Let your eyes close.
Slowly.
Like a curtain coming down.
Let your body get heavy.
Heavier than it wants to be.
Your heels press into the mattress.
Your shoulder blades spread wide.
The back of your head sinks.
The pillow gives a little.
Then it holds.
For the next six minutes...
we're going somewhere still.
Stiller than this room.
Take a breath in...
And let it go.
No hurry at all.
Today was noisy.
Maybe not loud.
But busy in your ears.
Somebody's playlist through a wall.
Your own voice, on one more call.
Think of a wind blowing across a lake.
All afternoon.
Pushing little waves against the shore.
That was today.
But the wind always drops at night.
It gets tired too.
Feel it dropping now.
The gusts are farther apart.
Softer when they come.
And then...
it just stops.
The noise of the day is behind you.
Let it go quiet.
Now picture the lake.
Late at night.
Pine trees along the far side.
You're sitting on an old wooden dock.
The boards are dry and cool.
Your feet hang over the edge.
You have a flannel shirt on.
Buttoned wrong, but it's warm.
Nobody's here to notice.
The air smells like pine needles.
And a campfire somebody put out hours ago.
Above the trees...
the moon is Round up.
and and white very It bright.
lays a silver path across the All lake.
the way to your But dock.
the water still has a few Leftovers ripples.
from the wind.
The silver path shivers a little.
Breathe in...
And as you breathe out...
one ripple smooths away.
Breathe in again...
And out...
the water gets a little flatter.
A small wave taps the dock post.
Then another, softer.
Breathe in...
And out...
another ripple goes still.
The silver path stops shivering.
It lies flat now.
Clean and straight.
One more breath in...
And out...
the last ripple fades at the shore.
Now the lake is glass.
Perfectly flat.
The trees show upside down in it.
There are two moons now.
One above.
One resting on the water below.
Let that stillness come into you.
Into your chest first.
Flat and quiet.
Then into your belly.
Your hands.
Your legs.
You're still as the water now.
Nothing moving on the surface.
A cricket sings somewhere in the reeds.
Then stops.
If you like...
slip off the dock.
Lie back on the water.
It's warm tonight.
It holds you up easily.
You don't even have to try.
Your ears slip just under the surface.
Everything goes soft and muffled.
Like being tucked in.
You float on your back.
Looking up.
The moon right above your face.
Just floating.
The water holds your arms.
And the back of your head.
If a thought drops in...
it makes one small ring.
Then the lake is flat again.
Still water.
Still you.
Somewhere a loon calls.
Far across the lake.
You don't need to answer.
Breathing in...
And out...
The moon isn't going anywhere.
It holds steady all night.
The lake is glass.
Sleep there.
Right on the water.
Goodnight.