Color Walk

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Speaker 1 I care about your sleep.

Speaker 1 It is always my first thought and priority in making this show.

Speaker 1 And sometimes you need extra help.

Speaker 1 Sometimes even when your sleep hygiene is top tier, sleep doesn't come.

Speaker 1 Some nights, you might struggle to fall asleep or wake after a few hours and toss and turn. I get it.
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Speaker 1 that I felt like a different person.

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Speaker 1 Welcome to bedtime stories for everyone

Speaker 1 in which

Speaker 1 nothing much happens.

Speaker 1 You feel good.

Speaker 1 And then you fall asleep.

Speaker 1 I'm Catherine Nikolai.

Speaker 1 I write and read

Speaker 1 all the stories you'll hear on Nothing Much Happens

Speaker 1 with Audio Engineering by Bob Wittersheim.

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Speaker 1 And this week we are giving to White Rock Bear Sanctuary, whose simple but noble purpose is to rescue and rehabilitate bears. You can learn learn more about them in our show notes.

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Speaker 1 or be reminded of promo codes for our lovely sponsors, head to our show notes.

Speaker 1 We've just released our April bonus episode over on the premium feed.

Speaker 1 It's a sweet story called Family Meal, and it takes place in a favorite village bistro before the doors open.

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Speaker 1 That's over eight hours of sleepy storytelling to see you through the night. All of this, plus the complete catalog, seven years of Nothing Much Happens ad-free

Speaker 1 for just about a dime a day.

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 I'm going to tell you a bedtime story. It's a soft, simple place to rest your mind, a way to keep you from wandering.

Speaker 1 And just by listening, I'll train your brain to respond in kind, more quickly and easily. I'll tell the story twice,

Speaker 1 and I'll go a little slower the second time through.

Speaker 1 If you wake later in the night,

Speaker 1 turn an episode right back on.

Speaker 1 You'll be back to sleep before you know it.

Speaker 1 Our story tonight is called Color Walk.

Speaker 1 And it's a story about a soft way

Speaker 1 to move through the world on a spring day.

Speaker 1 It's also about a box of crayons in the desk drawer, a thin jacket, a cool breeze, storefronts and shop windows,

Speaker 1 and elevating the everyday

Speaker 1 with calm attention.

Speaker 1 Lights out, friends. Get snuggled down into your sheets and get your favorite pillow

Speaker 1 in just the right spot.

Speaker 1 Let's do a quick muscle release tonight.

Speaker 1 And we'll pair it with your deep breaths. We're going to do three tonight.
I know. We're getting wild over here.

Speaker 1 I want you to breathe in

Speaker 1 and squeeze all the muscles in your lower body. Squeeze your legs, your glutes, even your toes.
Hold it and then sigh it out.

Speaker 1 Breathe in.

Speaker 1 Squeeze everything in your upper body, arms and fists.

Speaker 1 Hold it and let it go.

Speaker 1 Okay, one more. Breathe in

Speaker 1 and just squeeze everything, temples to toes.

Speaker 1 Squeeze and hold one more second, and

Speaker 1 feel the release of the tension in your body.

Speaker 1 Good

Speaker 1 Color walk

Speaker 1 From the kitchen table,

Speaker 1 I could see the treetops moving in the breeze.

Speaker 1 It didn't look too strong,

Speaker 1 not even a wind,

Speaker 1 just a zephyr

Speaker 1 that stirred the new buds as they grew.

Speaker 1 My mug was nearly empty,

Speaker 1 but it still felt warm and comforting in my hands,

Speaker 1 and I savoured the last sips.

Speaker 1 My gaze fell onto my plate,

Speaker 1 empty but for a few crumbs and a smear of raspberry jam from the English muffin I'd just enjoyed.

Speaker 1 I traced my finger along the plate's edge.

Speaker 1 It was plain white porcelain,

Speaker 1 but with a rim of deep blue,

Speaker 1 and it reminded me of the thin-stemmed grape hyacinths

Speaker 1 that were popping up in the flower bed beside my front door.

Speaker 1 I smiled into the dregs of my tea as an idea occurred to me

Speaker 1 a way to spend the rest of the morning,

Speaker 1 sparked by the blues of the plate

Speaker 1 and the matching flowers.

Speaker 1 I hadn't gone on one

Speaker 1 in an age,

Speaker 1 but spring was the perfect time

Speaker 1 to revisit a favorite pastime.

Speaker 1 Yes, today

Speaker 1 was made

Speaker 1 for a color walk.

Speaker 1 The idea was simple.

Speaker 1 Choose a color

Speaker 1 and then go for a walk.

Speaker 1 Noticing all the places that color showed up.

Speaker 1 Each instance

Speaker 1 would become like a mooring post for a a wandering mind.

Speaker 1 A color walk could be a solemn, moving meditation

Speaker 1 or a jolly game of I spy.

Speaker 1 Moment to moment, it could be both.

Speaker 1 And in the spring,

Speaker 1 as the world leapt into color,

Speaker 1 opportunities to notice,

Speaker 1 to pay calm attention,

Speaker 1 would abound.

Speaker 1 I set my plate and cup in the sink

Speaker 1 and went to a drawer in my desk with an idea.

Speaker 1 I wanted a way to pick a color for today

Speaker 1 without getting caught in an internal debate

Speaker 1 about which would be best.

Speaker 1 Sometimes,

Speaker 1 even when a decision

Speaker 1 didn't really matter,

Speaker 1 I could slip into a loop of comparing and rethinking.

Speaker 1 This walk was meant to be a way to rest that part of myself.

Speaker 1 So I needed to do something like

Speaker 1 flip a coin or roll a color die.

Speaker 1 From my drawer,

Speaker 1 I took out a familiar yellow and green box,

Speaker 1 the big one

Speaker 1 with a sharpener on the back that I'd treated myself to

Speaker 1 on my last trip to the stationery store.

Speaker 1 I closed my eyes

Speaker 1 and flipped the top open,

Speaker 1 letting my fingers trail over the waxy tips of the crayons.

Speaker 1 They'd come organized, of course,

Speaker 1 but I was in the habit of pulling them out by the handful as I used them, and sticking them back in willy nilly.

Speaker 1 So I truly had no idea,

Speaker 1 even what family of color I might pull.

Speaker 1 My finger stopped on one,

Speaker 1 and I slid it from the pack.

Speaker 1 I paused to feel

Speaker 1 where the wax met the paper,

Speaker 1 how it was peeled back a bit from when I'd sharpened it last.

Speaker 1 I wondered if it would be a yellow,

Speaker 1 which I would spot in every daffodil, and yield sign,

Speaker 1 or a shade of blue,

Speaker 1 like the sky today.

Speaker 1 But when I finally blinked my eyes open,

Speaker 1 I saw I'd drawn good old burnt sienna.

Speaker 1 Huh, I said aloud.

Speaker 1 Didn't see that coming.

Speaker 1 This was a color that had

Speaker 1 helped me draw many tree trunks and brick house fronts

Speaker 1 since my first pack of crayons

Speaker 1 big enough to include it in grade school.

Speaker 1 It was a utilitarian stronghold of a color.

Speaker 1 Not one I'd have picked myself for a whimsical stroll in the spring. And that made it perfect for today.

Speaker 1 I tucked the crayon into my pocket,

Speaker 1 for some reason, wanting to bring it along,

Speaker 1 and went to the door

Speaker 1 to step into my shoes and take a thin jacket from the hook.

Speaker 1 Outside,

Speaker 1 I paused to zip up my jacket

Speaker 1 and feel the air on my skin.

Speaker 1 It was one of those spring days when the sky was full of puffy clouds.

Speaker 1 So minute to minute

Speaker 1 you might be dazzled by sunlight or shrouded in shade.

Speaker 1 and with each shift you'd likely be pushing back the sleeves of your jacket

Speaker 1 or tugging them back down

Speaker 1 still

Speaker 1 just now

Speaker 1 the sun shone on my face

Speaker 1 and the air smelled of fresh grass

Speaker 1 and last night's rain

Speaker 1 I was just about to start off

Speaker 1 when I looked down and spotted a penny on the sidewalk.

Speaker 1 I smiled.

Speaker 1 We were off to a good start already.

Speaker 1 I squatted down to pick it up

Speaker 1 and turned it over in my palm.

Speaker 1 The ruddy copper color was tarnished and dark

Speaker 1 and was my first color spotting.

Speaker 1 As I stood,

Speaker 1 I saw that it was minted the year I was born.

Speaker 1 I tucked it into my pocket beside the crayon

Speaker 1 and began to walk.

Speaker 1 Now

Speaker 1 with lots of practices like this,

Speaker 1 designed to help us be a bit more present,

Speaker 1 there's a chance to take it so far that you drive yourself crazy,

Speaker 1 that you try too hard

Speaker 1 and somehow feel you failed, even though you actually can't.

Speaker 1 I reminded myself that my job wasn't to find absolutely everything

Speaker 1 that was dark brown or a deep clay red.

Speaker 1 I didn't really have a job at all.

Speaker 1 I was just walking

Speaker 1 and letting things be gently highlighted by my attention.

Speaker 1 I noticed last year's leaves caught around the post of a fence.

Speaker 1 The old maples

Speaker 1 faded to paler versions of themselves.

Speaker 1 A child on a bike whizzed past me,

Speaker 1 and I saw their sweater was the same mahogany as my crayon.

Speaker 1 A neighbor was spreading mulch in their garden beds,

Speaker 1 and each handful was a rich reddish brown.

Speaker 1 In a back yard,

Speaker 1 an old potting shed was shingled in sun baked, stained wood slats,

Speaker 1 and on porch steps, terracotta pots

Speaker 1 held blooming daffodils and johnny jump ups.

Speaker 1 The rust on an old mailbox caught my eye

Speaker 1 and the ruddy chest of a robin flying past.

Speaker 1 As I turned down Main Street and made my way into downtown,

Speaker 1 I spotted two people chatting outside the bakery,

Speaker 1 each with a dog on a leash.

Speaker 1 One was a puppy, much less than a year old, her fur

Speaker 1 a deep russet red.

Speaker 1 And the other dog was full grown, but half her size,

Speaker 1 his fur many shades of brown,

Speaker 1 sticking out all over,

Speaker 1 like he'd been hit with a dose of static electricity

Speaker 1 As they chased around each other,

Speaker 1 playbowing and jumping,

Speaker 1 their fur blended together

Speaker 1 and made

Speaker 1 exactly the shade of red-brown I was looking for today.

Speaker 1 In the window of the bookshop

Speaker 1 I took a moment to look at each cover on display.

Speaker 1 One featured the face of a man with deep brown eyes.

Speaker 1 Another,

Speaker 1 a mysterious-looking brick house shrouded in fog.

Speaker 1 There was an aged bronze plaque in the alley, marking the oldest building in town,

Speaker 1 a ring in the window of the jewelry shop,

Speaker 1 with a big, tawny brown stone set in it,

Speaker 1 a flyer for piano lessons,

Speaker 1 with a drawing of an upright made of shiny chestnut wood.

Speaker 1 On my way back home,

Speaker 1 as the clouds shifted and the sun warmed my back,

Speaker 1 I felt the crayon and the coin in my

Speaker 1 Textures and colors

Speaker 1 Sun and shadows

Speaker 1 Steps and slow breaths

Speaker 1 I was grateful for this soft start

Speaker 1 to my day

Speaker 1 Colour Walk

Speaker 1 From the kitchen table

Speaker 1 I could see the treetops moving in the breeze.

Speaker 1 It didn't look too strong,

Speaker 1 not even a wind,

Speaker 1 just a zephyr

Speaker 1 that stirred the new buds as they grew.

Speaker 1 My mug was nearly empty,

Speaker 1 but it still felt warm

Speaker 1 and comforting in my hands

Speaker 1 I savored the last sips

Speaker 1 my gaze fell onto my plate

Speaker 1 empty

Speaker 1 but for a few crumbs

Speaker 1 and a smear of raspberry jam from the English muffin I'd just enjoyed.

Speaker 1 I traced my finger along the plate's edge.

Speaker 1 It was plain white porcelain,

Speaker 1 but rimmed in a deep blue.

Speaker 1 And it reminded me of the thin stemmed grape hyacinths

Speaker 1 that were popping up

Speaker 1 in the flower bed

Speaker 1 beside my front door.

Speaker 1 I smiled into the dregs of my tea

Speaker 1 as

Speaker 1 an idea occurred to me:

Speaker 1 a way to spend the rest of the morning,

Speaker 1 sparked by the blue

Speaker 1 of the plate

Speaker 1 and the matching flowers.

Speaker 1 I hadn't gone on one

Speaker 1 in an age,

Speaker 1 but spring was the perfect time

Speaker 1 to revisit a favorite pastime.

Speaker 1 Yes, today

Speaker 1 was made

Speaker 1 for a color walk.

Speaker 1 The idea was simple

Speaker 1 choose a color

Speaker 1 and then go for a walk

Speaker 1 Noticing all the places that color showed up

Speaker 1 Each instance would become like a mooring post

Speaker 1 for a wandering mind.

Speaker 1 a color walk could be a solemn moving meditation

Speaker 1 or

Speaker 1 a jolly game of I spy

Speaker 1 moment to moment

Speaker 1 it could be both

Speaker 1 and in the spring

Speaker 1 as the world leapt into color

Speaker 1 opportunities to notice,

Speaker 1 to pay calm attention, would abound.

Speaker 1 I set my plate and cup in the sink

Speaker 1 and went to a drawer in my desk

Speaker 1 with an idea.

Speaker 1 I wanted a way to pick a color for today

Speaker 1 without getting caught

Speaker 1 in an internal debate

Speaker 1 about which would be best.

Speaker 1 Sometimes,

Speaker 1 even when a decision didn't really matter,

Speaker 1 I could slip into a loop of comparing and rethinking.

Speaker 1 This walk was meant to be a way to rest that part of myself.

Speaker 1 So I needed to do something

Speaker 1 like flip a coin

Speaker 1 or roll a color die.

Speaker 1 From my drawer,

Speaker 1 I took out a familiar yellow and green box,

Speaker 1 the big one with the sharpener on the back

Speaker 1 that I'd treated myself to

Speaker 1 on my last trip to the stationery store.

Speaker 1 I closed my eyes

Speaker 1 and flipped the top open,

Speaker 1 letting my fingers trail over the

Speaker 1 tips of the crayons.

Speaker 1 They'd come organized, of course,

Speaker 1 but I was in the habit of pulling them out by the handful as I used them

Speaker 1 and sticking them back in willy nilly.

Speaker 1 So I truly had no idea,

Speaker 1 even what family of color I might pull.

Speaker 1 My finger stopped on one,

Speaker 1 and I slid it from the pack.

Speaker 1 I paused to feel

Speaker 1 where the wax met the paper,

Speaker 1 how it was peeled back a bit

Speaker 1 from when I'd sharpened it last.

Speaker 1 I wondered if it would be a yellow,

Speaker 1 which I would spot in every daffodil, a yield sign,

Speaker 1 or a shade of blue,

Speaker 1 like the sky today.

Speaker 1 But when I finally blinked my eyes open

Speaker 1 I saw

Speaker 1 I'd drawn good old burnt sienna

Speaker 1 huh

Speaker 1 I said aloud

Speaker 1 didn't see that coming

Speaker 1 this was a color that had helped me draw many tree trunks

Speaker 1 and brick house fronts since my first pack of crayons

Speaker 1 big enough to include it in grade school.

Speaker 1 It was a utilitarian stronghold of a color.

Speaker 1 Not one I'd have picked myself

Speaker 1 for a whimsical stroll in the spring

Speaker 1 and that made it perfect for today.

Speaker 1 I tucked the crayon

Speaker 1 into my pocket,

Speaker 1 for some reason wanting to bring it along,

Speaker 1 and went to the door to step into my shoes

Speaker 1 and take a thin jacket from the hook.

Speaker 1 Outside,

Speaker 1 I paused to zip up my jacket

Speaker 1 and feel the air on my skin.

Speaker 1 It was one of those spring days

Speaker 1 when the sky is full of puffy clouds.

Speaker 1 So minute to minute

Speaker 1 you might be dazzled by sunlight

Speaker 1 or shrouded in shade

Speaker 1 And with each shift

Speaker 1 you'd likely be pushing back the sleeves of your jacket

Speaker 1 or tugging them back down.

Speaker 1 Still,

Speaker 1 just now

Speaker 1 the sun shone on my face

Speaker 1 and the air smelled of fresh grass

Speaker 1 and last night's rain.

Speaker 1 I was just about to start off

Speaker 1 when I looked down and spotted a penny on the sidewalk.

Speaker 1 I smiled.

Speaker 1 We were off to a good start already.

Speaker 1 I squatted down to pick it up

Speaker 1 and turned it over in my palm.

Speaker 1 The ruddy copper color

Speaker 1 was tarnished and dark,

Speaker 1 and was my first color spotting.

Speaker 1 As I stood,

Speaker 1 I saw that it was minted

Speaker 1 in the year I was born.

Speaker 1 I tucked it into my pocket

Speaker 1 beside the crayon

Speaker 1 and began to walk

Speaker 1 now with lots of practices like this

Speaker 1 designed to help us be a bit more present

Speaker 1 there's a chance to take it

Speaker 1 so far that you drive yourself crazy

Speaker 1 that you try too hard

Speaker 1 and somehow feel you failed

Speaker 1 even though

Speaker 1 you actually can't

Speaker 1 I reminded myself

Speaker 1 that my job wasn't to find

Speaker 1 absolutely everything

Speaker 1 that was dark brown or deep clay red

Speaker 1 I didn't really have a job at all.

Speaker 1 I was just walking

Speaker 1 and letting things be gently highlighted by my attention.

Speaker 1 I noticed last year's leaves

Speaker 1 caught around the post of a fence.

Speaker 1 The old maples

Speaker 1 faded to paler versions of themselves.

Speaker 1 A child on a bike whizzed past me,

Speaker 1 and I saw their sweater

Speaker 1 was the same mahogany as my crayon.

Speaker 1 A neighbor was spreading mulch in their garden beds,

Speaker 1 and each handful

Speaker 1 was a rich

Speaker 1 reddish brown.

Speaker 1 In a backyard,

Speaker 1 an old potting shed

Speaker 1 was shingled in sun-baked, stained wood slats,

Speaker 1 and on porch steps, terracotta pots

Speaker 1 held blooming daffodils and johnny jump-ups.

Speaker 1 The rust

Speaker 1 on an old mailbox caught my eye,

Speaker 1 and the ruddy chest of a robin flying past.

Speaker 1 As I turned down Main Street

Speaker 1 and made my way into downtown,

Speaker 1 I spotted two people chatting outside the bakery,

Speaker 1 each with a dog on a leash.

Speaker 1 One was a puppy,

Speaker 1 much less than a year old.

Speaker 1 Her fur deep russet red.

Speaker 1 And the other dog was full grown,

Speaker 1 but half her size.

Speaker 1 His fur many shades of brown

Speaker 1 and sticking out all over

Speaker 1 like he'd been hit with a dose of static electricity

Speaker 1 as they chased around each other

Speaker 1 playbowing and jumping

Speaker 1 their fur blended together and made

Speaker 1 exactly the shade of red brown I was looking for to-day

Speaker 1 in the window of the bookshop

Speaker 1 I took a moment to look at each cover on display.

Speaker 1 One featured the face of a man with deep brown eyes,

Speaker 1 another

Speaker 1 a mysterious-looking brick house shrouded in fog.

Speaker 1 There was an aged bronze plaque in the alley, marking the oldest oldest building in town.

Speaker 1 A ring in the window of the jewelry shop

Speaker 1 with a big tawny brown stone set in it.

Speaker 1 A flyer for piano lessons

Speaker 1 with a drawing of an upright

Speaker 1 made of shiny chestnut wood.

Speaker 1 on my way back home

Speaker 1 as the clouds shifted

Speaker 1 and the sun warmed my back.

Speaker 1 I felt the crayon

Speaker 1 and the coin in my pocket,

Speaker 1 textures and color,

Speaker 1 sun

Speaker 1 and shadows,

Speaker 1 steps and slow breaths.

Speaker 1 I was grateful

Speaker 1 for this soft start

Speaker 1 to my day.

Speaker 1 Sweet dreams.