourself,

What butterfly,

Is in this chrysalis,

That's late to the party,

And you watch,

And notice,

The chrysalis begins to move,

And you realise,

Fortuitously,

You've walked down the end of the garden,

And stumbled upon this chrysalis,

Just as whatever butterflies in here,

Is about to emerge,

And so you rest there and watch,

With intrigue,

As the chrysalis moves,

And then splits,

And you see the first signs,

Of the butterfly emerging,

From that chrysalis,

Pushing its back out,

And it takes a long time,

For it to push its back out,

To pull itself out,

To get its legs out,

And once it's done that,

It seems to almost be out of breath,

As if it's panting,

And you notice it unfurling its wings,

And continuing to seem to pant,

As if it's puffing its wings up,

And after an extended period of time,

It seems to have puffed its wings up,

It then moves its wings,

As if to test them out,

It moves its legs,

It takes a couple of tentative steps,

Before flying from the chrysalis,

And landing on a branch,

And it was only a short first flight,

And you wonder to yourself,

What that experience must be like,

To have been a caterpillar leading one life,

Looking one way,

With mainly short sticky feet,

And confined to a single leaf,

And then after a little while,

To wrap yourself up,

And the next time you emerge,

From your sleep,

You have long spindly legs,

A different shaped and designed body,

Wings,

And somehow instinctively know,

That you're a butterfly,

Not knowing in the sense that a person may know,

But knowing you have specific behaviours you do,

As this being,

When this being was a caterpillar,

They instinctively knew to munch on leaves,

And they had a mouth that could munch on leaves,

But you never see a butterfly,

Trying to munch on leaves,

With the brain of a caterpillar,

It knows,

That it now goes and eats elsewhere,

And in a totally different way,

And this idea of,

How one being,

Can transform so completely,

From a being with one set of behaviours,

An entire structure,

To a being with a very different set of behaviours,

And a very different structure,

Without it,

Reverting back,

To trying to be how it was in the past,

Where no caterpillar,

Tries to slurp up a leaf,

Thinking it's already a butterfly,

And no butterfly tries to munch on a leaf,

Thinking that it's a caterpillar,

And no caterpillar jumps off a leaf trying to fly,

And no butterfly tries to crawl,

And you wonder to yourself,

Does the butterfly,

Have any awareness of the past,

Of what it once was,

Or does the butterfly just live in the moment,

Only aware of the here and now,

Unaware of the past that's been and gone,

Unaware of their past life,

Their past behaviours,

Their past body and being,

And only aware of this being they are now,

And while you watch that butterfly,

You find yourself having these profound questions in your mind,

And after a while you see that butterfly,

Having only tried to fly once up onto this branch,

Fly as if it's always been able to fly,

Off that branch,

And off to the flowers that the other butterflies frequent,

And feeding in those flowers,

Just like all the other butterflies,

As if it could have been doing this its whole life,

And after a while in the garden,

Pondering these thoughts,

The sun's beginning to set,

So you head in from the garden,

And that night,

You find yourself relaxing,

And drifting asleep,

And as you drift asleep,

You're still finding your mind,

Wondering about existence,

About awareness,

From one thing to another,

And what the experience is,

What happens for that butterfly,

To that butterfly's brain,

Between it's awareness,

And it's being,

As a caterpillar,

To it's awareness and being as a butterfly,

And these thoughts fill your mind,

As you drift and float,

So peacefully,

So comfortably and deeply,

And relax to sleep all night long,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this story in the background,

And I don't know whether you'll drift asleep,

Faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And while you drift asleep,

You can have a sense of being out in the countryside,

And you're carrying an easel,

And some art equipment,

And you're trying to find the perfect location,

To paint a picture,

And you're heading up through woodland,

Out into a meadow,

Climbing a hill in that meadow,

To gain a bit of perspective,

And as you walk,

So you look around you,

You look at the different views,

How the different hills look from different locations,

And eventually,

You find the ideal location,

And you set up a little tent in that location,

A picnic blanket in that location,

A chair in that location,

You then set up the easel,

And the art equipment next to the easel,

And you look out from this view,

And you enjoy the fresh air,

And it's a view down over some rolling hills,

And nestled gently between those hills,

Is a small country village,

With a small church prominent in the centre of that village,

Which stands tall and prominent between the crests of the hills,

And on the tops of some of the hills,

Are bulbous trees,

Thickly covering the tops of those hills,

And down the sides of the hills,

Are fields of sheep grazing,

And you can hear the distant sound of those sheep,

As they bar in the distance,

And you set up a stool at the easel,

You sit down on that stool,

And you begin to lightly sketch out the view,

Trying to work out exactly what about the view,

Would make the best painting,

You try to work out whether it should be a wide painting,

With a small village nestled there in the centre,

The hills with the sheep and the trees,

Or whether you should zoom in a bit,

And perhaps paint the village,

And paint the fields closer to the village,

And maybe cut out most of the sky,

Or maybe you should pick the unusual looking tree in the foreground,

And paint the tree,

And have the background made less important,

So that it draws the eye to the tree,

Or perhaps you should paint in a different style,

Maybe painting more abstract,

Perhaps taking the key shapes of the different things you can see,

And painting those shapes,

Maybe even painting each individual shape with a bold and different colour,

Perhaps you could paint a silhouette of the scene before you,

Highlighting the contrast between the ground and the sky,

And the shape made by the hills,

And you think of all the different ways you can approach this scene,

The different artistic decisions you can make,

And you know that this is one of the things you enjoy about art,

But at the same time you're aware that it's good for people to have a distinct style that's their way of painting or doing artwork,

And that although you like the flexibility to vary what you do,

To try different things,

What helps is to make things more consistent,

But you feel a slight sense of stifling your artwork,

By making things consistent,

By giving everything the same type of style,

You like the idea of looking at a scene and thinking what can I try this time,

And feeling a sense of challenge and accomplishment at trying something new,

And it doesn't necessarily always work out,

But you know that you had fun,

And you learned something from the experience,

And while you're overthinking this experience,

Overthinking how you should begin,

A dog runs up to you and starts sniffing at your leg,

And seems to want a cuddle or a stroke jumping up at your leg,

And so you pet it's head,

And as you pet it's head you see it's owner walking along in your direction,

And the owner walks over towards you and asks what you're doing,

And you explain what you're doing and that you haven't started yet,

You're still trying to decide exactly how to portray the scene,

And what parts of the scene would be best to focus on,

And you explain the challenge of the expectation to stick to a style,

When you'd quite like to be trying different things,

And the person says but isn't it creative and a challenge,

To try to think how you can portray something within your style,

That they remember someone teaching years ago on a photography course,

How bad photographers chase down photos,

Good photographers find a location,

Plant a tripod,

Prepare for the photo they're going to capture,

And they work how they can capture that photo in that location,

And sometimes it doesn't work out and the photo never happens,

But most of the time it means they capture a photo that would otherwise have been missed,

Through trying to capture everything,

And you realise that they're not talking about exactly your situation,

But you can understand how it relates,

And they wish you well and carry on walking their dog,

Whistling for their dog as the dog bounds towards them and follows,

And you begin to do your painting,

And you paint in your style,

Capturing and putting on canvas,

What that scene means to you within your style,

And you spend the rest of the afternoon after painting,

Sitting just inside the tent,

Eating some food at the picnic blanket,

With that painting drying just inside the tent,

Out of any breeze,

Any debris that may land on the canvas,

And at the end of the day you pack everything away,

And you head back home,

Still thinking about what that walker had said,

And about the importance that has to you and your painting,

And that they're right,

That you can find ways to be creative within one's style,

And that to be able to do that takes more creativity than to just do something different each and every time,

And you head home and that night,

You think about where you're going to go for the next visit out,

To do painting,

As you drift and float so peacefully and so relaxed asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether you're going to drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you drift asleep,

You can have a sense of drifting into a dream,

And while you drift into this dream,

You can find yourself dreaming about walking through a magical woodland,

And as you walk through this magical woodland,

You know that it's magical,

Because as the leaves in the trees blow in the breeze,

You can notice what looks almost like fairy dust,

And hear the sounds of ringing bells and sparkling,

Coming down and descending from the treetops,

You can see fairies flying between the trees,

Their wings glowing in the darkness,

Leaving trails of sparkling light as they fly,

You can see the way that each footstep that you take,

Leaves an imprint of purple glowing ground,

That gradually fades,

A little while after the footprint was made,

And you continue walking deeper and deeper into this magical woodland,

And deep in this magical woodland,

You discover the strangest of huts,

It's a hut that looks like it's built with a giant mushroom top,

And a tree trunk for its base,

And a door and some cut in windows,

And you knock on the door,

And a wizard wearing purple opens the door,

And invites you in,

And you walk in to this hut,

And inside this hut,

The wizard offers you a seat,

So you take the seat and sit down,

And the wizard goes to a shelf,

Picks a large book off the shelf,

And sits down beside you,

And the wizard says I'm going to share a spell with you,

It's the spell of good fortune,

And they open the book,

And they turn to a certain page,

And they say sit quietly,

Close your eyes,

And listen to me recite this spell,

And so you sit quietly,

You close your eyes,

You shift a little to get comfortable,

And the wizard begins to recite the spell,

And they start to say that as you walk around,

So you can notice what isn't seen,

And you won't know you've noticed what it is you didn't normally notice,

You'll just discover that when it occurs,

And opportunities are around every corner and under every rock,

And sometimes what's not an opportunity is,

You just don't know it yet,

And you can listen to me and understand every word,

In a way that's unique to you,

And your eyes can be open,

Looking for opportunity,

Looking for the unseen,

With the mind responding with positivity,

And how can we do that,

And what can we do,

And what was I pleased to notice,

And a general focus,

On what can be gained rather than on what is lost,

And the wizard continued,

And it isn't about dismissing what is lost,

And dismissing challenges,

It's about acknowledging these,

And looking for better,

Knowing what can't be changed,

And focusing on what can,

And discovering things where they're normally out of sight,

And that others often miss,

And on the count of one,

This can be set in your mind with this spell,

Because this is the spell of the wizard,

And it can be set in mind and always kept in mind,

On five,

Four,

Three,

The wizard counted down,

Two,

One,

Now,

Now,

One,

That's it,

All the way,

And then the wizard could be heard carefully closing their book,

And then they watched for a while,

Observing your movements,

Your breathing,

The way you continue to drift deeper and deeper into the experience,

So easily and so effortlessly,

And after a while,

They saw that your shoulders were beginning to move,

That your breathing had changed,

They welcomed you back to this hut,

And they offered you a drink and a bit of food,

And you accepted,

Slightly confused at the experience you had just had,

And they continued to distract you for a while,

Stating there's no need for you to focus on any of that old stuff,

It'll just happen by itself perfectly fine,

And after some food and drink,

You left that hut and walked back through the magical woods,

And while walking through the magical woods,

A part of your mind was wondering while you were wandering,

About the experience you had just had,

And you drifted back from those magical woods,

As you then continued your journey deeper and deeper relaxed asleep,

Passing from your dreaming sleep,

Into the next stage of sleep,

And then on to a long period of comfortable,

Deep,

Relaxing sleep,

So deep,

So comfortable,

So relaxing and restorative on your body and your mind,

Drifting and floating deeply,

And profoundly asleep,

Easily and effortlessly,

Knowing that you'll fall asleep and remain asleep all night long,

Knowing that you'll awaken in the morning,

Feeling deeply relaxed,

Alert and full of energy,

Having had a night of recuperative healing sleep,

That can increase and improve with each night's sleep,

As you drift and float and relax asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably drift asleep,

You can have a sense of sitting on a porch in a rocking chair,

And it's a porch overlooking some beautiful farmland on a warm summer's day,

And as you rock in that rocking chair on that porch,

You can hear the breeze occasionally making wind chimes chime,

You can see the sheep in the field eating the grass,

You can look over the distant hills,

You can see birds flying in the sky,

And hear the sounds of their call and their song,

See the occasional bird of prey circling overhead,

Some rabbits munching on some grass near their rabbit holes in a field,

And two horses in a field,

One sitting down,

Resting on the ground,

The other eating while standing up,

And you just rock on that rocking chair on that porch,

You can hear the slight squeaking sound of the rocking chair as it moves on the wooden porch,

And feel that breeze on your face,

And as you rock in the rocking chair,

So,

It begins to relax you,

And as you begin to comfortably relax,

You feel that sense of it almost being like being rocked gently to sleep as a child,

You feel a deep sense of peace,

Of comfort and relaxation,

And the rocking chair continues to rock almost automatically,

With you barely noticing that it's only rocking because of you and your movements,

Your very subtle movements of body weight backwards and forwards,

Sitting in that chair,

And as you gently rock in that chair,

So you drift into a pleasant reverie,

And in that pleasant reverie,

You imagine yourself walking over to the horses,

And one of those horses coming over to you,

And you pet the horse,

You rub the horse's neck,

And pat the horse's neck,

Before climbing onto the horse,

And riding bareback on that horse,

Out from the field,

Down a country path,

Only as you leave the farm land,

Down that path,

Instead of what is usually there,

You see a portal,

And the horse rides through that portal,

And the other side of the portal,

You find yourself in some strange fantasy land,

With really tall trees,

With purple leaves and yellow trunks,

With strange looking orange grass waving and moving with the wind on this land,

And you continue to explore with your horse,

And as you continue,

You see what looks like a zebra,

Except it has these incredibly tiny wings in the centre of its back,

Almost like the wings of a butterfly,

And it rapidly flaps those wings,

And lifts up off the ground and flies through the air,

Looking impossible,

And yet there it is,

Flying with its legs dangling beneath it,

With those tiny wings lifting the entire body of the zebra,

And you see what look almost like little elephants,

About the size of a pig,

With their long trunks,

But with tiny ears,

And you see all sorts of strange and wonderful creatures here,

And you continue riding through this land,

Looking around at what you can see,

Curious where here is,

And as you continue to explore,

You suddenly notice in the sky,

What at first just looks like a bird,

But as it gets closer,

You realise that it's another impossible looking creature,

That looks like a sea lion with wings,

Almost like it has wings of an eagle,

And it flies down and swoops down near you,

Before landing on the ground,

Pulling its wings in,

Tucking its wings behind its back,

And then waddling along the ground,

Just like a sea lion,

And you continue to explore the strange creatures here in this land,

Enjoying this unusual dream,

But as you continue exploring the land,

So you discover that the horse that you are riding on,

Has begun to change from a horse,

To something a little more unusual,

That it now looks more like,

A cat with flippers,

As it's bouncing its way along,

A little bit like a sea lion,

But with a cat's face,

And a cat's tail,

And cat's fur,

And meowing,

And purring when you scratch behind its ear,

And it heads down to the coast,

And as the waves lap onto the shore,

So they glow with a pink light,

And as the sun sets,

And that pink glow illuminates the shoreline,

The cat with flippers,

Jumps into the water,

And instantly seems to be more comfortable,

Swimming on the surface of the water,

And you can feel your legs,

And your torso under the water,

As you hold onto the back of that cat,

As it swims across the surface,

Bounding over waves,

Before leaping up out of the water,

And as it does,

It seems to turn,

Into a creature a bit like a cat,

A bit like an eagle,

And turns around and begins to fly back in the direction you came,

And as it approaches that portal again,

The eagle like creature you're now flying on,

Dives back down again,

Towards the path,

Towards that portal,

And as it passes through the portal,

So it turns back into that horse,

And you find yourself trotting out of the portal,

On the horse,

Just the way you went in,

And you ride bareback back to the field,

Place the horse back in the field,

Before walking back to that rocking chair,

And as you rest back down in that rocking chair,

So you wake up in the rocking chair on the porch,

You notice the sun's beginning to set,

So you head inside,

You have yourself something to eat,

You relax for the evening before heading to bed,

And drifting and floating so peacefully,

So comfortably asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to relax,

I don't know whether you'll relax deeper to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you continue to comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And it's a sleep story about finding yourself,

Hacking your way through a forest,

And as you hack through that forest,

You're heading to some magical mountains,

And you're on a quest,

And unsure what you're going to find,

And after a while of hacking through this forest,

You can notice it's beginning to get dark,

So you set up a camp in the trees,

Attaching a tent between multiple trees,

And camping in that tent for the night,

And while you drift and float asleep,

So you can hear all of the forest sounds around you,

And the next day you head off from your camp,

Packing away the camp,

Continuing to hack through the forest,

Working your way in the direction of the mountains,

And when you arrive at the mountains,

You gaze up at those mountains,

And you can see how high they are,

As you go covering the tops of the mountains,

You can see how high the trees go up the mountains,

And you begin to ascend the mountains,

You climb higher and higher,

Following a path up the mountains,

Sometimes having to make your own path,

Until eventually you get to a fabled path that you've been searching for,

And you follow this fabled path,

And you're hunting for a specific cave here high in the mountains,

But when you reach where the entrance to the cave should be,

You notice that there just seems to be a cliff face,

And that the entire mountain here seems to be made of granite,

And you try and hack at this cliff face,

You can't see that anything was ever here,

And you don't know if there's anything behind this cliff face,

But no matter how hard you try to hack,

You're barely able to get through this incredibly strong granite face,

And you continue trying and trying,

Even as the sun begins to set,

And because the sun's beginning to set,

You decide to set up a camp here up in the mountains,

And you'll continue trying again in the morning,

And you eat some food by campfire,

As the wind picks up as night sets in,

You then head into your tent,

You wrap up warm in the tent,

And you can hear the tent bellowing in the wind,

And at first you struggle to fall asleep,

With the sounds of that bellowing wind,

And the sides of the tent shaking and vibrating in the wind,

But then you end up drifting and floating peacefully asleep,

But you're woken a few hours later,

With a noise outside the tent,

And it's an unusual sounding noise,

And you open the tent door,

Shine a light outside the tent,

Into the darkness,

And you see what looks like a tiny pixie,

Just stood there before you,

And this pixie says that they're here to help you,

To access this cave,

The cave you've been searching for,

That they've been watching over you,

Almost like a guardian angel,

For a very long time,

And they know why you're here,

And so they're here to help,

And you think to yourself that perhaps you're dreaming,

Maybe this is all in a dream,

But then you notice how bracing and cold the air is,

And that it doesn't feel like a dream,

And so you wrap up warm,

You leave the tent,

And the pixie doesn't seem phased by the weather,

And you explain to the pixie you can't get into a cave if there's one here,

Because it just seems to be incredibly hard solid granite,

And the pixie says that that's no problem for them,

And they touch that granite with their tiny little hand,

And the granite seems to start to dissolve,

Like heat on ice,

And the granite dissolves from the palm of the hand outwards,

Extending out and up,

And as it extends out and up,

It also dissolves forward,

Creating almost like a cone of dissolved granite,

That just seems to be disappearing,

Until after a few minutes,

The pixie has walked all the way through to the other side of this granite wall,

And they walk through into a chamber,

While the rest of the granite is still dissolving in that cone around them,

And then there seems to be a tunnel into this chamber,

And so they turn on a light,

Illuminating the chamber,

They walk around this chamber,

They head to the middle of the chamber,

Where they find a book,

And they pick up that book,

And they look at the pages of the book,

And they know that this is the book they've been looking for,

That it's a book of inner wisdom,

And universal truth,

And they start reading through that book,

And so you don't want to move this book from its location,

So you head back to your tent,

You grab a camera,

You grab a notepad,

You head back into that chamber,

You take some photographs in the chamber,

And of the book,

Before noting down what the book reveals,

Translating what you're reading,

As you read it,

And after translating that and writing it all down,

And learning the secrets you came here for,

The pixie said,

Well it's time to now go,

And so you leave the chamber,

With your camera and notepad,

You head back to the tent,

The pixie says they're always there,

Hiding in the background to be there for you,

And then the wind begins to settle down,

As you settle down in the tent,

And drift and float asleep,

And the next morning,

You awaken wondering whether it was all a dream,

You open your tent,

You gaze over at that granite wall,

And notice it looks unchanged from the night before,

It still looks as impenetrable as it's always been,

And you smile to yourself thinking it was all just a dream,

And you have yourself some breakfast here on the mountain,

Thinking about how you're going to get into the mountain,

And see if there's a pathway,

Or a cave the other side,

Of that granite wall,

You then head back into your tent,

And you notice on your notepad,

There's some writings,

And you recall the writings that you'd written,

And the notepad seems to contain those writings,

You wonder if somehow you'd written that while you slept,

While you were dreaming,

You decide to check your camera,

And when you check your camera,

You see that there are photos of the inside of the chamber,

Photos of that book,

And you realise it was all real,

And somehow the chamber had resealed overnight,

And so you pack everything away and descend the mountain,

Heading back through the forest,

All the way back the way you came,

All the way back home,

Knowing that you'll spend a long time analysing all these works,

Learning from these works,

And writing,

Extensively writing papers and books,

About what you've learned on this one expedition,

And that night,

You settle down in bed,

And you drift and float so peacefully,

So comfortably,

Asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to relax,

I don't know whether you'll relax deeper to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And you find yourself walking through a misty meadow,

And it's early in the morning,

And there's the most beautiful colours in the sky,

Of the sun gently rising over the horizon,

Shades of reds and oranges,

Leading in to the blue,

And that morning sunlight is illuminating,

The surface of that low lying fog,

And mist which is spread throughout the meadows and fields,

And as you walk through the meadows,

I know you can notice the way that the hills in the distance,

Almost seem layered,

As if they could have been placed in layers in a painting,

And as you gently walk along on this misty morning,

Drifting in your mind,

Enjoying the peace and tranquility,

Of a quiet early morning country walk,

You can see some cows in a distant field,

Walking through that mist,

The mist parting around their legs,

And swirling around those cows legs,

As if the weight of the atmosphere,

Is holding that mist to the ground,

But as the sun continues to rise in the sky,

So you can see the way that,

The mist begins to rise over the fields and the meadows,

The way that mist begins to clear and thin out,

And as it disperses,

So it leaves behind,

The glistening,

Twinkling,

Sparkling sight,

Of cobwebs across the grass,

With dots of dew caught in those cobwebs,

Twinkling and moving,

As the wind blows just that slightest of breezes,

And you know that even this will vanish,

In a little while as the sun continues to rise,

And you continue your walk through the meadows,

Following the footpath,

And the footpath begins to incline,

As you start to walk up a hill,

And it's just a gentle incline,

Still with meadows all around,

And fields beyond the meadows,

And as you walk up the hill,

So you get a better look around you,

Down there are the meadows,

The sparkling of the light across the grass,

The dissipating mist from the fields,

Cows in a field,

Sheep in a distant field,

The occasional moo from a cow,

Faintly in the background,

The occasional baa from sheep,

Just heard distantly,

As the sun continues to rise,

And you can begin to feel the warmth of that sun on your face,

As you continue this early morning country walk,

And as you reach the top of the hills,

You head to your favourite bench,

You sit down on that bench,

And you gaze out over the view,

The most spectacular countryside panorama,

Sun rising,

Light glistening,

The mist dispersing,

Revealing the most wondrous land,

You can see the distant village nestled among farmland and trees,

With the quaint church just poking slightly above those trees,

With its spire stretching up into the sky,

You can notice the sky getting bluer and brighter as the sun continues to rise,

And yet there currently aren't any clouds in the sky,

And the mist continues to clear and vanish,

And then the grass begins to dry,

And the sparkling begins to fade,

And as the angle of the sun gets steeper,

So you notice less reflecting of the grass and fields,

And the sun reaches an angle that catches a stream that runs off in the distance,

And from this vantage point you know you can see that for a little while,

Before the sun will continue rising higher,

And even this will no longer be visible,

And it's something you enjoy about these early morning walks,

As well as the fresh air and the early morning exercise,

Is the fact that you get to see a changing world,

You get to see these transient moments,

Some of which are repeated daily or most days,

But most of which you can only see when you're there in that moment,

The lighting,

Any level of mist or fog,

Is all something that can come together for one moment,

Before disappearing,

And so if you don't see it in that moment,

You may never see anything like it again,

And as you sit up here on this bench,

You close your eyes and you take some deep,

Comfortable,

Purposeful breaths,

To breathe in that fresh country air,

And after breathing in that fresh country air for a little while,

You begin your journey back home,

You descend those hills,

Slowly,

Carefully ambling down the hills,

Walking down those hills to the meadows and the fields,

And looking around you as you go,

Noticing,

You can now see butterflies,

You can now see bees flying from plant to plant,

You can see more birds flying in the air,

And flying into the fields,

You can see in the distance,

A couple of deer grazing in a field,

In a very watchful way,

And life has come out to make the most of this morning,

And you continue walking all the way back,

Through the meadows,

Admiring the nature around you,

Heading all the way home,

And arriving at home,

And settling down and drifting peacefully,

Into a comfortable meditation for a little while,

And then that evening,

Aware that you want to go for another country walk in the morning,

And that you do so whatever the weather,

And as often as you can,

You find yourself drifting and floating,

So peacefully,

So comfortably asleep,

Knowing that you'll awaken,

Feeling refreshed,

Revitalized in the morning,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether you'll fall asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And you find yourself walking down a quaint high street,

In a small little town,

And you're walking on a cobbled street,

And as you walk along this cobbled street,

You're gazing into the shop windows,

And you can see in the shop windows,

Shops with antiques,

Shops with handmade items,

And various different types of independent shops in this high street,

You can see that the high street,

Has a butcher's,

A baker's,

And other independent shops that say that they've been here for hundreds of years,

And walking down this high street,

Can feel a little bit like you've stepped back in time,

Seeing an age of long ago,

And just the presence of walking down this high street,

Can lead one's mind to wander,

And wonder about what life used to be like,

The types of people that used to walk down a high street like this,

How those people used to be dressed,

How they used to talk,

And as you walk down this high street,

So you encounter a woman who seems distressed,

And so you go over and you ask if everything is okay,

And is there anything you can do to help,

And the woman explains that she's lost her wedding ring,

And would you help her to find it,

And you agree that you'll help her to try to find the wedding ring,

And you ask her some questions about where she last saw the wedding ring,

And she says that she was walking along,

And as she was walking along,

She heard a clink,

The sound of something falling to the ground,

And so she stopped and looked around,

And she noticed that her wedding ring had fallen off her finger,

That occasionally it would come loose,

And she was on her way to get it resized,

So that this wouldn't happen,

And it just happened that her trip to get this problem solved,

Is the time that she seems to have actually lost the ring,

And she walks you to the location where she said she heard the ring hit the ground,

And she said that she had searched this area without any luck,

And you said that you would help,

And so you search the area too,

You see where she was walking,

You watch her walk so that you can get an idea of how she moves her arms,

Her hands,

You ask her if she was doing anything else as she was walking along,

And you ask her to recreate that,

But whatever she was doing,

Do it again,

So that you can get an idea of how her hands move when she's thinking exactly the same thing while walking,

And you see the way her hands swing and move as she walks,

Which can help to give an idea of where the ring fell,

It gives a range of locations for how it would have fallen to the ground,

The speed it would have been travelling as it hit the ground,

For example,

If it fell off while her arm was swinging forward,

Perhaps it could have hit the ground with more forward momentum,

Travelling further forward,

If it hit the ground as she was swinging her arm backwards,

Perhaps it would give a bit more backward momentum,

But then you're aware that even with that increased backward momentum,

She was walking forward,

And so you watch her walk to work out how much the forward momentum would cancel out the backward momentum,

Knowing that as the ring strikes the ground,

It would look from her perspective of moving forward,

Like it's striking the ground and moving backward,

But from a side-on view of her,

If it fell off in that way,

It would hit the ground,

But probably still bounce forward,

As it slows down,

So you have an area where you think is a good area to check,

For where the ring may have bounced with the energy that it contained,

And the directions it could have bounced in for its initial bounce,

And you know that the ground is uneven,

So it could have hit the ground and bounced off in any direction,

But you add a bit of range to your ideas,

So that you know that whatever direction it bounced,

It should be within that area,

And you know that this only happened a very short while ago,

And she's on her way to get the problem fixed,

And she's got an appointment at a very specific time,

So you want to try and help her to find that ring,

In time for her to make it to her appointment,

So this problem won't happen again,

And so you begin to examine the area that you feel the ring probably landed,

And as you examine that area,

You can't seem to find the ring anywhere,

But you do notice that there is a drain in this area,

And you suspect that perhaps the ring had fallen down the drain,

But you don't know how you can check down that drain to find out,

And you can't see down the drain,

It very quickly just becomes dark,

And so you try and have a think where that drain comes out,

And the drain doesn't seem to have much water in it,

It's a drain designed for when the streets get wet,

And so water flows down the drain and heads along the drain,

So if it has fallen down the drain,

It should be visible if only you could illuminate the inside of that drain,

And so you try and think how that could be possible,

And you follow the direction that the drain covers seem to take,

And you keep following them until eventually you reach an exit where it comes out near a stream,

And you see that there does appear to be just the very slightest trickle of water,

Not enough to reach that high up the sides,

And probably not even deep enough to barely cover the ring,

So if the ring is right in the centre of that little trickle of water,

You would still see it showing,

And so you head back along the street with an idea,

You head to a shop that sells some handmade craft items,

And various other items for creating craft,

You purchase a ball of string and some card,

And you purchase a little tea light,

And you head back to that drain,

And you lower the string into the drain,

Hoping that that light weight string will enter the water,

And that tiny trickle of water will be strong enough to pull that string all the way down the drain,

And you let that string unfurl,

And then you attach it to a stick so it's anchored in place,

And you rest that on the drain cover,

You then walk all the way down to the stream and you can see the end of the string,

Has been pulled all the way down to this point,

And you make a boat out of the cardboard,

You attach the front of this boat to the string,

And you place a tea light on the boat,

And you light that tea light,

And then you head back quickly to the drain,

And you begin to slowly reel in that string,

And you hope that the tea light remains illuminated,

And after a while you can see a faint glow beginning to appear in the drain,

And you continue to pull that closer and closer,

Until you can see the front of the boat and the tea light,

And the tea light is just so gently illuminating the space beneath this grate,

And although the light isn't very strong,

It's illuminating,

Glistening off the ring that you can see resting just down below this grate,

Half in that trickle of water and half out of it,

And so you cut the string,

You secure that bit of string in place to hold the tea light on that boat just where it is,

You attach a paper clip to the end of the string,

Pulling out a bit of that paper clip to almost make a hook,

And then you carefully unfurl that string off that stick down into that grate,

And you go fishing for that ring,

And you focus and have patience,

And it seems like it takes a long time,

But probably didn't take as long as it felt,

To manage to hook the ring with the paper clip,

And then lift that ring up carefully through the grate,

And return it to it's rightful owner,

Who's incredibly pleased with that returned ring,

And still has time to get to their appointment,

You then release the string with the boat,

And run along to try and beat that boat to the exit,

And get to the exit of that drain just as you see the boat following that trickle of water towards you,

And you pick up that boat,

Blow out the tea light,

And throw away the cardboard boat and the string,

And continue to explore this town,

Feeling pleased with being able to creatively help someone overcome a problem,

And that night,

Thinking about this,

And how you came up with that solution,

As you comfortably drift and float so peacefully asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether you'll fall asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably drift asleep,

You can have a sense of walking through the woods,

And as you walk through this woodland,

Aware of the sounds around you,

Aware of the sound of the crunching of random twigs beneath your feet,

Aware of the rustling of the leaves in the trees,

The occasional scampering of little forest animals,

You hear this noise in the distance,

And out of curiosity,

You begin to head toward this noise,

And as you search,

You discover a little creature sitting on a log,

And this little creature is crying,

And you walk over and you ask what's the matter,

And they explain that they're cupid,

And that they're supposed to be present at the moment that two people are due to fall in love,

And in that moment,

Their job is to fire their arrow at each of those people,

So that just in that moment,

The love arrows trigger that feeling of love between each person,

Just as they're looking at each other,

And they suddenly both realise they love each other,

But he failed in his most recent task,

That beyond the woodland,

There's a couple who are having a picnic,

And his job was to fire his love arrows into both of them just at the point in their picnic,

When they would make eye contact and realise they love each other,

And he managed to fire the arrow at one of them,

And just as he went to fire the arrow at the other one,

A bird of prey squawed overhead,

And it was unexpected,

And he flinched slightly,

And that slight flinch meant the love arrow passed straight by the other person,

Hitting the ground beyond the person,

And the fairy dust,

The magical dust that's released by the love arrows,

Didn't land on the other person,

So one of them looked into the eyes of the other,

They said,

I love you,

And the other one smiled,

And said thank you,

And then the first one felt embarrassed,

Like they'd spoken prematurely,

Like perhaps they shouldn't have said that they love this person,

And you offer to see if there's anything you can do to help,

And Cupid says that for every individual in any given moment,

He only has the one love arrow,

And so the love arrow for that individual missed and has been wasted,

So that doesn't mean that person can't fall in love,

But they now have to do it themselves,

Whereas Cupid's role is to make sure that the timing is just right between lovers,

So that when one says I love you,

The other one thinks I love you too,

And then replies with the same,

Rather than that awkward moment of the other person not being sure whether they're in love yet or not,

And if someone isn't in love,

Then the love arrow wouldn't do anything,

The magic just draws out what's already there into that moment,

It's kind of a catalyst for triggering the moment in the moment,

And so you say to Cupid,

So what you're telling me is that they both love each other,

You know that,

That's why you were sent to do this,

They know that,

It's just one of them doesn't know it yet,

They know it inside,

Just not in their mind,

They don't know whether they can commit yet,

And that that will happen at some point,

It's just not clear now when and whether the other one,

Whether that other person will be in the same place when that occurs,

Or whether this could cause problems by them both not being on the same page at the same time,

And so you say to Cupid,

So does that mean that if I could help them to be on the same page right now,

Then they would be on the same page,

And Cupid says yes,

If you can help them,

There's still time for the one who never said it,

To realise it and say it,

But I can't do it with magic,

And so you continue walking through the woods,

You head out into the clearing,

Out into the meadows,

You can see that couple sitting up on the bank in the meadow on a picnic blanket,

And they're laughing and enjoying their picnic,

And Cupid points out which one has said I love you,

And which one is yet to do so,

And as you walk past,

You say hello and you introduce yourself,

And although you don't normally do this,

You stop and engage in conversation with them,

And you ask them why they're here,

Is this somewhere they regularly come,

And just have some small talk to open up that conversation,

And then you start asking,

Stating that they seem like a really nice couple,

How did they meet,

How did they end up together,

And you have them explaining that to you,

And you start directing more questions at the one who hasn't yet said I love you,

Asking about when they first noticed they wanted to be in a relationship with this person,

How did they know they wanted to be in a relationship with this person,

What does it feel like to want to be in a relationship with somebody,

How do you know you don't want to just go off and do something else,

What is it that they like about this person,

What is it they think this person likes about them,

And from asking all these kinds of questions,

This person begins to form this path of growing love,

And reach that realisation from the questions about potential loss of this person,

That that's what they really don't want,

That they suddenly realise I love this person,

I really don't want to lose them,

And through your questioning alone,

You guide this person to end up spontaneously and of their own accord,

Stating their love for the other one,

Once they realise that the other one had stated their love for them,

And as that happens,

So Cupid tells you that it's not able to be seen by you,

But sparkles are now coming off of both of them,

As the magic happens between them and they've fallen in love,

Declared their love for each other,

And so they will be able to move into the future on this new combined path,

And Cupid keeps out of sight,

And as the two of you then walk off,

You say goodbye and continue to walk through this meadow,

On this morning,

On this country walk,

And that night,

You drift asleep thinking about love and relationships,

And the ways people can communicate to enhance positivity,

Connection,

And curious about that couple's future,

And what they'll achieve together as you drift and float so peacefully,

So comfortably asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether you'll fall asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And you find yourself kayaking down a river,

And you have some belongings in your kayak for being able to camp on your journey,

And you'd set yourself the task of completing the length of this river across two days,

Some parts of the river are smooth and easy to navigate,

And other parts are rougher and take more experience,

And at the moment you're kayaking down a calm part of the river,

You can hear the oars as they push that water aside,

Propelling you forwards,

The occasional waves lapping onto the underside of the kayak,

Occasionally hearing the waves rustling reeds along the shore,

And lapping onto parts of the shore,

And hearing the sounds of birds and other wildlife around the river,

In the trees,

Some birds wading into the river,

Flying from the water,

Landing in the water,

And just enjoying your environment,

Feeling the warmth of the sun as you continue along this river,

Glad that it's a sunny day,

And that you're not giving this adventure a go in bad weather,

And for this leg of the journey you find it so easy and so effortless,

And you travel along mile after mile,

And while you continue mile after mile,

It's so easy that you find your mind wandering,

You find yourself starting to wonder about different things,

And almost shutting off from your external experience,

A little bit like the experience people can have on long car journeys,

Where the scenery barely changes,

There's barely much to engage their external attention,

And so people can experience something called highway hypnosis,

Where they can drift into their mind,

And their body goes into autopilot carrying on with the driving,

While almost shutting off conscious awareness to what you're doing,

As your awareness is focused elsewhere,

And then when you look back,

You wonder how you got from A to B,

And where the intervening bit of time went,

And this is kind of the experience that you start to have as you continue along this river,

But you want to be present and aware of where you're going and what you're doing,

So as this starts occurring,

So you pull over to the shore,

Climb out of the kayak,

Pull it up on the shore a little bit,

You set up a stool in a campfire,

You have yourself something to eat,

Then you place that stool back in your kayak,

You place a sheet down on the ground,

And you just lie back for a few moments on that sheet,

Just relaxing for a bit as your food goes down,

Closing your eyes from time to time,

Feeling the warmth of the sun on your face,

Listening to the nature sounds around you,

Before continuing your journey,

To make sure you're keeping time,

You have a certain point you want to reach before you settle down for the night,

And so you continue that journey,

And as you approach the point you want to settle down,

You notice how your kayak is beginning to speed up,

As the water is beginning to speed up,

And you're heading towards some rapids,

And as you arrive at those rapids,

You find that really helps to focus your attention,

And as you enter those rapids,

You lean back,

Juggling your weight to keep yourself upright,

Using your oar to control your descent through the rapids,

To gently steer,

Having to make just very fine adjustments,

To have quite a big effect on steering,

Feeling the spray from the water,

As your kayak splashes and moves around through that water,

Through those rapids,

Before eventually sliding out the bottom of the rapids,

Into smoother,

Calmer water,

And then over a short period of time,

That smooth,

Calm water slows down,

And doesn't give you such a kick of speed,

And it goes back to about the speed of the moving water,

The speed of the flowing water,

Like it was before approaching those rapids,

And you continue on for a little bit longer,

As the sun begins to set,

Before pulling over at the side of the river,

Dragging your boat up onto the shore,

Setting up a tent,

A fire,

Eating some food,

Putting out the fire and then settling down for the night,

And drifting,

Floating so peacefully asleep,

And the next day you awaken,

You eat some breakfast before packing everything away into your kayak,

You check that everything's okay,

That your kayak is okay,

You get back into that river and continue your final leg of this journey,

And you know that most of this journey will be calm,

Plain kayaking like the day before,

And that the hardest part of that will just be the duration,

The distance you'll be covering,

And the monotony,

But you get to enjoy the sights,

The surroundings,

Feel the warmth of the sun,

Hear the sounds of birds,

Of the water,

Smelling that fresh water as you continue on,

But similar to before,

As you approach near the end,

Are even steeper rapids that go on for longer,

And so for most of the journey,

You find it easy and effortless,

Just monotonous at times,

Finding yourself wanting to be lost in thought,

And from time to time pulling over,

So that you can sit and take a break,

And rest on the bank for a while before continuing,

And then you arrive at these rapids,

And it's like three waterfalls,

At a sharp angle,

And the first long rapid,

You make it down,

Weaving,

Steering your way,

Getting splashed from the water,

Striking stones,

Getting splashed from the water,

Striking boulders in the rapids,

And then just a moment of slight calm before hitting the next rapids,

And then the third largest drop,

Where it's almost vertical,

Although not that far,

It's just the steepest,

And so you make that large drop,

Carefully turning your kayak,

So that as it goes over,

It'll land just right in the water below,

So as not to be too much of a thud,

And so as to not run the risk of being turned over,

And you're really pleased that you've made it to the bottom,

You then continue that final bit of your journey,

You can see a small town ahead,

Which is where you're ending this trip down this river,

It's on the coast at the river mouth,

And so you continue all the way out of the river mouth,

And once out of the river mouth,

The water from the river naturally pushes you out even further,

You're unable to just cut sideways onto the beach,

Just under manpower alone,

And so you just go with it,

And allow the river water to push you a little way out to sea,

As you travel diagonally,

So that as you're travelling out,

Eventually you leave that push of the river water,

And then just follow the waves,

Almost surfing those waves back into the shore,

And then gliding up onto the beach,

Exiting your kayak,

And heading to the hotel that you're staying in here,

Where you're going to have a good night's sleep in a proper bed,

Before travelling home the next day,

And you rest down in that bed,

And you drift and float so peacefully,

So comfortably asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably drift asleep,

You can have a sense of walking through the most beautiful countryside,

And as you walk through this countryside,

You can enjoy the spring air,

And a part of you can think about this countryside,

And the differences in the types of countryside you can get,

That you can get countryside that's made up of meadows,

Perhaps barren landscapes,

But most of this countryside is made up of patchworks of fields,

And so you are walking through this countryside,

Walking along footpaths between fields,

Along the edges of fields,

Climbing over stiles,

And continuing through more fields,

And as you walk through this countryside,

So you stop at a field of sheep,

And you look at the lambs,

Hearing the sound they make when they're calling their mum,

Seeing some black lambs,

Some white lambs,

And those incredibly fluffy cloud-like sheep,

And noticing the way that many of them are huddled quite close together,

And the lambs are sticking close to their mums,

And you enjoy watching those sheep and those lambs for a little while,

Before continuing your walk,

You cross a stile,

And you follow a footpath,

Through a small tree-lined area,

Almost dividing one set of fields from another,

And through the centre of these trees runs a stream,

And you cross a small footbridge over that stream,

Before climbing over another stile,

Heading into the next set of fields,

And in this set of fields you can see,

Two sheep sleeping under a grand oak tree,

And a couple of sheep grazing,

But no lambs in this field yet,

And you continue on,

And walk along the edge of a field of cows,

Seeing about a dozen cows,

Resting on the grass,

Lying down on that grass,

And you think to yourself,

Are they all pointing the same direction?

You'd heard that cows often rest pointing in the same direction,

You think to yourself,

Do they anticipate rain,

Because they're sleeping,

Because they're lying down?

And you're unsure how accurate,

These beliefs are,

These sayings that people have,

But you watch those cows,

And notice a couple of them look up and over at you,

As you pass by,

As if to just check on you,

Make sure you're not a threat,

Almost the most minimal amount of effort to check on you possible,

Kind of like just opening an eye when you're trying to sleep,

Just appear and see what's going on,

Before closing the eye and falling back asleep again,

And so you continue through this field,

You exit over another style,

And continue on again into another field,

Into an empty field,

And then along the edge of a field of corn,

And a field of lavender,

Before eventually reaching a field of highland cattle,

And stopping for a while in fascination,

At how furry,

How hairy those cows are,

And admiring their horns,

And then one of them walks over near to you,

Comes alongside you,

And so you gently stroke its back,

Pat its neck,

And it looks like it has a fringe,

Like someone's given it a strange haircut,

And after your interaction with this highland cow,

You continue your walk,

Eventually reaching a point in this countryside walk,

Where the path splits in two and you have to make a decision,

Whether to head down the side of a field,

That leads up to the hills,

Or continue along in front of these fields,

Heading between one set of fields and another,

And you decide to head up onto the hill,

So you walk along the footpath,

Along the side of those fields,

To a point where the footpath starts to go uphill,

And as it starts to go uphill,

So you notice that at some point in time,

Someone has placed some sticks on the ground,

Almost like makeshift steps,

To help in case it's muddy,

So that you don't slide back down,

And so you walk up these makeshift steps,

These sticks that are embedded into the mud,

With even spacing,

And at the top,

You climb over another stile,

Before walking out,

Into an open space on top of the hill,

And in the middle of this open space on top of this hill,

Is a bench,

And so you sit down on that bench,

You eat yourself some lunch,

While admiring the view over the countryside,

Looking at the route you had taken,

Looking out over other routes you've got,

That you can take today or in the future,

Enjoying the idea that you can explore this countryside,

Taking many different routes,

Stopping,

Starting,

Anytime you want,

And how different it is at different times of the year,

But you notice that it's quite windy up here,

On this hill,

So after eating your lunch,

You continue walking along the hill for a little bit,

Before cutting down another path,

Between some fields,

And continuing your journey on through the countryside,

And then at the end of the day,

As you head to bed,

You think back on the trip out that morning,

On all the hours that you were out walking in the countryside,

On what you saw during your walk,

You think back on the time you spent,

On the different routes you could have taken,

And almost make a mental note of different routes you would like to take in the future,

To explore different areas,

And you think about how long it takes to walk the different sections,

And how you can make a decision to do a certain length of walk,

And then choose the route,

Based on how long you would like to be walking for,

And as you think all this,

You comfortably and peacefully drift,

And float,

Relaxed asleep,

So just take a moment to,

Allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether you will fall asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it will be to the spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And you're sitting in bed,

And you're reading a book,

And as you read,

So you can feel yourself beginning to drift off in your mind,

And you can feel that it probably won't be long before you start to fall comfortably asleep,

And you're reading a book,

And about an adventure hero,

And as you read about that adventure hero,

So your eyes are getting heavier,

And heavier,

And you notice how they really want to close,

But you continue to read that book,

And you're reading about this hero in a car chase,

But as you're reading,

Having just started this chapter,

You feel that it's becoming too much effort to keep your eyes open,

So you put a bookmark into that book,

You place that book beside you,

You snuggle down into your bed,

As you comfortably and relaxed begin to drift asleep,

And as you begin to drift comfortably asleep,

So your body begins to relax,

Your shoulders,

Your arms,

Your hands,

Around your neck,

Your face,

Around the top of your back,

Around your chest,

Down through your body,

All the way down to the tips of your toes,

Begins to comfortably relax as you drift deeply asleep,

And while you fall asleep,

So you become less aware of your surroundings,

And more aware of what's going on in your mind's eye,

And as you drift and float asleep,

So you begin to dream and you find yourself as that character,

In that car chase,

And you're swerving that car left and right between the traffic,

Following somebody on a motorbike,

And there finding it easier to evade you,

As you're having to find creative ways of keeping up with them on the bike,

And they turn into oncoming traffic,

And you sharply turn and skid and realign yourself into the oncoming traffic yourself,

And you're dodging and swerving,

Successfully navigating through that oncoming traffic,

And you can see as you approach a bridge,

That that bike passes onto the bridge,

And the bridge is rising up,

Moving up to allow a boat to pass through,

And the bike has managed to get onto the bridge,

Through the pedestrian section,

And is now heading towards the edge of that bridge,

And the barriers down,

But the bike goes straight through the barrier,

As the motorcyclist accelerates,

Leaping off the half of the bridge,

Almost seeming to go in slow motion,

Back wheel spinning,

Front wheel spinning slowly,

As they straighten up,

And land on the second half of the bridge,

And in your car you do a handbrake turn and you skid to a halt at the foot of the bridge,

Unable to get your car onto the bridge,

And uncertain that you'd be able to leap that gap that's ever expanding,

And you look from by the bridge as you watch that cyclist speeding off out of sight,

And you try and think how you can catch up,

And then you decide that there's no way you can make it over that bridge,

Or over the river,

Quick enough to be able to know exactly where that bike went,

But you're aware of what the bike looks like,

And you know the individual you are chasing,

So you know the opportunity will arise again to catch them,

And this was as far as you had got in reading that chapter,

Before you decided you were too tired and needed to sleep,

And so you don't know whether your brain would try and dream continuing beyond this point,

Or whether you would just drift deeper and more relaxed asleep,

And you find that now that you've reached the end of the bit of story you know,

The dream becomes more lucid and you have more control over yourself as that character in the dream,

And so you begin to walk along the edge of the river,

Along the road that heads down the edge of the river,

Looking to see if there's a way across,

And then you find yourself distracted by a light in the sky,

And so you walk towards that light,

And a helicopter comes in,

And as it's coming down towards the road,

So the traffic begins to stop at the sight of this helicopter lowering towards the road,

And it lands on the road,

And your partner shouts to get in,

And so you run to the helicopter keeping your head low,

You jump into that helicopter,

You put on a headset so you can communicate with the others in the helicopter,

And the helicopter lifts off and goes in the direction of the bike,

And from high up in the air,

You can see all the different lights of the cars and the motorbikes,

The street lights,

And you're looking for something that looks out of place,

And you see what looks like a fast moving single light weaving between the traffic,

You suspect that might be the cyclist,

So you head down in the helicopter to get a closer look,

But you still keep some distance,

And you recognize that it is the motorbike you're looking for,

And so in the helicopter you follow that motorbike keeping your distance high up in the sky,

So try not to alert it to your presence,

You see where that motorbike stops,

You see the cyclist get off the bike and head into a building,

And the helicopter lowers down towards the ground,

And there isn't space for it to get all the way to the ground,

So they throw a ladder off the edge of the helicopter,

You descend that ladder,

Dropping when you're near the ground,

Landing on the ground,

Carefully heading into that building,

You know back up is on its way,

And the helicopter will find somewhere nearby to land,

In a nearby park,

And some of those in the helicopter will come and join you as well,

You carefully head in and through that building,

Listening intensely for any sounds,

And are surprised how incredibly quiet this building is,

And it's dark in the building,

You don't turn any lights on,

And then you hear a noise,

And so you start to head towards that noise,

Like someone had accidentally kicked something on the ground,

Someone who was probably also trying to sneak within this building,

So you head towards that noise,

You find a partially open door,

You carefully open that door,

And as you do,

You see someone standing with their back to you,

On the other side of the room,

And they're about to try and sneak through a different door,

And as you walk into the room,

You swing the door open and shout freeze,

And the person stops,

Puts their hands up,

You tell them to remove the helmet,

And turn around very slowly,

And so they remove the helmet,

Throw it down onto the ground,

They begin to turn slowly around,

And as they turn to face you,

In a gasp,

You realise that you know them,

You realise that they're your lover,

That they're your partner,

And in shock,

You freeze for a moment,

Unsure what to do,

Having not expected it to be them,

Who you've been chasing all this time,

Wanting to know why they did what they did,

How they got involved in all of this,

Or whether maybe somehow you're mistaken,

And they're here for some innocent reason,

And before you can find out any more answers,

You find yourself drifting even deeper,

Sleep beyond rapid eye movement,

Dreaming sleep,

Through into deep recuperative sleep,

Drifting and floating so deeply,

So profoundly relaxed,

Asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep fast to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And you find yourself walking across the land of your ranch,

And you have this enormous amount of land,

And you have cattle that roams across the land,

And some of the land is very barren,

And other areas are far more lush,

Depending on the amount of water beneath the ground,

And you're working in some of the barren fields,

Trying to find out how to bring them more to life,

You know that the water isn't that far beneath the surface,

In the fields that are lush and green,

You even have a well on the edge of one of those fields,

Where you can get the water to place in troughs for the cows,

But other fields are incredibly barren,

And while you search those fields,

Looking to see if there's any water beneath the surface,

Perhaps any way that you could have a well in these areas,

That at worst would allow you to bring some water to the surface,

Which you could use to water these fields,

But you have a lot of land,

And so it takes a long time to search,

And some of the land is overgrown by the remnants of trees,

Many of the trees are now dead,

But still standing,

As dense clusters of branches sticking out the ground,

And you explore the land,

And one day while exploring,

Trying to give life to the barren areas of your land,

You notice a slight mound in one of the fields,

And as you're scanning the fields trying to find water beneath the surface,

That's close enough to the surface to access,

You pick up on your scan that it looks like there's a circle of stones,

And you're curious what it is,

And it doesn't seem like there's any water there,

It's just a circle of stones,

And so with curiosity,

You dig into that mound,

Digging down to those stones,

And digging around the stones,

And you notice that these stones seem to form a circle,

Like the top of a well,

But you know from your scan there's no water here,

And so you carefully excavate those stones,

Keeping them in place but carefully removing all of the dirt from around them,

Keeping some space around them in this mound,

So that you can excavate down as far as they go,

And once you've excavated around the outside,

Down enough that these stones seem to be poking up at about waist height,

You continue excavating the middle,

Excavating out the dirt in the middle of this stone circle,

And it definitely looks like it used to be some kind of a well,

And as you excavate the centre,

So you hit something strange,

It seems slightly sloshy dirt,

And you continue excavating,

And once you've excavated all the mud,

That slosh seems to still be there as water,

But you know that you scanned this area and there was no water here,

And so this is confusing that you're digging out that sloshy mud,

But instead of digging out the sloshy mud and being left with just a hollow space,

It's as if water must have been flowing into this location,

To replace what you were digging out,

So that once the mud was gone there was just this clean looking water,

And you take a sample of that water,

You test that water and find that it is perfectly fine,

It's healthy,

It's good to be able to drink,

But when you look into this well,

That seems to be here,

You realise it's not that deep,

That on the outside you've dug down,

So that the stones on the outside are about as high as your waist,

And on the inside you can see the bottom,

And see that it only goes down almost to your feet,

That there's no space beneath that for water to be here,

And you think it could be possible that somehow water was seeping up in that pot,

But you had scanned this whole area and there was no water,

Even scanning over this mound over the well,

But as you have this well of water that you've checked and found is clean,

You decide to use what little water there is here,

You take a bucket of water,

And you carry it over to the trough in this field,

And you pour that water into the trough,

Another bucket of water,

Carry it over,

Pour that into the trough,

And then another bucket of water,

And take that over and pour it into the trough,

But each time you return to that well,

It seems to be just as full as it always was,

And so you next begin to water this field,

And you use that well and you have a pump,

And you pump the water to some sprinklers,

Which you place spread throughout this field,

Watering this field,

And despite having sprinklers going all day,

The well still seems to be just as full,

And as the days turn into weeks,

Which turn into months,

You use that well to water all the barren fields,

You use that well to fill up the troughs each day,

And no matter what you do with that water,

The well remains just as full,

And seems to be almost like some magical well,

That just never seems to drain,

And so you get curious about this well,

And you start researching your land,

And you learn that the people who lived on this land centuries earlier,

Needed to deal with the landscape being barren,

And that there were some limited locations,

Where the water came near the surface,

And you could have wells dug down into that water,

But most of the landscape was barren,

And so a wise one in this area,

Had created this well,

And blessed this well to never run dry,

And that after they left the land,

Nature encroached as it does,

And covered over the well,

But the well was still there,

Just waiting to be found,

And pleased with knowing,

That you are now able to sustain this land,

And use that well sensibly,

To help yourself and others with neighbouring land,

You don't know how what that wise one did works,

But it seems to work,

And that helps to bring some peace of mind,

So when you drift and float asleep,

You fall asleep at night so easily,

So effortlessly and so comfortably,

Just drifting,

Floating asleep,

With curiosity about how the well works,

Whether you'll ever be able to find out,

And what that wise one had done,

Back then in the past,

Hundreds of years earlier,

To make that well,

And make it never run dry,

And feeling hopeful for the future,

You drift and float and fall so peacefully,

So relaxed asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And you find yourself walking through woodland,

And in the distance in this woodland,

You can hear a strange sound,

It sounds almost like singing,

Dancing,

But somehow different,

And as you continue through this woodland,

Following that sound,

You come out into what looks like a stone circle,

And in the middle of this stone circle,

You can see some woodland animals and some other animals,

Seeming to have a party here,

You can see a chicken playing the bongos,

A fox playing a guitar,

And a gerbil playing maracas,

And there's a hedgehog on drums,

And there are many other woodland creatures,

Dancing with each other,

Swinging each other around,

Clapping,

And it's the weirdest view,

But they're engaged so fully in their experience,

That they totally don't notice your presence,

And you watch for a while,

But then after a while,

Eventually one of them does notice you,

And the maraca playing gerbil alerts the others,

And everyone stops what they're doing,

And they all begin to look over at you,

And you hear in their little voice,

That gerbil telling the others they've got some experience with humans,

And that they'll deal with this,

And the little gerbil comes over to you,

Stands at your feet,

Looking all the way up at you up there,

And you rest down,

To be a bit closer to the gerbil,

You're still too high up,

So you rest down,

Almost lying on the ground,

And the gerbil comes up in front of you,

And asks you who you are,

Why you're here,

And you say you're just out for a walk in the woods,

You heard a noise,

So you came here to investigate,

But you are curious,

Why they're here,

And how they can be so alive,

Behaving in this way,

In a way that you've never seen animals behave before,

And the gerbil explains that,

It's part of mother nature,

That allows for animals,

To be more conscious and aware,

Than humans seem to realise,

But normally when noticed,

They go back to pretending to be,

How the humans expect them to be,

And it's more about not appearing to be a threat to humans,

And so the gerbil explains that,

You can join in the party if you want,

That this area of the woods is magical,

And so with curiosity you agree,

That you'd like to join in this strange party,

You'd like to get to know the other creatures,

You're surprised that they can talk with you,

And with that the owl comes over,

And off the owl's back jumps a fairy,

And this fairy says that,

They're one of mother nature's helpers,

And they can help you to be able to join in this party until midnight,

But at midnight you'll go back to being normal,

And at midnight all the animals will leave the party,

And they will seem just like you expect them to be,

And so you agree to this,

And this fairy waves their wand,

Sparkling light wraps from the wand around you,

And you feel this tingling sensation through your body,

As you shrink down to being a similar size to the different animals here,

And then the hedgehog starts playing the drums again,

And all the music starts up again,

And the gerbil gets the maracas out again,

And the party kicks off,

And you go and join in this party,

Enjoying this unusual experience of partying with a bunch of random animals,

That seem to have the intelligence of humans,

And as midnight approaches,

You wonder how you will know when it's exactly midnight,

What exactly will happen,

And exactly at midnight on this night,

The moon is at a certain point in the sky,

That its light passes down onto this stone circle,

And reflects into all the pillars around the stone circle,

And a silvery light envelops everything within the stone circle,

And that light seems to spin and twirl almost like a mist,

Rising up from the centre of the stone circle,

And as it clears,

So the animals scatter into the woods,

The instruments seem to disappear and just fade away,

And you find yourself back to your normal size,

Sitting on the ground in this stone circle all on your own,

And you sit there for a little while,

Curious about the experience,

Trying to make sense of the experience,

Wondering whether it was all just a dream because it seemed surreal,

And then you catch a glimpse in the distance,

Of that gerbil running into the woods,

And as it's running into the woods,

You're sure you can see it wiggling its bottom,

As if it's singing to itself in its mind,

Pretending in its mind that it's playing the maracas still,

And after all the animals have vanished,

You try and call upon that fairy,

And there's no answer and no sign of anything,

You know that no one would believe you if you told them what you'd seen,

This stone circle just seemed normal as it had always done,

Just a random bit of ruined stone circle,

Like any other dotting the countryside,

And so you headed back through the dark late night woodland,

Hearing woodland sounds,

As you cut through the woodland and headed home,

And once home,

While drifting and floating asleep,

You thought about the experience that you'd had,

How curious that experience was,

You tried to make sense of that experience,

And wondered whether you could ever recreate the experience or have that experience again,

Whether you may see those animals again and be able to interact with them,

And you're curious,

What the hamster was talking about when they said that they've done this before,

Talking with humans,

Interacting with humans,

Wondering whether there's other humans out there who maybe have encountered them themselves,

And as you think all this,

You drift and float,

So peacefully,

So comfortably,

Relaxed asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close,

Allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story,

About you finding yourself clearing out an attic,

And as you're clearing out this attic,

You're going through memorabilia,

And it's an attic of a loved one,

And you're going through looking at different items,

Seeing what to keep and what to throw away,

And certain things bring back certain memories,

And make you smile,

And while you're looking through all these items,

You see a curious box sitting over on a shelf in this attic,

And so you pick up that curious box,

You sit down cross-legged with the box in front of you,

And you stare at that box for a while,

Curious about what it may contain,

And after a little while of staring curiously at the box,

You decide the only way to find out is to actually open the box,

So you reach forward and you carefully open the lid,

As it creaks open,

And as you open that lid,

So you find inside that lid,

What looks like an amulet,

And you take that amulet,

And you hold it up into the air,

Trying to have a closer look,

Holding it up to the light of the window,

And as you look at that,

The light catches it,

And as it twirls slightly in the light,

So the beams of light coming off of it,

Seem to be dancing,

And then seem to be making a slight bubbling hissing sound,

And then a beam of light seems to be swirling on its own,

Opposite the direction of the window,

And then you hear a slight coughing sound,

And as you turn around,

You see something materialising in that beam of light,

And as it fully materialises,

So the beam fades away,

And you turn and face this person who has materialised,

And they comment on how dusty it was in that box,

That they've spent so long in that box,

And you don't know what to say,

And you're curious about the experience,

And they tell you that most people just call them the wise one,

And that they've been stuck in that amulet for an incredibly long time,

And you ask what they're doing here,

And they say that the sun shining on the amulet through the window,

Allowed them to travel on those rays of light,

To leave that amulet,

And you explain where you are,

And they say that many years ago,

They were friends with that person,

And then after they were no longer required,

And they were no longer working together on different adventures they used to go on,

They went to their respective homes,

And the wise one's home is inside the amulet,

And that to them,

It's almost timeless,

But it does get dusty if not looked after correctly,

And you ask what kind of adventures did they get up to,

And they say that they used to find all of the magical amulets,

They're travelling around the world searching those amulets down,

But not all of them are full of good magic,

And could fall into the wrong hands,

And so their job,

Was to use their power as the wise one,

The power of the amulet that they live in,

To locate the next amulet to track down,

And together they would hunt it down,

And this wise one sits there and tells stories,

Of adventures they used to have together,

Tells the stories of tracking down all of the amulets,

The ones that were tricky to find and access,

The ones that had gotten into the wrong hands,

And how they dealt with that,

And how on many occasions they'd saved the world,

With the world none the wiser,

At the risk that they had been at,

And that they had been saved,

And that that person was a true hero,

And they continue to tell these stories,

And then you ask,

So what of the future,

What happens to you now?

I know you exist,

I can't just have you go back into the amulet,

And sell the amulet or give the amulet away,

I can't throw the amulet away,

What happens now?

The wise one says that they can either live in the amulet,

Or perhaps be freed from the amulet,

To live a life of normality,

That there's not really much need for them to live in the amulet anymore,

That they're immortal,

So maybe they could find somewhere else to live,

But they'd have to be disconnected from the amulet,

Always drawn back to it,

And drawn back into it,

When it's time for them to depart where they are,

A bit like someone always being drawn back to their home every time they want to go to bed,

That they don't have to go to bed in their home,

But the difference is that someone can decide not to go to bed in their home,

Or they can make their home elsewhere,

Whereas they don't have that luxury,

And I explain that there's a witch in the forest,

That could help them to detach from the amulet,

And then they'd have the freedom to live where they want,

And how they want,

And not be tied to an amulet,

They can create their own home,

And so you agree to help,

And they head back into the amulet,

And you wear the amulet while heading off to the forest that they had named,

And as you walk into that deep dark forest,

You can hear the dull thud of each footstep that you take,

And the sounds of the creatures in the forest,

The rustling of the leaves,

The sounds of birds,

And after a long walk through the forest,

You encounter the ruins of a hut,

And you take the amulet off,

And the wise one appears before you,

And they say,

Ah this is the place,

And you comment on it just being ruins in the woods,

And they say no,

That's an illusion,

It just looks like ruins to you,

And the wise one waves a hand,

And as they do,

The most beautiful garden and cottage appear before you,

And tending to the plants in the garden,

Is a pretty woman,

And the wise one walks over and talks to this woman,

And you follow,

And the woman agrees to help,

And you get tasked with gathering up some specific items from the woods,

Some certain plants,

And so you head around gathering up those plants,

Before heading back to that cottage,

And the woman mixes up those plants,

Says some incantation over the bowl while stirring,

And some blue light and smoke rises and spins as she stirs and stirs,

And then she gets a spoon of this electric blue bubbling liquid,

And spoons it into a container,

Hands this little container to the wise one,

Who drinks the liquid,

And as they drink the liquid,

So that liquid seems to turn them blue,

From their mouth to their cheeks up to their head,

And then down through their body to the tips of their fingers and the tips of their toes,

And then a blue puff of smoke comes off of them,

And then they appear to look just like a human,

Looking perfectly fine,

And the woman says the spell is now done,

And the wise one is now free from the amulet,

They're free to go and make the life they want,

And they thank you for your help,

And they say that you should keep the amulet as a memory,

Of your loved one and of them,

And then they disappear,

And then the cottage seems to revert back to looking like ruins,

And you walk out through the forest,

Heading home,

Where as you think about the experience you've had,

You drift and float so peacefully,

So comfortably relaxed asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or be to the spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably fall asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And you find yourself out walking along a beach,

And as you walk along this beach,

You enjoy the sound of the sea rolling in on the shore,

The smell of the salty air,

The feeling of the sea breeze on your skin,

And you enjoy the sight of the sky,

Noticing what the clouds look like,

How they move in the sky,

And the sun,

What it feels like on your skin,

The sounds around you,

Of birds,

And other sounds,

And as you walk along this seafront,

You turn off and cut through some trees,

Which are along the coast,

Cutting from one beach through to another,

And as you cut through those trees,

You notice how magical this area looks,

And you notice the way sun's rays dance before you,

Through the canopy of the trees,

Like shards of light,

Dancing,

Illuminating dust in the air,

And while walking through and seeing the dancing light,

You hear an owl hooting in a tree,

And you stop and carefully look around to try and see the owl in the tree,

And you notice this most beautiful owl in the tree,

And it hoots again,

And it seems to almost silently glide down towards you,

And lands on a branch near you,

And then you get surprised because it seems to talk,

And you can understand it,

And it says the sun's rays dancing around you,

Are just lost loved ones,

Letting you know they're still there,

Watching over you,

And you feel a slight tingle down your spine,

At this realisation and this experience,

This encounter with this owl,

And that owl then just flies off,

And you continue through this bit of woodland,

Walking through the dancing rays of light,

Feeling those rays of light touching your skin,

As you walk through and out the other side of this small bit of woodland,

Back out into the sound of the sea rolling on the shore,

And you walk down onto that seashore,

And you head over to the location you want to sit on the seashore,

You rest on that location,

And feel your mind drifting and wandering,

As you gaze out to sea,

Watching the way the waves roll in,

Lapping on the shore,

Before pulling back out into the sea,

Just resting there,

Enjoying the warmth of the sun,

Thinking about the brief momentary experience you had,

Walking through those trees between one part of the beach and the next,

Curious about how surreal that moment felt,

But also wondering about the idea of the sunbeams,

And how that brought a smile and a warmth to your heart,

And after a little while,

You decide to have a little paddle in the sea,

So you walk down to the sea,

You wander gently into the sea,

Feeling the warm water lapping across your feet,

And walking a little further,

Feeling the waves as they pass over your ankles,

Over the lower part of your legs,

Before walking in far enough for the waves to be rising up and down around your waist,

And at this depth,

You lift your legs off the ground and you rest back in the water,

And you just lie there on your back,

Allowing your arms and legs to go loose and limp and relaxed,

Allowing your breathing to calm and relax,

Feeling a deep sense of peace and tranquility,

With your head resting back in the water,

Your ears just below the surface,

The feeling of the gentle tension of the water along the side of your face,

And the smell of the sea air,

Just bobbing gently up and down on those waves,

And then after a little while,

Heading back into the shore,

Sitting,

Reading a book for a little while on the shore,

Until it starts to get later in the day,

And so you begin your journey home,

And as you travel home,

So you think about the experiences from the day,

Thinking about swimming in the sea,

Just allowing yourself to float in the sea,

Resting on the beach,

Thinking about walking through the trees,

The idea of a talking owl,

And on arrival home,

You settle in,

And that night you head to bed,

And you continue to be thinking about your day,

About your experiences,

As you drift and float,

So peacefully,

So comfortably,

Asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And this sleep story is about you,

Wandering into a grand house,

And as you look around this grand house,

You walk in through the entrance,

You see a coat rack to one side,

A little table in the entrance hall to the other side,

A grand staircase leading upstairs,

And you walk along the corridor,

And you turn into the living room,

And you look around the living room,

You go and look at the pictures on the walls,

The clock on top of the mantelpiece above the fireplace,

The wall of books,

Taking a look at the spines of those books,

Perhaps pulling one of the books down and having a flick through it,

Before putting it back,

And sitting down in one of the comfortable chairs,

And you sit there and wait for your host to return,

And they invited you here to help them with something they had discovered in this house,

And they felt that maybe you'd be able to figure out what's going on,

And so you sit and wait,

And after a little while,

The host walks in with a smile on their face,

You stand up from a seat,

They put their hand out to shake,

You shake their hand,

They thank you for coming along,

And they say that they bought this house,

As seen,

A little while ago,

And they find that there's a lot of really interesting and unusual items through this house,

But the most unusual item is just off the back corridor,

And they show you through the house,

Cutting through the rooms,

From the living room to the dining room,

Through to a reception room,

Before cutting back into the hallway around the back of the house,

And in front of you,

In this hallway,

Is an ornate grandfather clock,

And it's ticking away with it's familiar regularity,

And the host describes how it may seem like a normal grandfather clock,

And when they moved in,

They just thought it was a nice piece in the corridor,

They didn't really think much more of it,

And then on their first night in this house,

They were awoken by a strange sound coming from downstairs,

So they headed down the stairs,

Following the sound,

And they noticed there was something unusual about this grandfather clock,

As it struck midnight,

And it's a little while from midnight yet,

So they ask if you would like to have something to eat,

Enjoy the evening before midnight arises,

That with regularity every midnight,

This grandfather clock does this unusual thing that they can't explain,

And so you enjoy the evening,

You eat a good meal,

You sit and talk in the living room with your host,

And then as midnight approaches,

Your host says let's stand up and let's walk through to the corridor,

And you both walk through to the corridor,

And in the corridor,

You stand and can see the grandfather clock approaching midnight,

And as the needle strikes midnight,

It makes a click and then a strange whirring sound happens,

And that whirring begins to come from the clock face,

And a blue light begins to spread out,

Almost in pulses,

And then a bubble of light begins to circle out from the grandfather clock,

A little way out into the corridor,

And the host and yourself are stood just back from where the light reaches,

And the host says that this is what they saw on the first night,

And they kept back and didn't know what was going on,

And tried to work it out,

And as soon as it strikes 12.

01,

This disappears and everything goes back to normal,

And they said that on the second night the same thing happened,

And the third night the same thing happened,

By the fourth night they were curious and wanted to know what was going on,

And so they prodded something into the circle of light,

And as they did so,

It was as if they were just pushing something forward in normal air,

And they retracted what they were prodding and they felt what they were prodding,

It didn't feel or seem any different,

And so on the fifth night,

They threw something into the circle,

And it didn't come out the other side of the circle as they expected,

And then exactly at 12.

01,

The object they threw in just fell to the floor,

But they don't know much more about it,

It was after that,

When they were thinking there is something strange going on here,

Something they really can't explain,

That they got you involved,

Because you're used to exploring strange phenomena,

And you think to yourself that this is incredibly strange phenomena,

Something you've never seen before,

And you see that it's approaching one minute past midnight,

And so you take a risk and decide to just step into the blue light,

And as you step into the blue light,

Suddenly the light seems to disappear,

And you can see around yourself,

You can see the host stood there motionless,

You can see the clock motionless,

Stuck between a tick and a tock,

And you look around you,

And you realize that time seems to have stood still,

That you can move,

But everything outside of you,

Everything outside this circle,

Seems to be stationary,

And so you walk around,

You walk to leave the circle,

And as you leave the circle,

You realize everything is still stationary,

But as you're leaving the circle,

So you can see back in the circle,

A scrunched up looking version of yourself,

Just inside the entrance to the circle,

Just where you stepped in,

And you walk around in the building,

And you take a closer look at this grandfather clock,

You open the grandfather clock up,

And you can see a pulsing purple column,

In the middle of the grandfather clock,

Almost as if that's what's powering this clock,

And you walk through the house,

You walk out of the house,

And you can see cars in the street,

People walking,

A bat mid-flight,

All frozen in time,

You explore all the way down the street,

You head down to the 24 hour shop,

And everyone in the 24 hour shop is frozen in place,

And you notice that it seems like the whole world has frozen,

And you head back,

You walk back to that clock,

And so you step back into that circle,

And you can see that figure looking like a shell of where you stepped in,

And then the clock strikes 1 minute past 12,

Time unfreezes,

And you realise that time wasn't necessarily frozen,

It was just travelling so incredibly slow,

That you could barely notice time passing,

Because the clock had managed to strike 1 minute past,

And from your perspective,

When everything was frozen,

That shouldn't have happened,

And so you explain to the host that when you walked into the circle,

Time seemed to stand still,

But you think it was just moving incredibly slowly,

That when they threw something into the circle,

It hovered in that circle with time running slow,

And because it was inanimate,

It didn't move itself around,

It stayed where it went when it was thrown into the circle,

And then as soon as the time hit 1 minute past,

It fell to the floor,

And you opened up the grandfather clock,

You showed off the workings of the clock,

And explained you think that this has somehow been made as a machine to stop time,

Or to at least slow time right down,

And the setting seems to be that every day at midnight,

It does so for 1 minute of clock time,

And you don't know how long pass is,

Of time for anyone who is within that frozen time,

And so you agree to stay for many more nights to explore this further,

One thing you observe on the next night,

When you enter that space a little sooner,

Is that you can't change the time,

You can't snap out of it,

If you go in sooner,

You end up spending even longer,

With everything around you seeming to be frozen,

And so you don't know the purpose and what it was used for,

To freeze at midnight,

Because there isn't a lot happening for you to decide to go and do at midnight,

But you spend many nights exploring this with the host,

Before leaving this house,

Having investigated as far as you feel is necessary for you,

Pleased to be heading home to your own bed,

Where you so comfortably and relaxed drift and float peacefully asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you fall comfortably asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And you're sat at home on a porch overlooking your back garden,

Gazing out over the most beautiful garden,

And you can see the flowers in the garden,

The butterflies and bees flying among those flowers,

The birds in the trees,

The sounds of the birds singing,

And you're sat on the porch in a chair,

Looking out over the garden,

While carving a wooden carving of an eagle,

And you're carefully carving that wooden eagle,

Carefully shaping its wings,

Its body,

Shaping its head,

Carefully carving its beak and its legs,

And you've been working on this carving for some time,

And as you finish carving this eagle,

So you're incredibly proud of how it looks like it's turned out,

And you place that carving down beside you,

Once complete,

And you like the smoothness of the carved wood,

And you just sit here enjoying,

Relaxing outside for a while on your porch,

Having finished that carving,

And then after a little while,

As tea time is approaching,

You take the carving inside,

And you have a spot on your bookcase,

That you've made available especially for this carving once finished,

And so you place that carving on the bookcase,

And you look at that carving and you're really proud of what you've done,

Of how it has turned out,

And while you're looking at that carving on your bookcase,

You notice a white glow seeming to emanate and form around the carving,

And you're taken aback a little by this unusual experience,

As that white glow begins to pulse and spreads out from the carving into the room,

And spreads out to you,

And then you notice some movement within that pulsing glow,

And in that movement,

You think you see the wings of the eagle beginning to flap and move,

And its head beginning to move,

And then as that pulsing calms down,

You see a living eagle standing on the shelf,

And you reach out tentatively to touch that eagle,

Partly out of curiosity and disbelief,

And partly just to stroke the eagle that's sitting there,

And as you touch the eagle,

So you almost feel like you get a shock through your body from your hand,

It seems to also be a bit of a psychic shock,

And it gives you a jolt like a white flash through your body and mind,

And as that white flash clears,

You notice that your hand is touching that carved wooden eagle on the shelf,

And you blink and rub your eyes,

Trying to make sense of the experience,

Sure that the eagle looked like it was alive a moment ago,

And you hear a voice in your mind telling you that you've just absorbed the spirit of the eagle,

And you're curious what that means,

And this voice in your mind tells you that by carving in that special wood,

By putting something of yourself into the wood in the carving that you did from your own imagination,

The creature you carved was to be your spirit animal,

That would be able to guide you,

And support you,

And give you additional skills for the future,

And you don't really understand what this means,

And that voice of that spirit eagle says that as an eagle and you absorbing the spirit eagle,

You've absorbed the ability to have intense focus,

To see details that others don't notice,

To be able to see the bigger picture,

And rise above what's going on below,

To have the ability to notice opportunities and strike when the opportunity arises,

If you wish to do so,

And the eagle shares what skills you have gained,

And you find this,

A strange sensation,

As you become aware that your brain seems to be thinking slightly differently,

That you are still you,

But you seem to be seeing the world clearer than you remember,

And in a slightly new way,

And with this thought,

You walk out into the back garden to get some fresh air,

And as you're getting some fresh air,

So the voice of the eagle says that it's time for them to evaporate,

To pass on,

To be fully absorbed into who you are,

And that they will now be a part of you,

And you realise from this point on that,

You suddenly have this increased ability to focus your awareness when you are carrying out tasks,

To be able to see the bigger picture,

When you're looking at situations and talking with people,

To be able to focus on that which is important to you in any one moment,

You seem to be able to have better ability at taking opportunities when they arise,

And you realise that carved eagle on your bookshelf,

As time goes on,

Is more precious and important than you would have realised it ever could have been,

And every day,

Even as the experience that you went through seems more like a distant dream,

That carved eagle on the bookshelf reminds you of how you developed these new skills,

And at night,

You settle down in bed,

And you find it easy to focus on drifting asleep,

And as you focus on drifting asleep,

So you peacefully and comfortably and deeply fall asleep,

Sleeping soundly all night long,

And awakening refreshed and revitalised in the morning,

Just drifting,

Floating,

Deeply and relaxed,

Asleep.

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to drift comfortably asleep,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably fall asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And it's a sleep story about finding yourself,

Motorcycling on a Harley Davidson,

And you're heading down America,

And you're travelling from state to state,

Going deeper and deeper down America,

And you're on a road trip on your own,

Enjoying the peace and solitude,

And as you travel down America,

So you experience the colder weather as you start travelling,

You travel along past lakes,

Mountains,

And you follow a predominantly straight road,

For as much of the journey as possible,

Taking the most direct route that you can take,

From your starting point down to where you plan on finishing,

And as you travel along,

So you encounter different environments,

You encounter hilly areas with not much around,

Where you can look in all directions and all you see are just hills of grass,

And different shades of greens and browns,

And very occasionally you encounter places to stop,

Refuel,

Perhaps grab a bite to eat,

Before continuing on,

Seeing very little else,

Other times you pull in to a small town,

And you see these small towns with just a few venues,

Occasionally stopping at the small towns to spend a night sleeping,

In a local hotel or bed and breakfast,

In a local hotel,

Before continuing on your journey,

And sometimes you'll skirt past large cities,

And you'll see them towering on the horizon,

Skyscrapers stretching up into the air,

Sometimes clouded nearer to the ground,

With just the towers raised up from your view,

And you'll continue your journey on,

Sometimes through incredibly flat land,

Where you can look in all directions and it seems almost perfectly flat,

All the way out to the horizon and beyond,

And you continue on,

Passing these dry and arid flat areas,

Passing in to dry and arid areas,

With hills and mountains,

Seeing small towns,

Stopping at some of those towns,

Refueling your bike,

And resting in hotels when you arrive at towns,

And sometimes there's nowhere to stop,

And so you just pull off the road,

Travel a little way off from the road,

Doing your best to tuck yourself out of sight of the road,

And setting up a tent,

Setting up a campfire in front of the tent,

Cooking up some food for yourself,

Before resting back and watching the most beautiful night sky overhead,

Seeing the dots of satellites carefully moving across the sky,

Seeing the bright dots of planets,

The multitude dots,

The multitude number of dots of,

The vast number of dots of stars twinkling in the sky overhead,

And occasionally noticing slight colour and almost like slight clouds in the sky among the stars,

Beyond the atmosphere,

And then the next morning having drifted and floated comfortably asleep,

And awoken to the sounds of nature,

You pack everything away and continue your journey,

And you continue your journey travelling down from state to state,

Travelling through the states,

And as you travel down through the states,

So you begin to encounter slightly more lush environments,

Sometimes travelling a little nearer to the coast as you continue travelling down through the states,

And seeing more vibrant life,

Plants and animals,

And different styles of houses and dwellings to live in,

And more lush grass and meadows,

Continuing that journey,

Until eventually you arrive at your destination,

On a beach in the south of America,

And you park up your Harley Davidson,

And you set up a tent on the beach,

Enjoying your first night at your final destination,

And as you rest in your tent,

Eating some food that you've made at the campfire,

You enjoy reviewing your trip,

Reviewing how far you've come,

The different environments you passed through,

The environments which were easier,

The environments which were more of a challenge,

And the plan is to deliver the bike the next day to its owner,

Having transported it all the way down America for them,

And then you'll be making a series of train journeys to head all the way back home,

All the way back to the top of America,

And those train journeys will give you plenty of chance to stop at different towns and cities,

Taking a little while to journey back,

Where you can enjoy the journey,

And so you drift asleep in that tent,

Listening to the sounds of the ocean,

The sounds of the water rolling onto the shore,

And the next day you deliver the bike to its owner,

And you get thanked and paid for your service,

Before enjoying your journey back home,

Travelling on a train from there to a town,

Making multiple train journeys and on arrival home,

You feel that pleasure of being away from home for a while,

And finally getting a chance to rest in your own bed,

And so once home you settle down in your bed,

You feel the comfort of settling down in your own bed,

And drifting and floating so deeply,

So comfortably,

And relaxed asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And you can find yourself rowing in a dinghy,

Down a river,

In a jungle,

And you can hear the jungle sounds of birds in the jungle,

Of monkeys in the jungle,

Of various other animals,

And perhaps you can feel a sense of how much more noise there is in the jungle,

Than perhaps at first you think,

And the sound of the river that you're travelling along,

And you can use the awe to paddle one side and then the other,

One side and then the other,

Travelling along this river deeper and deeper into the jungle,

In search of a lost civilisation that you've heard about that's here,

And in front of you on the floor of the dinghy,

You have a map open and you keep looking down at the map just to check your location,

And then you have a compass resting on that map,

That helps you to make sure that you're following the right parts of this river,

Because the river occasionally splits into more parts following different routes,

And sometimes has bits which veer off at sharp angles,

And other times has bits which weave around before getting back one direction,

And so you want to make sure that you keep following just the right bits of river,

And you can feel the warmth of the sun out here in the river,

Where you don't have the protection of the shade of the trees,

And after a while you reach a point where you feel that you can pull in to the shore,

And make the rest of the journey on foot,

And so you pull your dinghy in over to the shore,

Climb off the front of the dinghy,

Pull it up onto the shore,

And you tie the front of it to a tree,

You then take your backpack out of the dinghy,

Gather up the map and the compass,

You place them in your pocket,

And you begin to hack your way through this dense jungle,

And it's hot and hard work as you hack your way through,

And after some time of hacking and slashing your way through this dense jungle,

You stop briefly for a break,

And you clear a space on the ground so you can place somewhere to sit,

And you sit and take a break for a little while,

Catch your breath,

And just close your eyes and listen to the jungle around you for a moment,

And begin to just breathe and relax,

Breathe and relax,

And after doing that,

You pack everything away and continue your journey,

Heading deeper into the jungle,

Until eventually you arrive at a location that looks like there were once buildings here,

But now there's just ruins,

Almost totally overgrown by the jungle,

And you explore those ruins,

And there are trees growing on and out of ruins,

Roots encroached around ruins,

Crumbling through the ruins,

And among some of the roots,

You notice an entrance into what looks like it was once a temple,

And so you head down through those roots,

Turn on your torch,

And walk down to investigate,

And you follow some steps down,

Deeper and deeper under the ruins,

Until you reach what looks like a doorway,

And you open the door,

Walk through the door,

Finding yourself in a wider chamber,

And you see that this chamber looks like it has something that you can set on fire to illuminate the chamber,

And so using a lighter,

You set that on fire,

And down one side,

A row of flame spreads,

And you do the same down the other side,

And a row of flame spreads down that side,

And that flame illuminates this chamber,

And you walk into the chamber and through the chamber,

And as you get further into this chamber,

It begins to echo increasingly,

As it gets larger and larger,

And then it gets smaller and smaller,

Ending at a door,

And you open that door,

And it almost looks like daylight again,

And you can see grass and forest,

And a sky that's blue with clouds,

And yet you know you're deep underground,

And you can see a village in the middle of this chamber,

And as far as you can see,

This land just seems to go on and on in all directions,

And so you descend down towards the village,

You can see people interacting and seeming to work and be doing other jobs in this village,

As you head down to the village,

And you can hear them talking among themselves,

And you recognize the language as being an ancient language,

That very few people know many words of,

And at first,

The first person to spot you is surprised by your presence,

But then they welcome you,

They greet you incredibly friendly,

They invite you to a feast in your honor,

And that night here,

It seems to turn dark as if it's night time,

Except there's no stars in the sky,

And they hold a feast by firelight,

With dancing around the fire,

And sitting and eating food and drinking drink,

And then one of them comes over to talk to you,

And they seem quite senior here,

And they talk to you about this place,

And you ask them where this place is,

Why they're here,

And they explain that many generations ago,

A visitor arrived who told them that there was going to be a cataclysm,

And that they had to keep themselves safe from that cataclysm,

This visitor told them that they weren't supposed to interfere,

But they knew something that these people didn't know,

And they just couldn't ignore it,

And so using their advanced technology,

They created this location,

Deep under one of their temples,

And when the day came,

They were told they needed to go down into the temple,

Down into this location,

And some of them refused,

And said they didn't believe what was coming,

But many of them came down here,

And they don't know exactly what happened,

They were told that fire was going to come from the sky,

But when they went back to check,

A few days later,

To see what the world was like,

All they could see was fire,

And ash,

And the air was difficult to breathe,

And they thought it had been the end of the world,

And so they closed themselves off and they came here,

They didn't realise,

Until seeing you appear,

That it wasn't the end of the world,

That things changed and improved,

And they don't know when things changed and improved,

They just know that,

For generations,

No one has ever left this area,

They've continued to live here and have their community here,

Believing that here is safe,

And that the stories are that,

There's only death and destruction,

That it's not safe outside of this area,

And so they've never been and re-explored,

And so you explain what it's like out there,

And that they're probably talking about perhaps a comet,

Or an asteroid striking the planet,

Maybe striking this location,

And that for a period of time that would have caused fires,

And other problems locally,

But the planet has recovered from that,

But they've made this their home now,

And they say that they're happy with the way their community is going,

And you leave this location,

And you head back the way you came,

And you decide to not share the exact location with anyone,

As you leave,

And you think about how you'll write up your experiences,

And record your experiences,

And you head home,

And it's a long journey,

But once home,

You enjoy the experience of relaxing down in bed,

And drifting and floating so peacefully,

So comfortably asleep,

So just take a moment to,

Allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to relax,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And you find yourself in a hot air balloon,

And you're with a small group of people,

And you're all here just hovering above the British countryside,

Gazing down at the patchwork of fields,

And strips of trees,

And little clusters of trees on hilltops,

Small villages with churches near the centre,

Dotted among the hills,

Fields of sheep and cows,

And some fields of chickens,

And the occasional field with some horses,

And you can notice some fields with deer grazing,

And fields with large rolled up bales of hay,

You can notice as you hover silently above the British countryside,

The sight of fields of lavender,

With the smell wafting all the way up to you here,

In this hot air balloon,

Bright yellow fields,

Fields of sunflowers,

And you just drift and float,

In this hot air balloon high above the British countryside down there,

And occasionally the person flying the hot air balloon,

Will let some more hot air into the balloon,

Rising you up a little bit further,

As you look all the way out towards the horizon,

You can see the coastline,

And the distant horizon of the sea beyond the coastline,

The way the sun shines on the ocean,

Reflecting across the water,

The clouds still high above you,

Feeling the breeze of the air on your cheeks,

As you continue to drift so peacefully,

Calmly through the sky,

In the hot air balloon above that British countryside,

And while drifting through the air,

Being taken in the direction that the wind takes you,

You have this sense of this being,

A very trusting way of travelling,

That you take off,

And you've no idea exactly where you're going to be going,

Or where you're going to be landing,

A lot of it comes down to trusting the weather,

To take you to where you'd like to go,

And it's also a pleasantly slow experience,

Drifting through the sky,

Just adding hot air to continue that drifting,

And then when the time is right,

They stop releasing hot air into the balloon,

And gradually the balloon begins to descend,

And they release some of the air from the balloon,

Increasing its descent,

To help it to aim to a specific location in a field,

And it descends at a comfortable speed,

Until the basket so gently touches down in the field,

And you exit that basket,

And a vehicle turns up to collect you,

And takes you back to a specific destination,

Where with the others who were on the same flight as you,

Get to have a drink and a small party,

And get to talk among yourselves,

About the experience,

To share photos you had taken,

Before at the end of the day you head off back home,

And once home you sit down and go through those photos,

And you choose the ones that look best,

And you look closely at those photos,

To see what you can see in them,

To see what you had a view of,

To see if there was anything that you missed,

While you were just snapping pictures,

And flying overhead so gracefully,

And after looking through those pictures,

Reminiscing about the experience you had that day,

You select some pictures that you would like to print off,

That you can keep and place on your memory wall,

A wall of photographs,

Because you are aware that many people nowadays,

Take photographs,

And they just sit on a computer or a memory card,

And so from time to time,

You like to turn some of those photographs,

Into real printed photographs,

That you add to your memory wall,

That just shares a couple of photos from different key memories,

Each year,

So that you can look at it,

And glance back over memories from this year,

Glance back over positive memories from the previous years,

All the way back to your childhood,

All photographs that bring a smile to your face,

And so you add those photos to your photograph wall,

To that memory wall,

And then you enjoy an evening meal,

Enjoy relaxing in an evening in the living room,

In the most comfortable chair,

And then going out and sitting in the back garden,

Just for a little bit before bed,

To get some fresh air,

To gaze up at the night sky,

Breathing in that fresh air,

As you just watch those stars,

Twinkling in the sky,

As you gaze up,

Looking out for any shooting stars,

That you can make a wish by,

And then after a little while,

Of enjoying the view,

Of breathing in the most relaxing way,

To help you to,

Be in the right frame of mind and body,

For comfortably drifting asleep,

You then head indoors,

You go up to your bedroom,

You settle down in bed,

And you comfortably and relaxed,

Begin to drift and float asleep,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

So you have that feeling of flying and floating,

Almost like,

You're flying and floating in a hot air balloon,

But without the hot air balloon,

Just drifting and floating through the sky,

Through the clouds,

Observing that land below,

And you allow those thoughts to just absorb you,

While you continue drifting deeper,

And more relaxed,

Peacefully,

And deeply,

Asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep,

Faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably fall asleep,

I'm just going to tell this story about,

You finding yourself,

Walking along,

Through a town centre,

And in the distance you can hear some circus music,

And so you walk towards that circus music sound,

To investigate what's going on there,

And you walk down the road past shops,

Hearing the sounds of people mumbling around you,

The sounds of coffee machines as you pass coffee shops,

Continuing to walk,

Hearing people talking outside cafes,

Sitting on the street,

And then you turn off this street,

Down a quieter street,

Where you can hear the circus music,

Increasing in volume,

And at the end of this street in the field down there,

You can see a large circus tent,

And you walk towards that circus tent,

And you see that tent in the field,

And you can see people walking around,

Walking to stands,

Different stools,

Different activities to do in this area,

But the thing that stands out most is that circus tent,

And you walk along,

Into that area,

Walking past coconut shies,

Walking past a very basic roller coaster,

And a couple of other rides,

Walking past a hook a duck pond,

And continuing to explore this area,

And a part of it brings back memories of childhood,

As you walk around to the entrance to the circus tent,

And the sound of the music is coming from the tent,

Playing from speakers around the outside of the tent,

Almost as if it's supposed to draw people in,

And you head into the tent,

And it's quieter in the tent than outside of it,

And as you walk into the tent,

So it's been designed to look mysterious,

You walk down a corridor,

And on your left and on your right,

You can notice that there are mirrors,

That are distorted to distort how you look as you walk past them,

With one mirror stretching the image of you,

Making you look tall and skinny,

And the next mirror compressing you,

Making you look short and wider,

And the next mirror compressing the top half of you,

While leaving the bottom half of you normal,

And the next mirror,

Compressing the bottom half of you,

Leaving the top half normal,

And another mirror compressing the middle of you,

While stretching the top and bottom,

Another mirror compressing the bottom and stretching the top,

Another mirror,

Compressing the top and stretching the bottom,

And you spend a few moments looking at yourself in the different mirrors,

Bending your legs and bobbing yourself up and down in front of the mirrors,

To see what you look like,

As you stretch up and down across the range of the mirror,

And you step back and you step forward and you tilt left and you tilt right,

You put your arms out,

You stretch your arms up,

You put your arms down beside you,

And then you continue walking on beyond those mirrors,

And it appears that the entrance to the tent is made up of a mirror maze,

And so you go from one set of mirrors to another,

And you walk into this mirror maze and you very carefully begin to walk through this maze,

Holding your hands slightly out in front of you,

And you imagine it should be easy to know when you're about to hit a pane of glass,

Or a mirror,

Because it should stand out,

You should recognise it as being there,

But you discover that it's harder than it seems,

And so you carefully navigate your way round this mirror maze,

Occasionally bumping into walls,

And having to turn around,

Find your way back out,

Navigate around a bit further,

And you can see in the distance a couple of other people much further on than you are,

Who are working their way through this maze,

And after a while you exit the maze,

And as you exit,

So there's a circus performer who greets you,

And says that they're going to take you on a circus assault course,

And that this is a free experience to help you to recapture the joy of childhood,

And they support you in walking along a narrow log,

Balancing on that log,

And while you're balancing on that log they teach you about balance,

They teach you how to use your arms and your legs,

And at the end of the log you have to step up onto a post,

And then walk along a wire,

And you have to put those balancing skills to good use,

Walking slowly and carefully balancing on that wire,

And then they have a trampoline,

And you have to jump down on the trampoline and up,

Onto a foam mat the other side of the trampoline,

And so you jump off the post,

Bounce on the trampoline and land on that mat,

And walk along the mat,

And that mat takes you to a large long spinning log,

That's covered in foam,

And you have to carefully walk along that spinning log,

That's just spinning very slowly,

And so you balance as you walk along that spinning log,

And then descend the other side,

And then to get through the door,

You have to pick up a custard pie,

And throw it to hit a large red button on the wall,

And you have three throws of custard pies before managing to strike that button,

Square on the centre,

Opening the door,

To a sound of success,

And the door opens,

You walk through,

And you don't know what to expect,

You've just gone with the flow,

Absorbed in what you're doing,

And then in this room,

There's a circus performer who says that they're going to teach you to juggle,

And they hand you some balls,

And they tell you to throw one ball in the air,

Catch it in the other hand,

Throw it in the air,

Catch it in the other hand,

And just get used to throwing it up roughly at eye level,

Letting it fall down so it arches over and lands in the other hand,

Then they give you a second ball and tell you to throw one in the air,

And as it's falling to the other hand,

Throw the ball from the other hand across to that hand,

And so you do this a few times,

Throwing a ball in the air,

And before it reaches the other hand,

You throw the ball from the other hand,

And catch it in the opposite hand,

Throwing it acrosswards,

And they tell you to do three balls,

Throw one in the air,

And while it's in the air,

As it's approaching its peak,

Throw one across to the other hand,

From the hand that's got just one ball in,

And then as that's travelling to the hand that's still got a ball in,

While the ball is falling from the air down to your hand that you've just released the ball from,

Throw the other ball up into the air,

And while that's falling down to your hand,

The other ball will have reached your hand,

And so you can throw it across,

And so you start with two balls in one hand,

And when one ball is approaching the apex of the throw,

The hand that ball's heading down towards,

You throw the ball from that hand over to the other hand,

But then because there's already a ball in that hand,

You throw that second ball up into the air,

Just as the first ball has reached the apex,

So that that ball then reaches the apex as the other ball reaches the first hand,

As the ball that was in that first hand travels to the opposite hand,

And they tell you that once you've thought about this for a few moments,

Just forget thinking about it,

And just do instead of thinking,

Just keeping those balls moving,

And it takes a few goes and a bit of practice,

But you end up deeply pleased with yourself,

As you grasp the process of juggling and you find that when you try to give it too much conscious attention,

Your hands don't seem to know what to do and you drop the balls,

Whereas when you're just observing those hands doing their job,

Those hands seem to do a perfectly good job of throwing those balls and juggling three balls in that way,

And that evening,

After you've spent some time roaming around the circus tent,

Learning different circus skills,

All taught to bring fun to people,

You practice a bit of juggling at home,

Bringing a smile to your face before heading to bed,

And drifting and floating so peacefully,

So comfortably and deeply relaxed asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether you'll fall asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And you wake up one morning,

Having had the most incredible night's sleep,

And it's a night's sleep better than anything you've had in such a long time,

That you somehow managed to instinctively just happen to fall asleep,

The correct number of hours before you needed to wake up,

So that you went through all the stages of sleep,

In a first cycle,

And then you went through all the stages of sleep,

In a second cycle,

And a third cycle,

And a fourth cycle,

And you woke up at the end of the fifth cycle,

Rather than going to sleep at the wrong time,

And then when you wake up,

Waking up at the wrong point in your sleep cycle,

And so you hope that you're going to do this more often in the future,

Because you've woken up,

Almost bouncing out of bed,

Feeling so full of energy,

Feeling alert,

Revitalised,

Feeling fresh faced,

And looking forward to the day ahead,

And you head downstairs and you have some breakfast,

And you head outside,

And you decide to go for an early morning walk,

And you walk down the road and you turn into a park,

And you go for a brisk walk through the park,

Seeing others out walking,

Ambling along with their dogs,

Some people walking,

With children beside them,

Sometimes the children running off and playing,

Sometimes the dogs running off and playing,

And you can smell the fresh,

Clean morning air,

You can feel the sensation of breathing in that clean morning air,

In through your nostrils and out through your mouth,

Almost like it's being breathed in and filling your body,

With a pleasant,

Healing sensation,

And you find as you arrive back home,

That starting the day this way,

Having had a good night's sleep,

Seems to really help you to focus,

To see things clearly,

Seems to help your brain to work so much better and more efficiently,

As if your brain has been totally reset,

And you find this such an incredible sensation,

And you head off to work and something about that good night's sleep,

Means that any challenges,

For the commuting,

For the day at work,

Anything that would ordinarily have caused you stress,

It's like water off a duck's back,

It seems to just wash over you and be insignificant,

But when you're told something that you can learn from,

You take the learning,

But when things are unimportant,

It just seems to drift by,

And at the end of your work day,

You go and sit down by a river before you head home,

To make the most of the last of the daylight,

And as you sit down by the river,

You see some sticks just drifting along on that river,

So easily,

So effortlessly,

It doesn't matter whether those sticks are large or small,

They drift by just the same,

And you can feel the cogs in your brain almost whirring and working,

As if to make a connection between that stream and those sticks,

And your experiences of life,

And you watch as a number of different sticks drift downstream,

And the sun sets in the background,

And just as the sun is fully setting,

And the sky is glowing the most beautiful oranges and reds,

You make your journey back home,

And once home,

You prepare some food,

And as the food is preparing,

You sit and read a bit of a book,

And after reading for a little while,

You hear the alarm that lets you know the food is done,

And you consume the food,

And that evening you sit in bed,

And you read a book in bed,

And you think about what time it was that you went to sleep the night before,

And you can see that time is approaching,

And you wonder whether by settling down at that time,

You might have another good night's sleep,

And so as that time approaches,

You put a bookmark into the book,

And place that book down beside you,

You turn off the lights,

And settle down in bed,

And quickly you drift and float so peacefully,

So relaxed asleep,

And to your pleasant surprise,

The next day you awaken once again,

Feeling fresh faced,

Clear headed,

Full of energy,

Feeling like you've had the most perfect night's sleep,

And in the past you've fallen asleep early,

But earlier than this time,

And in the past you've fallen asleep later than this time,

But you've never really paid much attention to exactly when you fall asleep,

You've just gone to bed when you feel ready to go to bed,

Sometimes you stay up a bit too late because you're busy,

You've got things you want to be doing,

Other times you feel really tired,

And so you end up trying to go to bed early,

But you've never noticed that if you go to bed at this exact time,

At the right time for you,

You awaken at the right time,

Feeling so refreshed and revitalised for the day,

And just like yesterday,

You go through this day,

Going out for a walk,

Enjoying some time going out for a walk in the morning,

Before cracking on with your day,

And at the end of the day,

Staying outside for a little while,

Until it begins to get dark,

And then heading home,

Making yourself some food while you read a book,

And then in the evening,

Reading some more book when you go to bed,

And for a few more nights,

You practice going to bed at this exact same time,

And each time you have the same experience,

That you awaken feeling so refreshed and full of energy,

And you begin to notice as you get ready in the morning,

That your skin seems to be looking younger,

And more elastic,

You begin to notice,

That you don't seem to have as many aches and pains,

That you seem to generally feel a bit healthier,

And you generally feel that you look healthier,

And you notice that this seems to just improve over time,

And from time to time,

You test out going to bed at a different time,

To see if it really is about the time you go to bed,

You go to bed a little bit early,

But then you wake up on time,

But don't feel so great,

You go to bed a little bit late,

And you wake up on time,

But don't feel so great,

And so you realise there is this sweet spot,

This ideal time for you to sleep,

And when you sleep at that ideal time,

It's easy and effortless to make it through a day,

Handling stress is easier and challenges,

And you feel more physically fit and healthy,

And you're surprised at how different you can be as a person,

From a small change like falling asleep,

Half an hour earlier or half an hour later,

Just at that ideal time,

And like many other nights lately,

You look forward to heading to bed,

Reading your book,

Having this new routine,

Before putting your book aside,

And drifting and floating so peacefully,

So comfortably,

Asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close,

And allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster,

To the sound of my voice or to the spaces between my words,

And as you comfortably drift asleep,

You can imagine yourself walking in to a clothes shop,

And this clothes shop makes tailored fitted clothes,

Designed for each individual that comes in,

They don't sell off the rack clothes,

You come in,

You decide what kind of clothes you would like,

What style you would like,

And they measure you up,

And then they make those clothes,

And you come back and you collect them,

And so you come in to this shop,

You look at the different samples they have,

The different types of styles of clothes they have on display,

You select what you would like to have made for you,

And the person designing the clothes for you,

Is so kind and polite,

And engaging,

And they measure up your height,

Your shoulders they measure,

Your arms,

They take all of your measurements necessary for the clothes they are going to make you,

And ordinarily people want to just go away,

And come back the next day to collect their finished item,

But you decide that you would like to pay a little extra,

To have it made during the afternoon,

To have it made the same day,

And you say that you would like to hang around,

You would like to see how they make the clothes,

And so they allow you to watch as they prepare your clothes for you,

As they go and get the fabrics you chose,

And they cut off specific amounts of the fabrics to take with them,

And they have some fabric to go underneath which they cut as well,

And they head through to a back room and you follow them,

And you sit down in a seat by the window,

And the window looks out the back of the shop,

Over some gardens,

And over some trees,

And it's the most peaceful relaxing view,

And you imagine that the staff here must quite like being able to sit out in the garden,

Or even sit just inside looking out in the garden,

And as this person creates your item of clothing,

They talk with you and you talk with them about what it is that they are doing,

They draw all the outlines for the garment on the fabrics,

And then they place some of the bits of fabric together,

And using the sewing machine they stow those bits of fabric together,

And you watch as they do that,

Listening to the rhythmic sound of the sewing machine,

And noticing there seems to be a certain rhythm to the way that they work,

And they quickly manage to get through attaching different bits of material together,

And you watch as your garment begins to form the final product,

And as they're putting that garment together,

Once there's enough of the garment,

They drape it over a mannequin,

And that helps them to then be able to see how it's coming along,

And to make sure that everything's correct,

And to make any minor adjustments to it while it's on the mannequin,

And you watch as your garment is gradually put together,

And then once it's complete,

It's inside out,

And so they turn it in the right way,

And they put it on a hanger,

And into a bag,

And they present you with the completed item,

And you know that it's a one-off item,

Totally custom made,

It's made high quality,

It's going to last a lifetime,

And part of the deal is that if there are minor adjustments and repairs that need making,

They're happy for you to bring the garment back,

And if they can make the adjustment or repair quickly or easily,

They'll make that adjustment,

Sometimes they'll even remove a section of material,

And re-stitch new material in its place,

If they happen to have that material in stock,

And you thank them for that garment,

Before leaving this shop,

And you begin to head home,

Carrying that bag in your hand,

And while walking home,

You're curious to try on that item,

Looking forward to getting home,

And when you arrive home,

You delay your gratification for a little while,

Making yourself something to eat,

Relaxing for a little bit,

Before then going and changing into that item of clothing,

And seeing what you look like in a mirror,

You turn sideways,

You turn around the other side,

You face your back to the mirror and take a peek over your shoulder,

And turn back round and look at the front,

And you're incredibly pleased with the fit that it feels like,

You're almost not wearing anything at all,

It's such a perfect fit,

That whether you lean over,

Stretch your arms out,

Lift your arms above your head,

Lean to the left or the right,

Whatever movements you make,

The garment is designed so perfectly for you and your body type and shape,

That it's almost as if it's completely unrestrictive,

Like you could almost not notice it's even there,

And you know that it's an item of clothing you'll probably wear frequently,

And you don't normally have the opportunity to buy such personalized items,

And so it takes pride of place among the clothing that you have,

And that night you settle down and drift so peacefully,

So comfortably asleep,

Thinking about the experience of watching that garment being created,

Thinking to yourself how long it would have taken to learn how to get all the measurements that you would require,

To make sure that the garment you make has the movement for that wearer specifically,

And you think to yourself what it takes to be able to design,

Cut and sew together a garment like that,

Designing an item just from ideas given by a client,

Who has looked at a couple of different items and made a decision of what they would like,

Saying I'd like a little bit like this and a little bit like that,

And trying to take what they've said and turn it into a coherent design,

That you can draw for a client that they also then understand and is correct,

For you to make first time exactly what it is that they wanted and were envisaging in their head,

And you think about how hard work that is and what a skill that is,

And how you like the end result,

And as you think about that day,

That garment that's created for you,

So you peacefully and comfortably relax and drift and float deeply asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

And while you comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background,

And you find yourself walking through some woodland,

And as you walk through this woodland,

So you're just enjoying the ambience,

You're enjoying the sound of the leaves overhead rustling in the breeze,

The way light dances through the canopy and dapples on the path before you,

The sound of each footstep that you take,

The smells of being out in this woodland,

And you continue walking through this woodland,

Enjoying the relaxing experience,

And as you continue walking through the woodland,

You can notice the brown ground,

The bark of the trees,

But then you begin to notice an increase in ferns among the trees,

And you don't remember really seeing ferns among the trees here before,

But you just think maybe it's the time of year,

Or maybe it's something that's just more pronounced now due to the weather,

And you continue to walk through this woodland,

And you can hear the sounds of birds,

And the way the sound seems to echo through the woodland,

As the birds sing out,

And then as you continue walking through the woodland,

You hear a strange sound,

And so you cut off the path to head towards that sound to investigate,

And as you walk towards that sound,

So you notice the ferns are increasing,

And you know that in this direction,

You're heading towards a chalk cliff that's here in the woodland,

And this chalk cliff goes along one side of the woods,

And at the top of the chalk cliff,

Higher up than the trees,

Are fields stretching for miles over hills,

And you walk towards that chalk cliff,

But unlike in the past when you've come along near the chalk cliff,

There seems to be a tunnel,

Except that it seems just a black hole in the chalk,

And it seems unusual,

But you decide to walk up to it,

And as you reach out towards it,

Confused by how deep black that hole is,

You notice that it seems to almost be a portal,

That your hand goes through something,

Rather than going into a tunnel,

That it's as if there is a portal there,

Not a deep hole,

And you decide to continue investigating with curiosity,

You can hear that the sound you could hear is coming from through this portal,

You notice that there are ferns that seem to be growing out of the portal,

And that this seems to be where most of the ferns are spreading from,

And so you pass through that portal,

And as you pass through it,

Almost instantaneously,

You find yourself in another land,

Another time,

Perhaps even in the past,

There seems to be no trees here,

But there are many ferns,

Some incredibly large,

And you walk among these ferns and you can hear that sound still,

And you continue heading towards that sound,

And you notice something unusual,

You see a pterodactyl fly overhead,

And you follow that with your eyes,

And as you follow it,

So you end up noticing an enormous dinosaur in front of you,

That at first was so large you didn't even register that it was a dinosaur,

But now you notice its long neck moving,

And sweeping from side to side,

Eating as it went,

Before then taking a giant step,

And then another three giant steps,

Moving itself forward slightly,

Swinging its head from one side to another,

Eating vegetation that was higher up than your head,

But about shoulder height for that enormous dinosaur,

And as you pass across those ferns into a slightly better clearing,

You notice this dinosaur isn't alone,

It's almost like there's herds of them,

There are many dinosaurs nearby to each other doing the same behaviour,

And you watch those dinosaurs with intrigue,

As they consume that food by sweeping their heads from one side to another,

And you think to yourself that many pictures that you've seen depict these long necked dinosaurs,

As having their heads up in the air,

When in fact these ones you're seeing here,

Have their heads outwards,

Almost on the same level as their back,

And instead of trying to hold their head up high in the air,

They swing their head almost like swinging a tail,

They swing their head and they consume a lot of vegetation,

From one side all the way around to the other side of them,

Without having to move a step,

And you think maybe this conserves energy,

But for their size,

Maybe this helps them to be able to conserve energy while they feed,

They just have to eat everything in reach of where their head is,

And once they've done that,

They just take a step forward,

And then consume everything in front of them again,

And then they take a step forward and repeat the same again,

And this seems so much more efficient than trying to hold their heads high up in the air,

And having to try and reach something high up or keep bending their head down low,

But just to swoop their heads gently from side to side,

From one side all the way through eating to the other side,

And then back again,

And occasionally they'll let out a sound a little bit like a whale call,

That seems to echo and ring out,

It's almost like letting the others know that everything's fine,

We can all stay here and continue moving forward together,

And you watch these dinosaurs for a while,

And then you see that the portal behind you is flickering,

And so you go over to that portal,

You dash back through the portal,

Having this sense that that's the sensible thing to do,

And in a flash,

The portal disappears,

And there's just a chalk cliff there like normal,

With some ferns seemingly embedded in the chalk cliff,

And given the amount of ferns that have grown out from the portal,

You wonder how long this portal stays open for and how frequently it opens,

Because the ferns must have taken quite a while to have grown out of the portal and out into your land,

And so you think to yourself you're definitely going to revisit this area again,

You don't want to be trapped necessarily on the other side,

Now you know that the portal opens and closes,

But you're confident that it definitely remains open far more than it has now,

And it may have been open for some time and you just happened to catch it as it was closing,

And so you think to yourself that in the future you're going to be smart about this,

You'll come here and you'll just observe this portal for some time,

You'll observe when it opens,

How long it stays open for when it closes,

And write all this down and see if you can develop a pattern,

So that you can go and explore that ancient land of dinosaurs,

To learn more about those dinosaurs,

And to see if that is your past,

Or a different location,

And for now you head back through the woods and you head all the way home,

And as you drift asleep that night,

You think about how you're going to explore and learn about the portal in the future,

Think about whether there are more portals dotted around to be discovered,

And wonder what may or may not be able to come through the portal,

And what there could be the other side of that portal,

And whether there's anything you need to do about the portal based on what you learn,

And you think those things as you comfortably and relaxed drift and float peacefully asleep,

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to begin to relax,

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice,

Or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words,

But as you comfortably drift asleep,

You can imagine yourself walking along a country bridle way,

And there are tall hedges along either side,

And among those hedges are brambles and blackberries growing,

And occasionally you stop,

You pick off carefully a few of those blackberries,

And you place them in a little container,

But you continue walking along a bit further,

And as you're walking along,

So are you,

Pop a blackberry from time to time into your mouth,

Tasting the sweet taste of the blackberries,

Smelling that blackberry smell as you continue to walk along enjoying the sun,

And as you continue to walk along,

You can smell some mint down on the ground by the bush on one side,

And so you pick some of that mint,

You rub some of that mint between your fingertips and smell that mint smell,

Before popping a leaf in your mouth and chewing that mint leaf,

And just enjoying your walk through the countryside,

And you pass another walker who smiles and says hello,

Heading in the opposite direction,

And you say hello and return and continue to walk,

And as you continue to walk,

You're approaching a stile which once you cross that,

You'll head through a bit of woodland out into a meadow,

That will take you to an area where you can sit down by a stream,

And so as you walk near the stile,

You pick some nettles,

You place them into that pot,

And then you climb over the stile and walk into the woodland,

Feel the solidity of the compact mud beneath your feet,

That dry mud as you walk through this woodland,

Sounds of the leaves rustling overhead,

The dappled light dancing on the path in front of you,

The sounds of birds singing in the trees,

And the bright light at the end of the woodland leading out into the meadow,

And you climb over a stile at the end of the woodland,

You walk out into the meadow of long grass,

Seeing dandelions blowing in the breeze,

Seeing daisies carpeted across that grass,

As you walk towards the stream,

And when you reach the stream,

You place down a blanket,

You put down your tub,

You grab a bottle from your backpack,

And it's a bottle that cleans water while being able to get the water into the bottle,

And so you gather up some water as it filters that water into the bottle,

And you go back to your blanket,

You sit on your blanket,

And you get a small little stove out of your backpack,

And you light a little fire in that stove,

You place a bowl on top of the stove,

Put some water in that bowl,

And just rest back while that water heats up,

And then as the water is approaching boiling,

You gather up some of those ingredients,

Some nettles,

Blackberries,

And some mint,

And place it into the water,

And you allow that to continue boiling for a little while,

As you gently stir it,

Smelling the smell of that tea that you're making,

And after a while,

You finish making that tea,

And you take that off the heat,

You pour some into a cup,

And place it back down,

Next to the fire,

And you feel the warmth of that cup of tea between your hands,

You blow across the top of it,

Noticing the steam come off as you blow,

Just enjoying the atmosphere,

Enjoying the warmth of the day,

Sounds of the trickling stream passing by,

As it bubbles along,

And as the tea cools just enough to drink,

You take your first few sips,

Tasting the sweetness and the flavours of that tea,

And you just rest here,

Enjoying drinking that tea,

And after drinking the tea,

You put your cup down,

And you stand up and have a little walk around,

Noticing some passion fruit flowers,

And wanting to go over and investigate,

As you go over and take a look at those curious flowers,

The strange shapes to the flowers,

The bold patterning and colours of the flowers,

And you find it interesting how those flowers look,

And you take a closer look,

Carefully propping one up in the palm of your hand,

Feeling the smoothness of the petals,

Really examining the intricate nature of that plant,

Before heading back,

Pouring yourself another cup of your tea,

Drinking that cup of tea while resting by this stream,

And this little amble out for the day,

And then after having a couple of cups of tea,

You pack everything away,

Pick up your blanket,

Pack the blanket away,

And you begin your journey back home,

Walking back through this meadow,

Over the stile,

Into the woodland,

Walking through that woodland,

Until you reach the other end,

Climb over the stile,

And continue to walk along the hedgeline bridle way,

Again finding yourself just picking a couple of berries to eat during your walk as you head home,

And on arrival home,

You prepare your evening meal,

You sit down for the evening after your meal,

And when bedtime comes around,

You head to bed,

You settle down in bed,

And you drift and float so peacefully,

So comfortably relaxed,

Asleep.