Sleep story · cozy, rain
An attic room — a slow story for the end of the day, when your attention is scattered — for a night when you do not want to think
Sloping ceiling, rain on the roof a foot above your head.
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 bed is pushed into the low corner, which makes it feel like a den. The radiator is small and makes a ticking sound as it cools. The rain on the roof tiles is much closer and louder up here than anywhere else in the house.
The air up here is warmer than downstairs and smells of old wood. A carrier bag of shopping is still on the chair, unpacked. There is a dormer window with a deep sill, and a mug left on it from last night.
Your elbows can stop being hinges for now. Let your breathing get slower without deciding to slow it.
Let your thumbs rest where they landed. Let your upper arms fall wherever gravity puts them.
There is a box of things under the eaves that nobody has opened in years. The lamp is on the floor beside the bed because there is no room for a table.
Let your shoulder blades spread out and drop. Let your forearms get heavy and warm.
If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure. Notice the moment you realise you've drifted. That moment is the whole skill.
Feel your heels sink a little into the mattress. Let everything you were holding today stay on the floor beside the bed.
Let each breath be a little smaller than the last. Let your attention settle somewhere low, like your feet.
They will find their own way out. Nothing here needs following closely. Let the sound of this go soft at the edges.
Scattered attention is the raw material, not an obstacle.
The end. Sleep well.
12 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for cozy, rain.
If this story does not settle you, try An attic room — a slow story for the end of the day, when you are waiting for something — for jet lag, The night train, when you are short on time — for a racing mind or Sleep story: a garden in the rain, if you have done this a hundred times — for jet lag.