My parents always used to say to me,
David,
You're such a space cadet.
You're always on cloud nine.
Well guess what?
Tonight we are going to cloud nine.
Are you coming for the ride?
So go ahead and get into bed.
Get comfortable and get ready for another episode of the grounded sleep podcast.
I'm your guide tonight,
David,
And I'm so excited,
But not overly excited,
Just enough to get you to sleep.
Make sure you're nice and comfortable.
You're in bed.
You're relaxed.
You're holding on to anger and some kind of grievance and resentment towards at least one or two people that you know.
Just kidding.
Allow yourself to almost uncouple from the day.
You know when a spaceship is in space and two parts of it break apart and separate.
Right now is that time to start to let go of the day.
It's so easy to continue just thinking about everything that happened and rehashing it and playing it out again.
But remember tonight we are going to cloud nine and to do that we have to be very lightweight.
So we have to be able to let go of all the baggage so we could float up into the sky.
And I don't know if you've ever had one of those dreams where you're flying or floating,
Levitating,
But I have and they feel so good.
It's like you get liftoff and you separate from that earthly gravity.
You know that gravity of all those denser emotions and responsibilities.
So with your eyes closed as you breathe deeply and slowly as you loosen up and relax,
Recognize that the gravity of the world is starting to loosen its grip on you.
You're just starting to get some space.
And it's a beautiful thing to have space isn't it?
It's hard to describe but you just get this sense of room,
Of openness.
And any tension you've been holding on to,
It just starts to slowly melt off.
Just like an earthly weight comes off of you.
You take off your earth backpack and you put on your dream backpack.
And this one's going to help you levitate up into the clouds.
I remember when I lived in Hawaii,
I made this really cool friend that would come to visit and he was a physicist at Stanford.
He would come to the island to swim with the dolphins and I had been traveling the world for a number of years and had just settled in Hawaii.
And one day we were sitting and meditating together and he said to me,
You've been wearing that backpack for too long.
It's time to take it off.
And he meant that energetic backpack I had been wearing.
So notice you're taking off yours and you're putting on your dream one.
And the dream one,
It helps you levitate.
So as you go deeper and deeper into stillness tonight,
All of a sudden you notice you start to lift off.
You lift up and you're going way up.
It's like you're being gently carried into the sky.
And all of a sudden you find yourself landing on not just any cloud,
But cloud nine.
It's a very specific cloud.
And on this cloud,
You can feel this like softness.
It's like landing on cotton candy.
And up here in this space,
There's no worry.
There's no need to survive.
There's no responsibility.
You just get to lay in this beautiful cloud.
I used to do these flotation tanks where you lay in salt water,
Body temperature salt water in total darkness and you float.
And you can't feel anything.
It's just this soft emptiness.
And let yourself notice what it's like to be just floating on cloud nine.
There's nothing wrong with letting go and being free.
Even being spaced out.
You can even feel this almost warm,
Supported energy.
Perhaps even run your hand through the cloud a little bit.
Some of it has this almost misty quality to it.
And there's this gentle happiness in being in cloud nine.
You can fall asleep with a light smile on your face.
If you've ever had that experience of being a quote unquote space cadet or being airy or always finding yourself fantasizing or thinking of being in other worlds,
Then maybe you have a natural inclination to go to a place like a cloud like this.
And yes,
Perhaps the very pragmatic people give you a look.
But when you're off in your dreams,
You're supposed to dream.
Allow yourself to be high in the sky.
To be free.
When was the last time you just truly let go of your responsibility and floated up into your dreams?
Perhaps our dreams only come true if we allow ourselves to dream.
And as you float on this cloud,
It's taking you across the sky.
You're traveling through the night.
And you're going to have different experiences.
And they're going to be enjoyable,
Opening,
Expansive.
Allow yourself to drift off into the night.
With the intention that you're going to have a very deep,
Relaxing and restful sleep.
And there is more to you than just your humanly form.
The part of you that loves to dream,
That travels in the night.
That part of you begins to awaken as the other part of you falls asleep.
Have a wonderful sleep tonight,
And I'll see you on the other side.