One thought after another? Set each one on a leaf
Another thought comes, and that’s fine. Place it on a leaf, set it on the water and let it drift. Each thought you let go makes a little more room, a little more quiet.
Watch on YouTube · SleepBetter channel · Guided Meditations
Made with AI. Parts of this video are AI-generated (see “How this was made” below).
What it is
A twenty-two-second cut of the leaf moment from our guided sleep meditation for overthinking, the same voice and the same words. It doesn’t ask you to stop thinking. It accepts that another thought will come and gives it somewhere to go: onto a leaf, onto the water, and away. The picture is a still lake with leaves drifting slowly across it.
How to use it for sleep
Try it once you are lying down with the brightness low. When the next thought arrives, picture it on a leaf and watch it float off, without arguing with it or solving it. Do that for a few thoughts in a row. If it helps, put on the full meditation afterwards: it carries the same idea through a counted breath, a body scan and a slow countdown, about 1 hour 17 minutes in all.
Best for
Thoughts that arrive one after another, replaying the day and planning tomorrow at midnight. For other ways to set thoughts down, leaves on a stream uses a moving stream, and set each thought adrift puts them in lanterns that lift off a lake. This is a relaxation exercise, not therapy; if racing thoughts are wearing you down, a health professional can help.
Sound design note
Under the voice is the soft binaural tone bed from the full meditation, made by SleepBetter. On a phone speaker it is just a gentle hum, so headphones are optional for a clip this short.
Transcript
The narration, as spoken:
Another thought comes… and that’s fine.
Place it on a leaf… set it on the water… and let it drift.
Each thought you let go makes a little more room… a little more quiet…
How this was made
The narration is an AI-generated voice (ElevenLabs, voice “Solomon” from the ElevenLabs voice library), reading an original script written by SleepBetter. The lake and drifting leaves are AI-generated still images with slow motion added by SleepBetter. The binaural tone bed is generated by SleepBetter.
Keep watching
Video · 1 h 17 minGuided sleep meditation for overthinking: let the thoughts drift past
Breathing, a body scan and a lake under the stars, then a soft binaural bed.
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Video · 57 minutesDrifting off: a guided bedtime meditation for letting go of overthinking
Set the day down, write open loops into a notebook, drift across a lake.
SoundBinaural beats for sleep
A real hearing effect with mixed evidence. How they work and how to try them.
Free tool4-7-8 breathing exercise
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Sleep videos and guided relaxation are for general wellness, not medical advice. If poor sleep is affecting your days, talk to a doctor or a sleep specialist.