Cinderella’s Hearth: Relaxing Into Dreamland, by Kate Wolford
- Fairy Tale Magazine
- Jul 28
- 2 min read
Unless you’re dead tired and ready for slumberland, like how Cinderella must have felt after a day of toil, you probably need some help in falling asleep. As we get older, we often sleep less, then try to sleep in, then sleep in too much, then have insomnia—it can be a dreary cycle.
The answer isn’t to get on prescribed drugs that shouldn’t be taken for years (like Ambien). Instead it’s shutting off the chattering narrator that seems to suddenly start yapping endlessly the second your head hits the pillow. Fortunately, I have tricks for that, and I’ll telling you my three favorites today. They can be used to both fall asleep and get back to sleep.
First is meditation, and I prefer a dedicated sleep meditation. A soothing voice and a book with the right focus is what you need, and that is highly personal and individualistic, so I won’t tell you which ones to use—you’ll have to judge further yourself. But I will say that I like the Great Meditation channel on YouTube, which is free. Michael Sealey is a popular YouTuber who uses hypnosis to help people fall asleep, and I find him incredibly soothing. (If hypnosis seems scary to you, this should help soothe your fears.)
Second, is using sound or “soundscapes” to fall asleep. There are at least a thousand on YouTube, and I don’t have a favorite channel, but I do love green noise and trains in the blizzard soundscapes. Just have fun with it and experiment during the day to see what your ears like. You’ll find a soothing solution.
Finally, and I’ve saved the best for last, is listening to audiobooks. The trick is that these books must be old favorites or they will be too stimulating. My current favorites are a popular biography of Queen Victoria by Julia Baird and The Last Seance, by Agatha Christie. Both have narrators with excellent voices and are just ever so slightly dull due to overfamiliarity, which is a good thing because you want to be lulled. If you don’t subscribe to Audible, like I do, they will be very expensive, and even with an Audible account, they are pricey. But luckily, if you have a library card, you can download an app like Libby, which lets anyone with a library card borrow audiobooks. The downside with Libby is that you have to wait to borrow most of the books, and you can’t keep them forever, but I still think it’s a good option. There are also podcasts that read old stories and books, and YouTube offers a lot as well, but I have no recommendations. I still think both are worth checking out, though.
There you have it, my favorite ways to quiet your mind so you can fall asleep. This is the last of my series. I hope I’ve provided you with at least a few good tricks to catch more than 40 winks.
May you always rest like Sleeping Beauty.
Kate Wolford was the publisher and editor of The Fairy Tale Magazine for many years. She’s now enjoying being Resident Fairy Godmother.
Image from Pixabay.
