Sleep story · rain, green
A garden in the rain (a sleep story), on a day that started badly — for an overtired night
Steady rain on leaves, and a chair under an awning that stays dry.
Lights off. Press begin and let the story read itself to you, at the pace of sleep.
Screen on or off — we suggest dimming it, or simply closing your eyes after the first paragraph.
The story, in full
The rain has settled into the kind that will last all afternoon without getting heavier. The path has gone darker where it is wet, and there are two small puddles near the step. Water runs off the gutter in a thin, continuous line.
There is nothing to do about any of it, which is the good part. A snail is making its way along the bottom of the wall, going nowhere in particular. The leaves in the border are dark and glossy and moving slightly.
Notice how much of you has already stopped moving. Let the mattress take all of it.
Feel your heartbeat somewhere far away. Feel the weight of the blanket on your legs.
The earth smells the way it does after a long dry spell. The rain on the roof of the awning is a lower sound than the rain on the leaves.
Your jaw can drop slightly. Let your teeth part. Your ankles can go loose now.
Your elbows can stop being hinges for now. Now feel your whole body at once, lying here, being held up.
The watering can by the tap is full and nobody needs it. There is a wooden bench that nobody has sat on for an hour.
Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it. If your mind is quiet, don't grab at it. Quiet comes and goes too.
Let the pillow take the whole weight of your head. Let your hands be completely still.
Nothing needs deciding tonight. Let the dark be ordinary.
Let the sound of this go soft at the edges. Let them. Let the thoughts come and go without you getting up to answer.
A day that started badly does not have to stay that way.
That is the end of the story. Sleep is the next part, and it does not need instructions.
14 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for rain, green.
If this story does not settle you, try A lake before dawn — a slow story for the end of the day, when you have woken up too early — for the hours after a late shift, A lake before dawn, when the weather has kept you inside — for winding down or Sleep story: a library at closing time, when you are on your own — for the hours after a late shift.