Needed variations of ambience videos

When I wake up at 2 a.m. with catastrophe on my mind (“Did I start the dishwasher? Do they still make Tiny Chiclets gum? What’s the prime lending rate?”), I sometimes stream eight-hour ambience videos like “Rain on Tropical Leaves” to lull myself back to sleep. I can’t explain why tropical leaves receive rain in a more soothing manner than regular leaves, but they do.

A few nights ago, when a video of “Himalayan Singing Bowls” (it’s a real thing) failed to settle my overactive consciousness, I found myself constructing scenarios for better ambience videos, because… that’s relaxing.

If you’ve never seen one, ambience videos typically show a relaxing set of vistas while playing ambient sounds consistent with the view: crashing waves for the beach, singing birds for a forest scene, and so on.

I now have plans to make an ambience video entitled, “Quiet Chirping of the Crickets I Don’t Have to Kill.” I enjoy a peaceful evening, complete with a chorus of singing crickets, but only if they’re singing somewhere in the trackless wild. When I hear a cricket chirping indoors, I feel an irresistible urge to hunt it down. That sounds a little aggressive. Maybe “Quiet Chirping of Crickets in the Wider World” is more humane. The video portion would be a twilight meadow.

I kind of want an ambience video that shows a crackling fire, with the sound of someone doing dishes in the next room. Why is this relaxing? First, it’s a fire, and a crackling fire conjures feelings of safety and security. Second, someone (not me) is doing the dishes. For variety, it could include the sound of someone starting the washing machine or even running the vacuum cleaner in another part of the house. All those jobs being completed, none of them by me. I’d call it, “Soothing Sounds of Someone Else Doing My Chores.” It would be a lullaby tribute video to wish fulfillment.

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