Sleepy Stoicism

Luc Richard
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Philosophical sleep audio from the Maritimes. Real field recordings, creeks, falls, and rain captured on location across New Brunswick, paired with slow, spare readings from the Stoics, written to be fallen asleep to. Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Seneca at the pace of moving water. The narration is unhurried and finishes with ambient nature sounds. The location is real and named in every episode. Narration is AI-generated (ElevenLabs) from original scripts. Every ambient sound is real.

  1. 2d ago

    The Emperor of Rome Was Wronged, Closed the 📒 and Became the Vine 😴

    Follow Sleepy Stoicism so the next quiet hour is waiting: 🔴 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BayBorealImmersive 🟣 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sleepy-stoicism/id6791053738 🛖 Come in, drifters. Some nights you want to let go of a wrong someone did to you, but letting go feels like saying it was okay. This guided Stoic sleep meditation begins with Marcus Aurelius in the year 175, when his most trusted general rebelled and was killed before Marcus could forgive him, then turns to a quiet practice of giving the weight back, recorded sitting beside the Scoudouc River in New Brunswick, in the rain. 💤 Fitbit Air Sleep Tracker - The most comfortable sleep tracker https://link.amazon/B0dIkIrsU 😮‍💨 Breathe Right Extra Strength - Strips for snoring https://amzn.to/4bDZFgY Affiliate links support the show at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Chapters 00:00 News of the revolt reaches Marcus 05:27 Marcus speaks to his army 10:14 Cassius is killed before they meet 15:19 Marcus refuses to take revenge 20:27 Faustina dies on the journey 25:37 Athens and Marcus writing at night 30:35 The hand at the doorway 35:00 Epictetus on why people do harm 39:29 The vine that asks nothing back 44:02 Settling the body for sleep 57:17 A slow walk along the river Tonight, we follow Marcus Aurelius down the long road east after the revolt of Avidius Cassius: the chests of letters he burned without reading, the revenge he would not take, the empress Faustina dying in a small village in the hills, and the teachers he paid for in Athens who would never meet him. Then the story gives way, and this becomes a guided Stoic practice for sleep, not a story: a doorway, a hand that has been holding on for a long time, and a few plain words from Epictetus about the why you never got to ask. This is for the night when you want to let something go, but letting go feels like saying it was okay. What would it mean to let go of a wrong without ever saying it was all right? Nobody here will ask you to forgive anyone. Last comes Marcus's vine, which gives its grapes and asks nothing back, and then the river and the rain carry you down. Wherever sleep meets you along the way, let it. 🌧️ Recorded sitting beside the Scoudouc River in New Brunswick, at midday in the rain, with the sun coming and going behind the clouds. Every sound beneath the narration comes from that real recording. 📜 Sources: Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, translated by George W. Chrystal after the Foulis translation of 1742 (1902); Epictetus, Handbook (Enchiridion), translated by T. W. Higginson (1890); Cassius Dio, Roman History, translated by Earnest Cary (1927); Historia Augusta, Life of Marcus Aurelius, translated by David Magie (1921). 🤍 Credits Created and produced by Luc Richard. Field recording, video, and photography captured on location by Luc Richard. Narration is AI-generated with ElevenLabs. The place and every ambient sound are real. 💬 If tonight helped, tell me one small kind thing your open hand might do tomorrow. And follow, so there's always a quiet hour waiting when you need one. Sleep well. Let the hand rest open. 🌲

    The Emperor of Rome Was Wronged, Closed the 📒 and Became the Vine 😴

  2. Oct 22

    Seneca Wrote the Book on How to Die 📚 and How to Sleep 💤

    Follow Sleepy Stoicism so the next quiet hour is waiting: 🔴 YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGbw83Fqn7bY&si=0JE-qh5_BkLE2L-n 🟣 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sleepy-stoicism/id6791053738 ☀️ DayStoic - One free Stoic quote in your inbox each morninghttps://www.daystoic.com/en 🛖 Come in, drifters. Some nights the trouble is a stretch of years you can't stand to look back at, years something took from you while you were busy just getting through them. This Stoic sleep story follows Seneca in his last years, old and out of the emperor's court, through the letters he wrote about the time he couldn't get back, recorded on the rocks at the top of Laverty Falls in Fundy National Park, New Brunswick. 💤 Fitbit Air Sleep Tracker - The most comfortable sleep tracker https://link.amazon/B0dIkIrsU 😮‍💨 Breathe Right Extra Strength - Strips for snoring https://amzn.to/4bDZFgY Affiliate links support the show at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Seneca drives out to a country house he built himself and finds it old: cracked walls, the plane trees he planted gnarled and bare, and a toothless old man by the door who turns out to be the little boy he used to spoil. Back in Rome he shuts his door and writes to his friend Lucilius about time, the hours forced from us, stolen, or simply let slip. He orders a small boat ashore in a heavy swell and wades through the waves to get off it. He walks past a crowded theatre to sit at the back of a philosophy class, an old man among the young, and minds, or doesn't, what people will say. He rides through a tunnel so dark the torches only show more dark, and feels his good spirits come back with the daylight, on their own. Then a fever, a night road to his farm, and his wife's love making him take care of himself. His letters barely touch the years he spent at the emperor's side, and this story doesn't ask you to look at yours tonight either. The past is the one part of life nothing can take a second time. For tonight, let the dark be just the dark. Wherever sleep meets you along the way, let it. 💧 Recorded on the rocks at the top of Laverty Falls in Fundy National Park, New Brunswick, at midday, right where the brook goes over the edge. Every sound beneath the narration comes from that real recording. 📜 Sources: Seneca, Moral Letters to Lucilius, translated by R. M. Gummere (1917-1925); Seneca, On the Shortness of Life, translated by J. W. Basore (1932). 🤍 Created and produced by Luc Richard. Field recording, video, and photography captured on location by Luc Richard. Narration is AI-generated with ElevenLabs. The place and every ambient sound are real. 💬 If tonight helped, tell me something you started late in life and are glad you did. And follow, so there's always a quiet hour waiting when you need one. Sleep well. The light comes back on its own📖

    Seneca Wrote the Book on How to Die 📚 and How to Sleep 💤

  3. Oct 16

    Put the Lamp Out With Seneca and Drift to Sleep 🕯️💤

    Follow Sleepy Stoicism so the next quiet hour is waiting:🔴 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BayBorealImmersive🟣 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sleepy-stoicism/id6791053738 ☀️ DayStoic - One free Stoic quote in your inbox each morning https://www.daystoic.com/en 🛖 Come in, drifters. Some nights the trouble is that another day went by on autopilot, and you can't even say what you did with it. This guided sleep meditation spends one ordinary day with Seneca, from a rude doorkeeper at dawn to the moment the lamp is carried out of his bedroom, and then walks you through the nightly review he practised in the dark, recorded in the rain outside a tent at Mount Carleton, New Brunswick. 💤 Fitbit Air Sleep Tracker - The most comfortable sleep trackerhttps://link.amazon/B0dIkIrsU 😮‍💨 Breathe Right Extra Strength - Strips for snoringhttps://amzn.to/4bDZFgY Affiliate links support the show at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Tonight, we follow Seneca through a day he could have described himself: turned away at a great man's door, drawn into an argument with a man who did not want to learn, seated on the worst couch at dinner and laughed at by the host's favourite. Then he goes home, says a few plain words to his wife, the lamp is taken out, and he lies under the dark ceiling and goes over the whole day, hiding nothing, judging himself fairly, and forgiving what needs forgiving. After his story, the meditation guides you through your own day the same way, morning to bed, and lets the current carry the rest. It isn't a cure for anything and one night won't fix autopilot; it is a habit, and noticing your day slipped by is already the start of being awake to it. Wherever sleep meets you along the way, let it. 🌧️ Recorded at Mount Carleton, New Brunswick, sitting outside my tent with the rain coming down. Every sound beneath the narration comes from that real recording. 📜 Sources: Seneca, Of Anger, translated by Aubrey Stewart (1900); Seneca, Moral Letters to Lucilius, translated by R. M. Gummere (1917-1925); Epictetus, Discourses, translated by W. A. Oldfather (1925-1928); Cassius Dio, Roman History, translated by E. Cary (1925). 🤍 CreditsCreated and produced by Luc Richard.Field recording, video, and photography captured on location by Luc Richard.Narration is AI-generated with ElevenLabs.The place and every ambient sound are real. 💬 If tonight helped, tell me one small thing from your day you found again while you were going back over it. And follow, so there's always a quiet hour waiting when you need one. Sleep well. You noticed your day, and that means you were there for it. 💡

    Put the Lamp Out With Seneca and Drift to Sleep 🕯️💤

  4. Oct 12

    Why a Roman Senator Dismissed His Own Execution ⚔️ 💤

    Follow Sleepy Stoicism so the next quiet hour is waiting:🔴 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BayBorealImmersive🟣 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sleepy-stoicism/id6791053738 ☀️ DayStoic - One free Stoic quote in your inbox each morning https://www.daystoic.com/en 🛖 Come in, drifters. Some nights the trouble is tomorrow, and the people in it: the boss who shouts, the colleague who pushes back on everything, the argument you are already losing in your head. This sleep story follows Helvidius Priscus, the Roman senator who answered an emperor's death threat with a shrug, told from the water's edge at Irishtown Nature Park in New Brunswick. 💤 Fitbit Air Sleep Tracker - The most comfortable sleep trackerhttps://link.amazon/B0dIkIrsU 😮‍💨 Breathe Right Extra Strength - Strips for snoringhttps://amzn.to/4bDZFgY Affiliate links support the show at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Tonight, we follow a bounded stretch of the life of Helvidius Priscus and his wife Fannia, from the morning he led the rebuilding of the burnt temple on the Capitol, through his clash with the informer who had ruined his father-in-law, and the plain name he kept calling the new emperor Vespasian, to the day a messenger told him to stay away from the Senate and he went in anyway. It is a slow bedtime story about two men doing jobs that could not both be done, and about a woman who, twenty years later, answered a feared informer with two words and spent her last strength nursing a sick Vestal. If you are lying awake bracing against someone, it asks a quiet Stoic question: which part of tomorrow's conversation was ever yours to carry? Wherever sleep meets you along the way, let it. 🦆 Recorded sitting on the bank at the edge of the water in Irishtown Nature Park, near Moncton, New Brunswick, with ducks calling back and forth and small birds in the trees behind. Every sound beneath the narration comes from that real recording. 📜 Sources: Epictetus, Discourses, translated by W. A. Oldfather (1925); Tacitus, The Histories, translated by A. J. Church and W. J. Brodribb (1876); Tacitus, Agricola, translated by A. J. Church and W. J. Brodribb (1877); Suetonius, Life of Vespasian, translated by J. C. Rolfe (1914); Cassius Dio, Roman History, translated by E. Cary (1925); Pliny the Younger, Letters, translated by W. Melmoth, revised by W. M. L. Hutchinson (1915). 🤍 Created and produced by Luc Richard. Field recording, video, and photographycaptured on location by Luc Richard. Narration is AI-generated with ElevenLabs.The place and every ambient sound are real. 💬 If tonight helped, tell me the one thing you are setting down on the other person's side of the ledger tonight. And follow, so there's always a quiet hour waiting when you need one. Sleep well. Their part is theirs, and yours fits in one hand. 🌲

    Why a Roman Senator Dismissed His Own Execution ⚔️ 💤

  5. Oct 7

    Why Marcus Aurelius Didn't Want the Throne 💤

    ☀️ DayStoic - One free Stoic quote in your inbox each morninghttps://www.daystoic.com/en Follow Sleepy Stoicism so the next quiet hour is waiting: 🔴 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BayBorealImmersive 🟣 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sleepy-stoicism/id6791053738 🛖 Come in, drifters. If you're lying awake still keeping score on how well you did today, tonight's sleepy Stoic life follows a sixteen-year-old Marcus Aurelius, who was handed a throne he did not want. It begins beside a creek at Mapleton Park, New Brunswick, recorded during the day with ducks calling now and then. 💤 Fitbit Air Sleep Tracker - The most comfortable sleep trackerhttps://link.amazon/B0dIkIrsU 😮‍💨 Breathe Right Extra Strength - Strips for snoringhttps://amzn.to/4bDZFgY Affiliate links support the show at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Tonight, follow young Marcus Aurelius from the rainy day in Rome when he learned he would one day rule, into the plain household of his adoptive father, Antoninus Pius, and on to the teacher who told him to take off his formal toga at home. This bedtime story is for the exhausting pressure to be someone important and to prove your worth by how well you perform. What would change if the things you work hardest to earn were never really yours to begin with? Wherever sleep meets you along the way, let it. 🌲 The creek was recorded at Mapleton Park in New Brunswick during the day, with ducks calling now and then along the water. Every ambient sound beneath the narration comes from that real recording. 📜 Sources: Historia Augusta, Lives of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, translated by David Magie (1921-1924); Cassius Dio, Roman History, translated by Earnest Cary (1925); Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, translated by C. R. Haines (1916); The Correspondence of Marcus Cornelius Fronto, translated by C. R. Haines (1919-1920); Epictetus, Discourses and Handbook, translated by W. A. Oldfather (1925-1928). 🤍 Credits Created and produced by Luc Richard. Field recording, video, and photography captured on location by Luc Richard. Narration is AI-generated with ElevenLabs. The place and every ambient sound are real. 💬 Tell me one place where you could stop keeping score this week: at work, at home, or anywhere people can see you. I read every one. And follow, so there's always a quiet hour waiting when you need one. Sleep well. Whatever you were proving today can wait until morning. 🦆

    Why Marcus Aurelius Didn't Want the Throne 💤

  6. Sep 28

    Start Here - Ancient Stories for Nights When Sleep Won't Come

    Listen and follow: 🟥 YouTube: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGbw83Fqn7bY 🟣 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sleepy-stoicism/id6791053738 Stoic lives, quiet meditations, and stories told slowly for the end of the day. Beneath the narration, you’ll hear real places I recorded: water, rain, wind, and the small sounds of the night. Start with whichever story catches your attention. You can follow it to the end, or let the place carry on while you fall asleep. Created and produced by Luc Richard. Field recording, video, and photography captured on location by Luc Richard. Narration is AI-generated with ElevenLabs. The place and every ambient sound are real.

    Start Here - Ancient Stories for Nights When Sleep Won't Come

  7. Sep 28

    Meditate on Your Place in the Cosmic Circle and Fall Asleep 💤

    Follow Sleepy Stoicism so the next quiet hour is waiting:🔴 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BayBorealImmersive🟣 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sleepy-stoicism/id6791053738 🛖 Come in, drifters. If you're lying awake feeling cut off from people and weighed down by everything that seems wrong with the world, tonight's guided Stoic sleep meditation brings the circles of belonging in close. It begins beside a tent at Mount Carleton Provincial Park, New Brunswick, with real autumn-night crickets beneath the narration. 💤 Fitbit Air Sleep Tracker - The most comfortable sleep trackerhttps://link.amazon/B0dIkIrsU 😮‍💨 Breathe Right Extra Strength - Strips for snoringhttps://amzn.to/4bDZFgY Affiliate links support the show at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Tonight, follow a practice drawn from the Stoic teacher Hierocles. We move from your own breath to the people closest to you, then out toward strangers, before drawing each circle inward again. His advice about difficult brothers and sisters meets the ordinary moments when patience feels hardest. This is for the nights when pulling away from everyone seems like the safest choice. Wherever sleep meets you along the way, let it. 🌲 The cricket field recording was captured on a cool autumn night at the Mount Carleton Provincial Park campground, with Luc seated beside his tent. The accompanying video was filmed at dawn. Every ambient sound beneath the narration comes from the real field recording. 📜 Sources: Hierocles, Elements of Ethics (Berlin Papyrus 9780, Greek text edited by Hans von Arnim, 1906); Hierocles, “On Fraternal Love” and “How We Ought to Conduct Ourselves Towards Our Kindred,” preserved by Stobaeus, translated by Thomas Taylor (1822); Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, translated by John C. Rolfe (1927). 🤍 Credits Created and produced by Luc Richard. Field recording, video, and photography captured on location by Luc Richard. Narration is AI-generated with ElevenLabs. The place and every ambient sound are real. 💬 If tonight helped, tell me one person you could move a single circle closer: a coworker, a neighbour, or someone who got under your skin today. I read every one. And follow, so there's always a quiet hour waiting when you need one. Sleep well. Nobody is outside the circle tonight. 🦗

    Meditate on Your Place in the Cosmic Circle and Fall Asleep 💤

  8. Sep 23

    The Senator Who Walked Out on Nero | A Sleepy Stoic Life from Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick

    Follow Sleepy Stoicism so the next quiet hour is waiting: 🔴 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BayBorealImmersive 🟣 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sleepy-stoicism/id6791053738 🛖 Come in, drifters. Cannot tell whether a stand you took was principle or pride? Tonight, follow Thrasea Paetus through a Senate walkout, a life-saving vote, and the decision to step away. Recorded beside a creek near the forest trail at Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick. ​💤 Fitbit Air Sleep Tracker - The most comfortable sleep tracker https://link.amazon/B0dIkIrsU​😮‍💨 Breathe Right Extra Strength - Strips for snoring https://amzn.to/4bDZFgY​ Affiliate links support the show at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Tonight, we follow Thrasea Paetus through public duty, withdrawal, and the people he tried to protect. This is for the night when you keep questioning whether a boundary came from judgment or anger. When does staying serve your values, and when does leaving? Wherever sleep meets you along the way, let it. 💧 Recorded beside a creek near the forest trail at Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park, New Brunswick, Canada. The moving water and occasional ducks beneath the narration are from that real recording. 📜 Passages adapted from Tacitus, Annals, books XIII through XVI (public domain; A.J. Church and W.J. Brodribb translation, 1876). Pliny the Younger, Letters 3.16 (public domain; Betty Radice translation, 1963). Epictetus, Discourses 1.2 (public domain; W.A. Oldfather translation, 1925). Cassius Dio, Roman History, book 62 (public domain; Earnest Cary translation, 1914). 🤍 Credits Field recording, video, and photography captured on location by Luc Richard. Narration is AI-generated with ElevenLabs.The place and every ambient sound are real. 💬 If tonight helped, tell me about a time you could not tell whether you were standing on principle or standing on pride. And follow, so there's always a quiet hour waiting when you need one. Sleep well. The water will keep moving until morning. 💧

    The Senator Who Walked Out on Nero | A Sleepy Stoic Life from Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick
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About

Philosophical sleep audio from the Maritimes. Real field recordings, creeks, falls, and rain captured on location across New Brunswick, paired with slow, spare readings from the Stoics, written to be fallen asleep to. Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Seneca at the pace of moving water. The narration is unhurried and finishes with ambient nature sounds. The location is real and named in every episode. Narration is AI-generated (ElevenLabs) from original scripts. Every ambient sound is real.

Information

  • Creator
    Luc Richard
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    34
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Luc Richard
  • Show Website
    Sleepy Stoicism