Sleep story · travel, anonymous
A bus at night (a sleep story) for a racing mind
Upper deck, front seat, a city going past that you do not have to join.
Reading it yourself. Back to the audio version.
There is a long stretch of road ahead with nothing on it. There are four other people downstairs and nobody up here. You do not have to get off for another twenty minutes.
Outside, someone is walking a dog that does not want to be out. The city goes past below you, shopfronts and bus stops and people waiting for other buses. The bus stops and starts with a slow, heavy movement.
Feel your wrists loosen. Feel your heels sink a little into the mattress.
Let your hands be completely still. Let your breathing get slower without deciding to slow it.
The lights inside are the dim blue kind that buses use at night. The heating comes through the floor and makes your feet warm.
Feel your cheeks let go. Let your toes stop holding on to anything.
Notice the tone of your own inner voice. Is it kind? If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
Your chest can be still now. Your eyelids can be too heavy to open, and that is fine.
They will find their own way out. Let the room get slightly further away.
Nothing here needs following closely. Let the quiet be boring. Let the breath be the only thing you are doing.
Do this sitting up, not lying down, if you have just eaten.
No more sentences. Just the weight of you in the bed.