Sleep story · cozy, rain
An attic room, if you are doing this instead of scrolling — for waking too early
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
A carrier bag of shopping is still on the chair, unpacked. The floorboards are bare and slightly uneven, and one of them always creaks. The room is in the roof, and the ceiling slopes so steeply that you have to duck near the window.
The roof is holding, and the rain is outside, and that is the whole arrangement. The air up here is warmer than downstairs and smells of old wood. The rain changes intensity every few minutes and never quite stops.
Let the back of your neck lengthen out. Let your forehead go cool and smooth.
Let your calves spread out and flatten. Your ankles can go loose now.
There is a dormer window with a deep sill, and a mug left on it from last night. The radiator is small and makes a ticking sound as it cools.
Feel the back of your knees soften into the bed. Let your thumbs rest where they landed.
If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather. If your mind is quiet, don't grab at it. Quiet comes and goes too.
Feel the weight of the blanket on your legs. Now feel your whole body at once, lying here, being held up.
They will find their own way out. The words can start to blur now.
Let the thoughts come and go without you getting up to answer. Just the breath. Let the quiet be boring.
Choosing this over scrolling counts as a good decision, even a small one.
Let the words go now, and take the quiet with you.
12 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for cozy, rain.