Speaker 1: Welcome too. Bedtime stories for grown ups in which nothing
Speaker 1: much happens, you feel good, and then you fall asleep.
Speaker 1: All stories are written and read by me, Catherine Nikolay,
Speaker 1: with audio engineering by Bob Wittersheim. Let me tell you
Speaker 1: a little about how to use this podcast. I'm about
Speaker 1: to tell you a bedtime story to help you relax
Speaker 1: and drift off to sleep. The story is simple and
Speaker 1: not much happens in it, and that's kind of the idea.
Speaker 1: It's just a cozy place to rest your mind. I'll
Speaker 1: read the story twice, and I'll go a little bit
Speaker 1: slower the second time through. If you find yourself still
Speaker 1: awake at the end of the second telling, don't worry.
Speaker 1: That's sometimes how it goes. Relax, walk yourself back through
Speaker 1: whatever bits of the story you can remember, lean into them,
Speaker 1: and before you know it, you'll be waking up tomorrow
Speaker 1: feeling refreshed and calm. This is a kind of brain training.
Speaker 1: We're training your brain to follow along with the shape
Speaker 1: of the story, like an upturned leaf floats along on
Speaker 1: the surface of a river. Each time you use a
Speaker 1: story to settle your mind, it will happen more quickly
Speaker 1: and with more ease, so have some patience. If you're
Speaker 1: new to this, Now it's time to settle in. Switch
Speaker 1: off your light, put down all of your devices. You've
Speaker 1: looked at a screen for the last time today. Stretch
Speaker 1: deep into your sheets, and settle yourself into your favorite
Speaker 1: sleeping position. Send a signal to your mind and body
Speaker 1: that it's time to turn everything off. Take a slow
Speaker 1: breath in through your nose and sigh it out of
Speaker 1: your mouth. Nice. Let's do that again. Breathe in and out.
Speaker 1: Our story tonight is called afternoon Nap, and it's a
Speaker 1: story about the best kind of nap, the one you
Speaker 1: didn't think you had time for. It's also about enjoying
Speaker 1: small luxuries and the serendipity of unexpected free time. Afternoon Nap.
Speaker 1: I'd rushed home from work and figured that if I
Speaker 1: could be really quick, I could feed the dog and
Speaker 1: get back on the road and just make it to
Speaker 1: my appointment. My dog was glad to see me, she
Speaker 1: always is. Dogs are really too good for humans. We
Speaker 1: don't deserve them. She jumped around me as I hustled
Speaker 1: her outside, then back in, and we went straight to
Speaker 1: the kitchen to fill her bowl. I was pouring out
Speaker 1: kibble and looking at my watch, wondering if I had
Speaker 1: enough time to change my clothes before I had to
Speaker 1: get back in my car. When I heard my phone
Speaker 1: buzz in my pocket. Sorry for the inconvenience, but can
Speaker 1: we reschedule you for another day? A wide smile spread
Speaker 1: across my face. My afternoon had just opened up, and
Speaker 1: I felt like a kid finding out about a snow day. Yes,
Speaker 1: no problem, I texted back. I giggled to myself and
Speaker 1: squatted down to scratch my dog's ears. What should we do, Darlin,
Speaker 1: I asked, as she flipped over to let me rub
Speaker 1: her belly. Well, you finish your snack first, then let's
Speaker 1: go outside. I poured myself a big glass of fizzy
Speaker 1: water with a lime squeezed in, picked up a stack
Speaker 1: of magazines that had been sitting for a while as
Speaker 1: I hadn't had the time to look through them, and
Speaker 1: when the crunching stopped, we walked out onto our sunny
Speaker 1: front p our house was an old farmhouse, but long
Speaker 1: ago the farm had become a neighborhood, so we looked
Speaker 1: out at streets of other homes cozily set into gardens.
Speaker 1: It was our favorite time of day to be on
Speaker 1: the porch as kids were walking home from school and
Speaker 1: sometimes being met by moms and dads walking more dogs.
Speaker 1: We had an old porch swing that caught the afternoon sun,
Speaker 1: and I helped my Pucci up and sat down next
Speaker 1: to her. I pulled my feet up under me, set
Speaker 1: my water and magazines down on a side table, and
Speaker 1: we watched the kids and families go by. I didn't
Speaker 1: have a thing to do. I mean, there's always work
Speaker 1: to do. If I went looking for it, I could
Speaker 1: find something, but right now there was no deadline or
Speaker 1: urgent task nagging at me. So we just sat. I
Speaker 1: turned the pages of a magazine. I scratched my dog's
Speaker 1: head every now and then she'd jumped down to barket
Speaker 1: another dog, and I'd help her back up the street.
Speaker 1: Traffic was dying down, and my eyelids were suddenly getting
Speaker 1: very heavy. I considered my options. I could nap here.
Speaker 1: The sun certainly felt lovely, but the swing was a
Speaker 1: bit cramped to stretch out on. Or I could go
Speaker 1: for what we in our household called the full Churchill.
Speaker 1: Winston Churchill had been a master of napping and took
Speaker 1: one nearly every day, and He didn't just curl up
Speaker 1: on the sofa for twenty minutes. He took his naps seriously.
Speaker 1: So when you nap like Winston, it means under the covers,
Speaker 1: lights out, and no pants. I remembered that I had
Speaker 1: put fresh sheets on the bed the day before, sheets
Speaker 1: that had dried out on the line and smelled like
Speaker 1: fresh air, and that sealed the deal. We headed inside
Speaker 1: and up the stairs to the bedroom. I lowered the blinds,
Speaker 1: but cracked the windows a bit so I could hear
Speaker 1: the sounds of the neighborhood kids playing a lawnmower way
Speaker 1: off in the distance, a slow car passing by. I
Speaker 1: slid out of my work clothes and slipped into bed.
Speaker 1: To have the whole bed to yourself on a side
Speaker 1: in the afternoon, it felt indulgent, and I let myself
Speaker 1: enjoy it. I slid my legs around under the sheets,
Speaker 1: plumped up my pillows, and pulled a book from my
Speaker 1: bedside table. In her dog bed beside me, I watched
Speaker 1: my little girl turn around a few times and plopped
Speaker 1: down with a dog sigh. I opened my book and
Speaker 1: started to read. I knew I would only make it
Speaker 1: through a page or two, and that was fine. I
Speaker 1: smelled the fresh air coming in from the window and
Speaker 1: heard my neighbors chatting as they walked under it. A
Speaker 1: dog barked in the distance. I watched the leaves shifting
Speaker 1: in the breeze. I was so relaxed, my body was
Speaker 1: so comfortable. There was nothing to do but drift away.
Speaker 1: Afternoon nap. I'd rushed home from work and figured that
Speaker 1: if I could be really quick, I could feed the
Speaker 1: dog and get back on the road and just make
Speaker 1: it to my appointment. My dog was glad to see me,
Speaker 1: she always is. Dogs are really too good for humans.
Speaker 1: We don't deserve them. She jumped around me as I
Speaker 1: hustled her outside, then back in, and we went straight
Speaker 1: to the kitchen to fill her bowl. I was pouring
Speaker 1: out kibble and looking at my watch, wondering if I
Speaker 1: had time to change my clothes before I had to
Speaker 1: get back in my car when I heard my phone
Speaker 1: buzz in my pocket. Sorry for the inconvenience, but can
Speaker 1: we reschedule you for another day? A wide smile spread
Speaker 1: across my face. My afternoon had just opened up, and
Speaker 1: I felt like a kid finding out about a snow day. Yes,
Speaker 1: no problem, I texted back. I giggled to myself and
Speaker 1: squatted down to scratch my dog's ears. What should we do, darling,
Speaker 1: I asked, as she flipped over to let me rub
Speaker 1: her belly. Well, you've finished your snack first, then let's
Speaker 1: go outside. I poured myself a big glass of fizzy
Speaker 1: water with the limes squeezed in, picked up a stack
Speaker 1: of magazines that had been sitting for a while as
Speaker 1: I hadn't had the time to look through them, and
Speaker 1: when the crunching stopped, we walked out onto our sunny
Speaker 1: front porch. Our house was an old farmhouse, but long
Speaker 1: ago the farm had become a neighborhood, so we looked
Speaker 1: out at streets of other homes cozily set into gardens.
Speaker 1: It was our favorite time of day to be on
Speaker 1: the porch, as kids were walking home from school and
Speaker 1: sometimes being met by moms and dads walking more dogs.
Speaker 1: We had an old porch swing that caught the afternoon sun,
Speaker 1: and I helped my poucci up and set down next
Speaker 1: to her. I pulled my feet up under me, set
Speaker 1: my water and magazines down on a side table, and
Speaker 1: we watched the kids and families go by. I didn't
Speaker 1: have a thing to do. I mean, there's always work
Speaker 1: to do. If I went looking for it, I could
Speaker 1: find something, But right now there was no deadline or
Speaker 1: urgent task nagging at me. So we just sat. I
Speaker 1: turned the pages of a magazine. I scratched my dog's
Speaker 1: head every now and then she'd jumped down to barket
Speaker 1: another dog, and I'd help her back up the street.
Speaker 1: Traffic was dying down, and my eyelids were suddenly getting
Speaker 1: very heavy. I considered my options. I could nap here.
Speaker 1: The sun certainly felt lovely, but the swing was a
Speaker 1: bit cramped to stretch out on. Or I could go
Speaker 1: for what we in our household called the full Churchill.
Speaker 1: Winston Churchill had been a master of napping and took
Speaker 1: one nearly every day. And he didn't just curl up
Speaker 1: on the sofa for twenty minutes. He took his naps seriously.
Speaker 1: So when you nap like Winston, it means under the covers,
Speaker 1: lights out, and no pants. I remembered that I'd put
Speaker 1: fresh sheets on the bed the day before, sheets that
Speaker 1: had dried out on the line and smelled like fresh air,
Speaker 1: and that sealed the deal. We headed inside and up
Speaker 1: the stairs to the bedroom. I lowered the blinds, but
Speaker 1: cracked the windows a bit so I could hear the
Speaker 1: sounds of the neighborhood kids playing a lawn mower off
Speaker 1: in the distance, a slow car passing by. I slid
Speaker 1: out of my work clothes and slipped into bed. To
Speaker 1: have the whole bed to yourself on a sunny afternoon,
Speaker 1: it felt indulgent, and I let myself enjoy it. I
Speaker 1: slid my legs around under the sheets, plumped up the pillows,
Speaker 1: and pulled a book from my bedside table. In her
Speaker 1: dog bed beside me, I watched my little girl turn
Speaker 1: around a few times and plopped down with a dog sigh.
Speaker 1: I opened my book and started to read. I knew
Speaker 1: I would only make it through a page or two,
Speaker 1: and that was fine. I smelled the fresh air coming
Speaker 1: in from the window and heard my neighbors chatting as
Speaker 1: they walked under it. A dog barked in the distance.
Speaker 1: I watched the leaves shifting in the breeze. I was
Speaker 1: so relaxed, my body was so comfortable, and there was
Speaker 1: nothing to do but drift away sweet dreams.