Hi everyone, I'm Jessica Porter and welcome back to Sleep Magic, a podcast where I help you find the magic of your own mind, helping you to sleep better and live better. Thank you everyone for being here. I'm in like a super good mood today for some reason. I want to give some shout outs to people on Audible. There are people who leave reviews on Audible, I don't check them all that often, but I want to refer to some of them now. Someone named Instatiable has been using Sleep Magic post-surgery and through some hormone changes and it's really helping. Yay. Kayla says, where have you been all my life? Jean is a new listener by getting good results already and someone named Autumn says Sleep Magic is a great way to relax. Sherry struggles with ADHD and says it can be really hard to fall asleep but doesn't know what happens five minutes into any episode. I love that. Some people on Audible don't post their names but we have an insane and out like a light. And finally from someone named Marty. He says, this podcast will change your life if you let it. I've been amazed by how often I've found little changes in my thinking and I know they're coming from listening to Sleep Magic. One morning I woke up happy and ready to face the day that was not like me. I've also found that I've developed a reassuring voice in my head. I hear myself saying that everything will be okay. Wow. Wow. I just want to say that as much as this is very meaningful to me personally and a compliment that this works, it's also evidence that we are influenced by our environment and it's really important what we let in. You know, what we let in online, what we let in on TV, what we let in in our relationships because they influence us. And I'm not suggesting that you turn off everything or shut down relationships but just that as we understand our own suggestibility we can then make some really positive choices to counteract anything that might be dragging us down. And ultimately I do think we let go of what drags us down but that's a personal process that everyone goes through on their own time. So thank you, thank you everybody on Audible. If you want to reach out to us on the socials, on my website, on Sleepiest, please on the podcast platforms, please let us know what you think, how you're feeling, what this is doing for you. We read everything and we really, really appreciate all of you. So thanks. Tonight, Get Sleepy in a Snowy New England Town. I had the great pleasure of living in the Berkshire Mountains of Western Massachusetts for four years in my 20s. In fact, I just mentioned the Berkshires in the recipe episode recently. For those of you who aren't in the United States, Massachusetts is a small state. It's about 190 miles long, a rectangle. It's one of the original 13 colonies and the Berkshire Mountains, a very old and somewhat small range of mountains at this point, take up the western edge of the state in Berkshire County. It's a beautiful place dotted with small towns and it's where people go camping in the summer or go see outdoor theater and concerts. When leaves change in the fall, it's one of the most beautiful places in the country. Then the winters in the Berkshires. I came from winters in a big city where everything got gray and slushy and depressing very quickly. In the Berkshires, I'm not sure I've been anywhere where winter was so picturesque. It's really out of a storybook. So we are going to Stockbridge, Massachusetts tonight. And right on the main street of Stockbridge is the studio of the iconic American painter Norman Rockwell, who moved to the area in 1953. He even did a painting of this exact main street that we'll be walking down tonight, a Christmas scene. So join me as we get sleepy in New England. Before we begin our only ad break, which makes this magic possible. To listen ad free, follow the link in the show notes. This episode is brought to you by Labara Mobile, the smarter mobile network. You get reliable coverage, excellent customer service rated 4.8 on trust pilot and plans starting from just £5 a month. But here's the big one. Unlike the big mobile networks, Labara won't increase the price of your plan each year. It's flexible too, with 30-day rolling contracts. That's why their which recommended mobile provider 3 years running. Switch today at labara.co.uk Just a short reminder before you drift off, Sleep Awareness Week is coming to a close, and there are only a few days left to begin your 30-day free trial of Team Magic. If you've been wanting to improve your sleep and experience the very best of this show, this is your final chance to enjoy 30 nights of Team Magic completely free. A Team Magic subscription gives you ad free listening, plus hundreds of exclusive sleep hypnosis sessions designed to help you fall asleep faster and sleep more deeply through the night, along with a new premium only release every other week. And with 30 days, you'll have time to feel the shift. Once this extended trial ends on March 16th, it won't be available again for some time. So if this feels like the right moment, tap Try Free in Apple Podcasts, or use the link in the show notes before this week ends. There's no better week to choose rest. I'll be right here when you're ready. Now, get yourself into a safe and comfortable position, and let's begin. Allow your eyes to close easily and gently. And now bring your awareness to your breathing. And by bringing your awareness to your breath, your awareness begins to settle a bit. The mind loves to jump around, so it's okay if your mind continues to feel like it's jumping around a bit, but we just continually invite it back to the breath. Continually inviting it back to the body. Because this is the time of day where you get to settle and come home to yourself. So bring your awareness now up into your eyelids, and imagine that the muscles of your eyelids are feeling heavy. Just imagine that your eyes are sleepy, like you've been up way too late reading a book, and your eyes simply will not stay open. You've experienced this heaviness before, this sleepiness. So just as you imagine it, it begins to happen, that lovely, lovely heaviness in your eyes. Now I'd like you to imagine that your eyes are so heavy that they will not open. In fact, I'd like you to take that suggestion that your eyes are so heavy, they will not open. So now I'd like you to test your eyelids to make sure they won't open. By wiggling your eyebrows, just give them a little tug while your eyelids remain closed. And I know you're faking, that's okay, just wiggle your eyebrows. Good. By doing that, you're really actively engaging your imagination. And that's where we want to be. As you go deeper and deeper, and the lovely heaviness around your eyes is spilling down now into your cheeks, into your jaw, over your nose, over your upper lip, into your lips, down to your chin, as your whole face is feeling nice and heavy. And the same heaviness is moving up into your forehead. And now from your forehead, it's spilling back into your brain. Just allow the heaviness to take over your brain. Your brain, as you know it, is done for the day. And as your whole head becomes heavy on the pillow, and your whole brain is saturated in this lovely, heavy feeling, any mental tension you may have been carrying even moments ago has disappeared. As you let go, and it feels so good to let go. As you go deeper and deeper, and the heavy feeling is moving down into your neck, into your shoulders. Just allow your shoulders to relax and release. You may carry a lot of things on your shoulders, responsibilities, pressure, burdens. But now in bed at night. They're falling off your shoulder. Because this is your time to go in more, and to drift, and flow, and dream. And everyone gets this time. So it's okay to take it. It's built into nature for you to drift, and flow, and dream. And any of the responsibilities that have fallen to the floor, you can pick them up tomorrow morning. But for right now, you're free. As a lovely, heavy feeling moves down into your arms, spilling down into your arms. So your arms are feeling nice and heavy. Heavy. As you enjoy that heaviness, it's moving down now into your hands, your fingers, your arms, feeling like they're on vacation. As you bring your awareness now to any sound that may be taking place around you, tune in and notice any sounds going on in your environment. And now allow them to take you deeper. Open to them and allow those vibrations to take you deeper and deeper. For this is how you use your magic mind. And the sound of my voice is taking you deeper and deeper. As you allow the warm, lovely, relaxed feeling to move down inside your body now. Imagine that relaxation moving down into your chest. Warming and softening and opening you from the inside. You may have carried stress in your chest today. But now it's dissolving, disappearing. As you allow your whole upper body to soften and expand from the inside out. As you allow that relaxing feeling to move down, down deep into your belly now. Perhaps your breath sinks down deep into your belly. And the muscles you may hold there during the day are softening, releasing, going on vacation. And you notice that your lower back is feeling warm and soft and relaxed as your whole torso is soft and expanding from the inside out. It feels natural now to allow that warm, relaxed feeling to move down into your legs, down deep, all the way down into your feet. So your legs are feeling very, very heavy now, heavy like they're made of marble. And the relaxation is moving into the soles of your feet, into all 10 toes. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Imagine it is late afternoon in the winter. You are standing on the north side of Main Street in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. You are wearing a warm coat and a hat, a scarf and soft, woolen gloves. Big white snowflakes are drifting down from above, looking magical against the grey-blue sky. You relax and watch a single-flake fall, focusing on it so easily. And as it floats down, soft and light and gentle, it's taking you deeper and even deeper. You watch as it settles on the sidewalk. You see other snowflakes settling along the rooftops. And gathering on the branches of pine trees. The south side of Main Street stretches out in front of you. Technically, this street is Route 7, a small country highway, which winds up north into other small towns in the area, like Lee and Lennox, going all the way up to the Canadian border. This road also stretches down from here, through lovely Great Barrington, stringing the towns together like a necklace of picturesque villages in Berkshire County. And yet, Route 7, as it passes through Stockbridge, is just a small town street like you'd see in any old movie. You take a nice deep breath of cold air, and the coolness moves inside of you, feels fresh and stimulating. The buildings along Main Street are tucked together, most of them two stories tall. They have old-fashioned wooden signs and windows trimmed with holiday decorations. You begin walking, taking your time, letting the cool air clear your mind. You cross the street at a crosswalk. To the west, the sun is setting through the bare trees on the Berkshire Mountains, creating a strip of gold behind the trees. You hear the crunch of the snow as you take each step. This gentle flurry is calming everyone down. The town is moving in slow motion. A car crawls by with its headlights on. As you walk down the sidewalk, you hear a shop door open with a soft jingle. You stop at a bakery. Its window is fogged up from the warm ovens inside. Through the glass you make out trays of gingerbread cookies, some in the shape of bells, some stars. There are loaves of warm bread and a small Christmas tree near the counter. It is strong with tiny white lights pulsing on and off slowly and gently. A young woman exits the store bag in hand and a wave of warm sweet air drifts out into the cold. It smells of cinnamon and sugar. Norman Rockwell walked this exact sidewalk, observing the simplicities of life, paying attention to the little details. As a young boy in New York City, he wasn't especially athletic or loud. He didn't fit in with the bigger, tougher kids. Instead, he watched people. He studied expressions, movements, small interactions. Even then, he seemed to understand that everyday moments were full of meaning. You walk past the library. A wreath hangs from its door. A golden glow is coming through its large windows. The snow continues to fall, steady and consistent. It's clinging to your coat and hat. You put out a gloved hand and watch several flakes arrive. A snowflake lands on your cheek and melts. You come to the red lion inn. It is the biggest building on Main Street. All wood painted white. With a generous wraparound porch, lined with rocking chairs. The railing blinks with Christmas lights. An older couple rocks in the chairs, sipping hot chocolate. They smile, raising their mugs. Happy holidays, says the man. And you smile back. The red lion inn began as a small pub on this spot in 1773, before the signing of the Constitution. As Rockwell trained as an artist, he specialized in capturing ordinary human moments. A boy getting a haircut. A family having dinner. A group of teenagers on the first day of school. He found humor, sincerity, small moments of kindness. And he was very talented. Over 300 of his paintings grace the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. Many becoming iconic American images. He became a master at conveying the humanity within dramatic political moments. During World War II, the civil rights movement in Vietnam. As he progressed as a painter, Rockwell became an activist on his canvases. Holding up a mirror to America and his contradictions. Long before the Internet. Norman Rockwell was an influencer. Shaping the American psyche. In 1953, during the peak of his career, he moved here to Stockbridge. He liked its pace, its friendliness. He liked this main street. It was a kind of place where he could study human nature up close. The dusk is settling in now. The twinkling lights seem to be glowing a little brighter. And the snow is reflecting them back. The cold air is pressing gently against your cheeks. As you continue walking, crunching in the snow, seeing your breath hang in the air in front of you. You stop at the general store. Its window display is Christmasy with simple wooden toys, boxes wrapped in brown paper and red ribbon, and a glass jar full of candy canes. A child next to you presses her mitten to the window, looking in with longing. She has a face right out of a Rockwell painting. You look up. Right above the entrance to the general store is a large window, unusually large, with a soft light coming through it. When Rockwell first came to Stockbridge, he rented that studio above this very store, with its huge window bringing in the Northern light. You step inside the general store. It's busy and warm and festive inside. You loosen your scarf, unbutton your coat, relaxing, going deeper. You walk through the store to a door at the back, and it opens into a cramped hallway with a staircase. You take a step up. It's old and creaky. You go up the stairs, up, up, up, to another door. You open it and step inside. The air is warm and smells of wood and old paint. The hardwood floor has dense from years of use. The ceiling is high, and the whole room is painted white, and your inner being begins to expand in here. This is where Norman Rockwell painted for several years. A long one-wall is a long shelf holding cans of brushes. Some are pointed and clean. Others are frayed from long hours of painting. Below the shelf you see a drafting table with pencils and small stacks of photos. Rockwell often photographs scenes before painting them, asking his neighbors and friends to hold poses, capturing the exact expression he wanted. You take a slow walk around the room. On the opposite wall are framed studies he sketched. Faces, hands, bits of clothing, expressions caught, mid-motion. A young girl waiting outside the principal's office. You sense the patience in them. The curiosity. The honesty. Here, in this quiet place, you see why he was so beloved. He painted people as they were. Awkward, hopeful, worried, kind. To Rockwell ordinary life mattered, and he believed the small gestures people make toward each other are the real heart of things. Rockwell painted not just bodies, but inner beings. He painted connection. Next to the large window is an easel with a blank canvas on it. There's a stool beside it, worn smooth by years of use. You sit on the stool. And there's a palette next to you with a rainbow of paints squeezed onto it. You pick up a brush and dip your brush in a color. And you explore on the canvas, painting whatever you want, having fun. As you feel your inner being expand. And you allow your imagination to flow onto the canvas. And just notice what you paint. And no matter what you see, it feels good to express yourself. It feels good to be alive. So you put down your paintbrush now. Move away from the canvas. And step back to admire it. Now take a seat on a small daybed near the window. The snow is falling even more heavily now. Covering Main Street. The shops, the inn. The sidewalks you walked earlier. The world is softer now. Calmer. Like a blanket has been pulled up to its chin. As your breath goes even deeper. Your shoulders are relaxing. And the quiet of the room is sinking into you. You lie back on the bed. And get under its woolen blanket. It's warm, heavier than you expected. And it settles over you in a comforting way. As your body sinks happily into the mattress. The room is growing softer around the edges. As the snow continues to fall. You close your eyes. Hearing faint winter sounds from outside. As the snow falls gently. Into the night. As the day fades away. You drift. And float. Entry Thank you.
