Bay & Boreal: Sleepy Stoicism

Luc Richard
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  • Philosophy
  • Updated Daily

Long-form 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 thins into a long ambient tail, so nothing loud or jarring waits after you drift off. The location is real and named in every episode. Narration is AI-generated (ElevenLabs) from original scripts. Every ambient sound is real, recorded in New Brunswick.

Episodes

  1. 1d ago

    The Open Hand | A Stoic Sleep Story from the Dobson Trail, NB

    🛖 Come along. We're walking tonight, deep under the canopy on the Dobson Trail, while the last of the light leaves the trees. The path is soft, the evening is going out around us one bird at a time, and you don't have to do anything at all. 🌙 My real sleep routine, the one I actually run every night (affiliate links, so using them supports the show at no extra cost to you): 😮‍💨 Breathe Right Extra Strength strips: ⁠https://amzn.to/4bDZFgY⁠ 🕶️ Blue light blockers for the last hour of the day: ⁠https://amzn.to/4fjFLZV⁠ ✨ Magnesium bisglycinate before bed: ⁠https://amzn.to/4eW3rEI⁠ 🦷 The mouth guard I actually use for grinding: ⁠https://amzn.to/4gBZ2rQ⁠ 0:00 The Dobson Trail at Dusk 4:03 The Argument with an Empty Room 5:34 The Boy from the White Hills 17:46 The Tyrant Runs Out of Script 23:31 The Truck on the Creek Road 29:01 Putting Out the Lights Tonight is for the argument you're having with someone who isn't in the room, the angry face you've given a person before they've said a single word. The oldest answer to it comes from Epictetus, born a slave, lame in one leg, exiled by an emperor, and freer than any of the men who owned or banished him. His whole life, told slow, from the white hills of Hierapolis to the lamplit school at Nicopolis, with the one sentence that has crossed nineteen centuries to find you: we are disturbed not by things, but by the views we take of them. And a truck on a creek road much closer to home, where I finally had to spend the teaching myself. Wherever sleep meets you along the way, let it. 💧 Recorded on the Dobson Trail, near Riverview, New Brunswick, at dusk, in one continuous take. Every sound beneath the narration is that trail, exactly as the evening passed, and the footsteps under the narration are mine. Nothing looped, nothing repeated. 📜 Passages adapted from Epictetus, the Enchiridion and the Discourses (trans. Elizabeth Carter, 1758). 🤍 Honesty from the hut: the narration is AI-generated (ElevenLabs) from scripts written for this show. The places are real, the recordings are real, always. 💬 If tonight helped, tell me about a time the person you dreaded turned out kinder than the one you'd drawn, or where in the Maritimes you'd like to drift off next. And follow, so there's always a quiet hour waiting when you need one. Sleep well. Keep your one lamp; let the rest go out. 🌲

    The Open Hand | A Stoic Sleep Story from the Dobson Trail, NB

  2. 3d ago

    The Inner Citadel | A Stoic Sleep Story from Dickson Falls, NB

    🛖 Come in, drifters. No walking tonight. There's a wooden platform at the bottom of the Dickson Falls ravine, right beside the water, and I came down the stairs early, so I'm already sitting. You lie where you are, and let the falls hold the hour. 🌙 My real sleep routine, the one I actually run every night (affiliate links, so using them supports the show at no extra cost to you): 😮‍💨 Breathe Right Extra Strength strips: https://amzn.to/4bDZFgY 🕶️ Blue light blockers for the last hour of the day: https://amzn.to/4fjFLZV ✨ Magnesium bisglycinate before bed: https://amzn.to/4eW3rEI 🦷 The mouth guard I actually use for grinding: https://amzn.to/4gBZ2rQ 00:00 The Platform at Dickson Falls 04:31 The Rehearsal 14:39 The Tent on the Danube 26:39 The Courier Tonight is for the dread of tomorrow, the meeting or the appointment or the conversation that leans over the rail of your bed and starts holding auditions before it has even happened. The oldest answer to it comes from Marcus Aurelius, who ran an empire through flood and plague and wars he never wanted, and who sat up by lamplight in a tent on the Danube writing notes to his own soul, reminding it that a mind gathered and free from panic is a citadel that cannot be stormed. His whole life told through its dreaded tomorrows, from the boy who slept on boards to the night his most trusted general turned against him, told slow, beside the real cold water of Dickson Falls. Wherever sleep meets you along the way, let it. 💧 Recorded at Dickson Falls, in Fundy National Park near Alma, New Brunswick, down in the ravine, in one continuous take. Every sound beneath the narration is that waterfall, exactly as the evening passed. Nothing looped, nothing borrowed. 📜 Passages adapted from Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (trans. George Long, 1862), gently modernized for listening. 🤍 Honesty from the hut: the narration is AI-generated (ElevenLabs) from scripts written for this show. The places are real, the recordings are real, always. 💬 If tonight helped, tell me what tomorrow keeps sending to your gate, or where in the Maritimes you'd like to drift off next. And follow, so there's always a quiet hour waiting when you need one. Sleep well. Nothing is coming up the road. 🌲

    The Inner Citadel | A Stoic Sleep Story from Dickson Falls, NB

  3. 3d ago

    The Doused Fire | A Stoic Sleep Story from Irishtown Nature Park, NB

    🛖 Come in. No walking tonight, we're staying in. The rain moved in at dusk and never let up, the lamp is turned low, and the roof is doing the thing tin roofs were made for. (00:00) Rain at Irishtown (03:46) The Argument That Didn't Finish (06:45) The Brother's Prescription (13:12) The Raised Hand (27:34) The Lamp Carried Out Tonight is for the argument that didn't finish, the one you carried to bed and are still winning in your head at midnight. The oldest answer to it comes from Seneca, who wrote three books on anger for his own hot-tempered brother and set one remedy above all the rest: the greatest cure for anger is delay. Plato's raised hand that never came down, Socrates going quiet, Cato at the baths, and the night Seneca put out his own lamp and pardoned himself before sleep, told slow, under real rain on a real metal roof. Wherever sleep meets you along the way, let it. 🌙 My real sleep routine, the one I actually run every night (affiliate links, so using them supports the show at no extra cost to you): 😮‍💨 Breathe Right Extra Strength strips: https://amzn.to/4bDZFgY 🕶️ Blue light blockers for the last hour of the day: https://amzn.to/4fjFLZV ✨ Magnesium bisglycinate before bed: https://amzn.to/4eW3rEI 🦷 The mouth guard I actually use for grinding: https://amzn.to/4gBZ2rQ 💧 Recorded at Irishtown Nature Park, Moncton, New Brunswick, on a rainy night, in one continuous take. Every sound beneath the narration is that rain on the roof, exactly as it fell. Nothing looped, nothing repeated. 📜 Passages adapted from Seneca, On Anger (trans. Aubrey Stewart, 1889), and Marcus Aurelius (trans. George Long, 1862). 🤍 Honesty from the hut: the narration is AI-generated (ElevenLabs) from scripts written for this show. The places are real, the recordings are real, always. 💬 If tonight helped, tell me what argument you're setting down till morning, or where in the Maritimes you'd like to drift off next. And follow, so there's always a quiet hour waiting when you need one. Sleep well. Nothing hot survives a night of rain. 🌲

    The Doused Fire | A Stoic Sleep Story from Irishtown Nature Park, NB

  4. 5d ago

    Welcome In, Drifters | Stoic Sleep Stories from New Brunswick

    🛖 Come along. Slow Stoic sleep stories, walked through real places in New Brunswick. Real trails, real water, and the footsteps under the narration are mine. One worry a night, one old answer, and nowhere you have to be. 🤍 Honesty from the hut: the narration is AI-generated (ElevenLabs) from scripts written for this show. The places are real, the recordings are real, always. 💬 Follow, so there's always a quiet hour waiting when you need one. Sleep well. 🌲

  5. 5d ago

    No Great Thing Is Sudden | A Stoic Sleep Story from Rotary St-Anselme Park, NB

    🛖 Come in. No walking tonight. There's a bench by the pond at Rotary St-Anselme, and I got here early, and I'm already sitting. Tonight is for the nights you feel behind in life, the midnight ledger that adds up where you should be by now and always returns the same verdict. Epictetus had the gentlest answer ever given to it, and it's about a fig: no great thing is created suddenly. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen. The two clocks, the woodpile, and the man who started his life's work at fifty, told slow, under real wind moving through real leaves, recorded in one long unbroken take. Wherever sleep meets you along the way, let it. (0:00) The Bench by the Pond (3:11) The Ledger (5:53) The Fig (9:06) The Woodpile (12:35) The Man Who Started at Fifty (17:23) Sorting the Ledger (43:35) The Wind, All Night 🌙 My real sleep routine, the one I actually run every night (affiliate links, so using them supports the show at no extra cost to you): 😮‍💨 Breathe Right Extra Strength strips: https://amzn.to/4bDZFgY 🕶️ Blue light blockers for the last hour of the day: https://amzn.to/4fjFLZV ✨ Magnesium bisglycinate before bed: https://amzn.to/4eW3rEI 🦷 The mouth guard I actually use for grinding: https://amzn.to/4gBZ2rQ 💧 Recorded at Rotary St-Anselme Park, Dieppe, New Brunswick, in one continuous take. Every sound beneath the narration is that park, exactly as the evening passed. Nothing looped, nothing repeated. 📜 Passages adapted from Epictetus (trans. Elizabeth Carter, 1758) and Marcus Aurelius (trans. George Long, 1862). 🤍 Honesty from the hut: the narration is AI-generated (ElevenLabs) from scripts written for this show. The places are real, the recordings are real, always. 💬 If tonight helped, tell me what the midnight ledger tries to charge you with, or where in the Maritimes you'd like to drift off next. And follow, so there's always a quiet hour waiting when you need one. Sleep well. You were never behind. 🌲

    No Great Thing Is Sudden | A Stoic Sleep Story from Rotary St-Anselme Park, NB

  6. Jul 15

    The Imagined Storm | A Stoic Sleep Story from Crooked Creek Falls, NB

    🛖 Come in. We're back at the hut tonight. The door's open, the lamp is low, and the fire is kept small on purpose, so the creek can do the talking. Tonight is for the three in the morning mind, the one that builds tomorrow's storm down to the last nail and makes you stand out in it. So I'm telling you a whole life the strange way, through its nights. Seneca, the most worried Stoic who ever lived: the sick boy counting breaths, the exile whose catastrophe turned out to have stars in it, the old man with three quiet practices against the dark. We suffer more often in imagination than in reality, and his whole life is the proof, told slow, beside real falling water. Wherever sleep meets you along the way, let it. 🌙 My real sleep routine, the one I actually run every night (affiliate links, so using them supports the show at no extra cost to you): 😮‍💨 Breathe Right Extra Strength strips: https://amzn.to/4bDZFgY 🕶️ Blue light blockers for the last hour of the day: https://amzn.to/4fjFLZV ✨ Magnesium bisglycinate before bed: https://amzn.to/4eW3rEI 🦷 The mouth guard I actually use for grinding: https://amzn.to/4gBZ2rQ 💧 Recorded at Crooked Creek Falls, Albert County, New Brunswick. Every sound beneath the narration is that water, exactly as it fell. 📜 Passages adapted from Seneca (trans. Richard Gummere, 1917, and Aubrey Stewart, 1889) and Marcus Aurelius (trans. George Long, 1862). 🤍 Honesty from the hut: the narration is AI-generated (ElevenLabs) from scripts written for this show. The places are real, the recordings are real, always. 💬 If tonight helped, tell me what keeps you up at three in the morning, or where in the Maritimes you'd like to drift off next. And follow, so there's always a quiet hour waiting when you need one. Sleep well. The door stays open all night. 🌲

    The Imagined Storm | A Stoic Sleep Story from Crooked Creek Falls, NB

  7. Jul 15

    The Lamp | A Stoic Sleep Story from Irishtown Nature Park, NB

    🛖 Come along. The hut can keep the fire tonight, we're taking the path. The footsteps you hear are mine, real ones, on a real trail, and they'll carry you the whole way. You don't have to take a single step. Tonight, the life of Epictetus, the slave who couldn't be owned. Born property, lamed young, owner of one iron lamp, and the freest man in Rome. A slow evening walk through his whole story, from the white stone hills of Hierapolis to the little rented room where an emperor learned to be free. Wherever sleep meets you along the way, let it. 🌙 My real sleep routine, the one I actually run every night (affiliate links, so using them supports the show at no extra cost to you): 😮‍💨 Breathe Right Extra Strength strips: https://amzn.to/4bDZFgY 🕶️ Blue light blockers for the last hour of the day: https://amzn.to/4fjFLZV ✨ Magnesium bisglycinate before bed: https://amzn.to/4eW3rEI 🦷 The mouth guard I actually use for grinding: https://amzn.to/4gBZ2rQ 💧 Recorded at Irishtown Nature Park, Moncton, New Brunswick, on a single morning walk. Every sound beneath the narration is that trail, exactly as it happened. 📜 Passages adapted from Epictetus (trans. Elizabeth Carter, 1758) and Marcus Aurelius (trans. George Long, 1862). 🤍 Honesty from the hut: the narration is AI-generated (ElevenLabs) from scripts written for this show. The places are real, the recordings are real, always. 💬 If tonight helped, tell me where you're drifting off from, or where in the Maritimes we should walk next. And follow, so there's always a quiet hour waiting when you need one. Sleep well. The trail carries you the whole way.

    The Lamp | A Stoic Sleep Story from Irishtown Nature Park, NB

  8. Jul 14

    The Dichotomy of Control | The Hut at Crooked Creek Falls, NB

    🛖 Come in. The door's open, the lamp is low, and the fire is kept small on purpose, so the creek can do the talking. Tonight, the oldest and simplest idea the Stoics ever had: some things are yours, and most things are not. A slow walk through Epictetus' dichotomy of control, told from the hut by the falls. Wherever sleep meets you along the way, let it. 🌙 My real sleep routine, the one I actually run every night (affiliate links, so using them supports the show at no extra cost to you): 😮‍💨 Breathe Right Extra Strength strips: https://amzn.to/4bDZFgY 🕶️ Blue light blockers for the last hour of the day: https://amzn.to/4fjFLZV ✨ Magnesium bisglycinate before bed: https://amzn.to/4eW3rEI 🦷 The mouth guard I actually use for grinding: https://amzn.to/4gBZ2rQ 💧 Recorded at Crooked Creek Falls, Albert County, New Brunswick. Every sound beneath the narration is that water, exactly as it fell. 📜 Passages adapted from Epictetus (trans. Elizabeth Carter, 1758), Marcus Aurelius (trans. George Long, 1862), and Seneca (trans. Aubrey Stewart, 1889). 🤍 Honesty from the hut: the narration is AI-generated (ElevenLabs) from scripts written for this show. The places are real, the recordings are real, always. 💬 If tonight helped, tell me where in the Maritimes you'd like to fall asleep next. And follow, so there's always a quiet hour waiting when you need one. Sleep well. The door stays open all night. 🌲

    The Dichotomy of Control | The Hut at Crooked Creek Falls, NB

Trailer

About

Long-form 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 thins into a long ambient tail, so nothing loud or jarring waits after you drift off. The location is real and named in every episode. Narration is AI-generated (ElevenLabs) from original scripts. Every ambient sound is real, recorded in New Brunswick.

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