Bedtime with Captain EJ.
Today we will be up on the honeybee hilltop where we can look out over all there is to see.
A cheerful group of squirrels approach us as if they want to show us something.
All you have to do is close your eyes,
Get cozy,
And listen to the sound of my voice.
Captain EJ will lead the way.
Let's begin.
You are here,
Sitting at the very top of a tall,
Grassy hill on a beautifully sunny day.
Turn your head all the way to one side until you feel a little stretch so the sun shines down on your cheek.
Then turn your head all the way to the other side until you can feel a little stretch on that side as well.
Bring your gaze back to a comfortable center and take a slow,
Deep breath in through your nose.
Feel the coolness of the air coming in through your nose and filling up your lungs.
Then slowly breathe all the way out through your mouth.
As you hear a furry friend scurry up beside you,
A little brown squirrel,
Then another,
And another appear right in front of you and sits down with you to share this wonderful afternoon.
The trio of tiny squirrels look up at you with cheeks bursting full of acorns.
They each hold a couple more in their paws because they can't fit them in their cheeks.
One squirrel comes up to you,
Slowly and cautiously at first,
And hands you one of his acorns before darting off in the other direction down the hill.
His two squirrel friends follow behind him,
Each struggling to keep hold of their extra acorns.
When the squirrels get to where they are going at the bottom of the hill,
They each pile their acorns into one big pile.
While one of them stands up on her hind legs acting as the lookout,
Carefully scanning their surroundings,
The other two bury the pile of acorns in the soil.
What the squirrels can't fit in their cheeks,
They bury in the ground in secret locations all over the forest.
They think of it like buried treasure,
But the squirrel kind.
Acorns are precious to squirrels and they tuck them away for later when they find themselves with a bounty.
Take another slow,
Deep breath in through your nose.
Feel the space your breath creates between your ribs as a place for you to bury treasure like the squirrels.
Then slowly breathe all the way out through your mouth,
As the squirrels make their way back up to you at the top of the hill.
What the squirrel instinctively knows how to do is something you can do as well.
Each of these squirrels buries what it can't use now for later,
Like treasure for some other day.
Since no two acorns are alike,
This buried treasure is varied and spontaneous.
While buried beneath the soil,
Some acorns absorb too much rain and don't get enough sunlight.
Those acorns get soggy and slowly decompose beneath the soil,
Never becoming anything else.
Other acorns absorb just enough water and get just enough sunshine to become brand new oak trees that are strong enough to push through the darkness of the soil and find the sunshine for themselves.
What we bury of our experiences,
The good,
The not so good,
And the neutral,
Are like the piles of acorns these squirrels find and bury as treasure.
Each memory,
Feeling,
Thought,
And reaction is unique to us and unique in our ecosystem.
They will each be watered and shined down upon by the weather we experience in our day-to-day lives.
Some of these acorns become too soggy and we need to dig them out,
To replace them with acorns that can grow into its very own oak tree someday.
These soggy acorns buried in our hearts can look like worries.
Worries about not being good enough.
Worries about not being worthy of unconditional love and support.
Worries that dim your sparkling brilliance that no one else on earth possesses.
The world around you needs you to be the best you that you can be.
Whenever you need to,
Dig up these buried things to make room for other things.
Take a slow,
Deep breath in through your nose.
Dig at least one soggy acorn out of your heart as you feel it beat once,
Twice,
Three times.
Then slowly breathe all the way out through your mouth and send your worries out onto the breeze to carry away with its invisible force and clear your mind and your spirit of that needless burden.
Let yourself feel weightless here at the top of the hill,
As if you too can float on the breeze.
When one of the squirrels taps your leg with its tiny paw,
You are brought back to this grounded place and you reach out to grab yet another golden brown acorn from her paws.
Since you've made room in your heart for more buried treasure,
Your new squirrel friend brought you a fresh acorn to bury.
Studying the acorn in your hand,
Let it become something that you can use later when you need it.
Something that reminds you of how loved you are,
How much the world around you needs you to be the most perfect you and nothing else.
Anything that you can dig up and use when you need it most.
She helps you dig a little hole in the soil where you drop the acorn in.
Take your slowest,
Deepest breath in through your nose.
Tell yourself I love you in your own voice as a reminder that you are a great friend,
Even to yourself.
Then slowly breathe all the way out through your mouth and bury this affirmation of self love and self belief in your heart as an acorn in the soil.
Your heart center is a treasure chest that you polish and tend with inner monologue of thoughts you think to yourself.
Let those thoughts be hopeful,
Loving and gentle whenever you can because you deserve that peace.
Wherever you find a soggy acorn,
You can dig it up and see how it reacts to the bright sunshine above ground.
Your heart is a place where you deserve to be cherished and surrounded by treasure.
Though it stays buried,
Locked away from an onlooker's view,
You can always know it's right there waiting for you.
That concludes our story.
I can't wait to see you again.
Captain EJ,
Over and out.
