Are you ready to meditate with Kari?
Make sure that you're in your bed and you're laying down.
You can let your body relax,
Your muscles relax.
Let your mind start to slow down.
It would have been what felt like a long time since Heidi,
Cherry and Veir had been on a vacation.
Just a vacation where they just go with mom and dad.
They're not going to go meet anyone.
They're not going to go on a trip for a specific reason.
They were just going to go on a trip.
They were flying to Greece.
Mom had been to Greece before when she was really young and she wanted to go back.
They were going to visit a place called Crete.
It was beautiful in Greece.
That's all they knew.
Mom had been going on and on and on about it since she booked the flights and the hotel.
She'd made them watch Mamma Mia the movie lots of times.
The cats actually loved the movie because they liked to sing all the songs.
And she told them that this is Greece.
This is what it looks like.
Veir was very excited about Greece.
Oh,
I just am so excited.
It looks so pretty there.
My favorite thing I'm looking forward to is the oceans.
The oceans are crystal clear and you can see all the little fishes swimming around.
And when you look at the ocean from when you're standing on the beach,
Mom says that it looks like the best is blue.
It's a really pretty blue.
And blue is one of my favorite colors.
Cherry said,
I want to really do that thing where mama says that there's these,
These,
These like asciendas or whatever you would call them.
No,
Not,
I don't know what you would call them.
They're like,
They're like caves,
Right?
Well,
But they're not caves.
They're like dwellings.
Well,
They're not dwellings.
They're like,
Oh,
What is it called,
Heidi?
And there's a rock there and there's a rock there and then there's a beach in between the rocks.
Heidi said,
I think,
I think you're talking about a cove.
Yes,
Yes,
Yes,
Yes.
Apparently there's some beautiful coves,
Right?
And there's steps that are on the rocks,
Steps made into the rocks,
Right?
And you have to go down like 200 steps to get all the way down to the beach.
And the beaches are normally really secluded and pretty and there's not that many people there because think about it.
How many people can climb down 200 steps or climb up them?
I didn't even think about that.
Anyway,
Yeah.
So mom said normally down on these coves,
Right?
They have like tavernas.
That's it.
I remembered tavernas,
Not asciendas.
I think that's something else.
Anyway.
So yeah,
Like a taverna and in these tavernas,
They sell all these fancy things like all different Greek foods.
Can't wait to try all the different foods.
I'm really excited about that.
But there's one thing I'm not excited about.
I'm not excited about.
Like if we go,
Right?
And the plane ride is awful and there's like loads and loads of turbulence because I really don't like that.
And then what if we end up getting sat next to someone that's really grumpy?
And what if we get delayed?
And what if on the car ride to the airport,
There's lots of traffic and we get stuck in traffic?
And what if there's lots of traffic and we get stuck in traffic,
Right?
In the car ride on the way there.
And what if in the car ride on the way there,
We have like a car crash and then we have an accident and then we miss this aeroplane?
And what if we have to go to the hospital?
And what if if we get to the hospital,
Right?
There's loads of people there that are sick and then we get sick because the people there are sick.
Oh gosh.
And then what if we get really sick,
Right?
And then we can't go on a vacation because we're so sick.
Gosh,
What if we get COVID in the hospital because the traffic was bad and then we crashed the car and then when we got to the hospital,
We had like injuries and then we had to stay in the hospital and then while we were in the hospital,
There were so many people there with COVID and then we got COVID and then before,
You know what,
You can't go on a trip.
Oh gosh.
And then,
And then what if that doesn't happen,
Right?
But we're on the plane and all of a sudden the turbulence makes those air thingy McJiggies fall out from the sky,
What they called.
Heidi was laughing at Cherry by now because she knew Cherry was just panicking about anything that she could panic about,
Which meant Cherry was obviously just nervous about going on a trip.
This is what happens to Cherry.
She gets crazy thoughts and then those thoughts turn into other thoughts and those thoughts turn into bigger thoughts that are worrisome thoughts and those turn into even bigger thoughts that are now panic,
Panic stricken thoughts and then those thoughts could possibly turn into a panic attack if she's not careful and then those thoughts turn into,
Oh no,
My panic attacks are back.
So now I'm going to have panic attacks the whole vacation and then on and on and on.
Cherry said,
Oh gosh,
I'm tired.
Heidi said,
Yeah,
I'm not surprised you're tired.
Calm down.
You're letting your mind go crazy again.
You're letting your mind run away from you with all these what ifs,
What ifs,
What ifs.
And what have we done?
We've talked about this in the past.
What are what ifs?
They said,
Yes,
I know that one.
Cherry said,
Oh,
They'll be quiet.
Let me think because it's me that's having a turmoil.
It's me that's all stressed and tumbling like a tumbleweed.
What do we do?
What do we do when we have what ifs,
What ifs,
What ifs?
What are what ifs?
I remember.
They're a waste of time.
Exactly,
Said Heidi.
What ifs are a big waste of time because you can't guarantee that the what ifs are even going to happen?
If for example,
We get in the car to go to the airport and we end up stuck in traffic,
Then we can talk about what we need to do about it.
But we don't waste our time,
Upset our nervous system,
Get all upset and panicky,
Actually end up having panic attacks because of what ifs.
That's absolutely ridiculous,
Cherry.
Come on,
You know better.
Get a grip.
Cherry took five big deep breaths as if she was like a guppy fish,
Which made Veil laugh.
I think it would be better if you did slower breaths,
Cherry.
The fast quick breaths like a guppy fish aren't really helping you.
And she laughed again.
Cherry laughed a little bit because she did think that was funny.
And she remembered that Veil was right.
You're supposed to take long,
Deep,
Calm breaths to slow down,
To help you to calm down,
To help you to just pause and think for a second.
What you need to do,
Cherry,
Is wear elastic band around your wrist,
Around one of your paws,
Said Heidi.
Cherry said,
Oh,
Yeah,
I haven't done that in ages.
That would probably be a really good idea right now before my trip,
Because that BBM,
No,
CST,
No,
Oh gosh,
I forgot what it were.
C B T,
Cognitive behavioral therapy,
Said Heidi.
Yes,
Yes,
That's it right.
That's when you do something that calms your mind or changes your mind the way that you think and the elastic band,
Right,
I remember,
Genius idea.
I remember the elastic band,
Right,
You put it on your on your paw and then every time you have one of those like negative,
Like crazy panicky,
OMG,
What if,
Oh my goodness,
Gracious me,
What if,
Oh golly,
Golly gosh,
Crikey,
Mickey,
What if thoughts,
Right.
If I have one of those thoughts,
I snap the elastic band,
I snap my hairband and I snap it and it goes,
I go,
Ow,
Ouch,
Ouch,
Because I don't snap it too much that I'm bleeding or anything,
But I just snap it a little bit so it snaps and it like,
It twangs me and it hurts a little bit,
Right,
That's what I do.
And then the pain helps me to pause a second because it sends signals to my brain that says stop,
Ow,
That hurt and that stops me,
What if I'm gonna die,
Oh no,
What if I can't breathe on the aeroplane,
Oh no,
What if I get next to some guy that's really big and he squishes me in my seat,
Oh no,
Yeah,
Anyway,
So the pain goes to my brain,
Right,
And it pauses my thoughts and then I go really fast,
Really fast,
I go,
Cherry,
What if something is a waste of time,
Cherry,
What ifs are a waste of time and I repeat and I put it on repeat and I just say be in the now,
Be in the now,
Be in the now or I say all is well,
Everything's good,
I'm okay and I reinforce the reality instead of letting myself get all crazy and panicky about what ifs,
That's right,
Heidi,
Isn't it,
That's right,
That's what I do,
Heidi said,
You got it,
Go get a hairband,
Go get one right now,
A hairband,
Go get one,
Go get one right now,
All right,
All right,
Said cherry,
She went upstairs,
Went into the bathroom and got a hairband out of one of the bathroom drawers and then come back downstairs with it on her wrist,
Heidi checked it,
It was perfect,
It wasn't that tight that it was cutting off her blood circulation because that wouldn't be good and it wasn't that loose that you wouldn't actually get like a good smack from it when you pulled it,
It was just right,
Like porridge,
You know,
With the free bears,
One's too hot,
One's too cold and one is just right,
Her hairband was just right.
Okay,
Said cherry,
Now that I have some kind of solution,
I'm going to catch myself every time I do it and before you know it by next week when we go to Greece,
Lovely Crete,
Going down those steps,
Going listening to the ocean,
Sunbathing on the beach,
Eating cold water melon from some lovely guy called Juan or Yanis that walks by and he gives me the biggest watermelon because I know,
Mummy said that the watermelons over there are so sweet,
So delicious,
So much nicer than where we are and they're absolutely enormous,
She said that when she went to Crete when she was small,
Her dad had to carry the watermelon because it was so big,
It was like 50 pounds,
It was so big and the watermelon ate like five people on the beach,
No it didn't eat them,
No,
No,
The watermelon didn't eat the people,
The people ate the watermelon,
So silly.
Anyway see,
See,
I'm getting back to my normal self,
I'm already chilling,
I'm already so funny because I'm just so funny,
I'm already so funny,
I'm already so chilled and I'm already,
You know now that I'm feeling really good about this trip we should go upstairs and pack,
What are you guys going to pack?
Veya said,
I have so many new nice bikinis and one-piece swimsuits and I have a sarong that's so pretty and you tie it around you on the beach so you don't have to wear clothes to the beach and then you can just go in your flippy floppies and your sarong.
Oh said Cherry,
Did mum get me an ID one of those?
Veya said,
Yes she did,
We all have different ones with different colours.
Oh sweet,
Oh do you know what colour mine is?
Veya said,
Yours is bright orange and it has a big sunshine on it and it says OMG on it.
OMG,
Mum knows me so well,
I love my mum,
She's so cool.
Yeah,
Alright then so I say we go upstairs and we try on all us bikinis right and all us bathing suits and we try on our shorts because you know we don't get to wear shorts that often where we live and we wear our shorts and we can like mix and match and we can try each others on and then and then we can pack a bit and then and then we can pack,
You know what I need to do though,
So important,
I need to practice in my flippy floppies because sometimes if you have worn flippy floppies for a long time they can hurt your toes a bit can't they?
You know I always get like boo boo's in between my big toe and my first toe and I'm like ouch these flippy floppies aren't that comfortable,
Blooming flippy floppies and then I'm like after a few days,
Oh these flippy floppies are so comfy,
They're like an extension of my feet.
Heidi started laughing,
Ok let's go do it,
Let's pack our stuff,
Let's go try on bathing suits,
Let's wear in our flippy floppies and let's not do any more what if's right?
Right!
Said Cherry,
But you know what if my hairband breaks?
Just kidding,
That was a good one,
That was so good.
So good Cherry,
I'm going to pat myself on the back for that one.
Cherry patted herself on the back,
She thought that one was really funny,
It was quite funny but the funny thing was that there was like 20 other hairbands upstairs so she's not going to get away with doing a cognitive behavioural therapy.
The cats ended up having the best time in Greece,
They absolutely loved it.
Cherry was right,
Her favourite part was the tavernas down in the coves where you have to walk like 200 steps down.
Her least favourite part was walking 200 steps up,
Especially when you've been relaxing in the sun all day and now you want to nap and you're super tired.
200 steps up a rock is not much fun,
But she still did it every day,
She loved it there.
The landscape,
The people,
The food,
It was such a good vibe.
She decided that when she was older and she had babies of her own she was definitely going to go back to Greece.
It was definitely one of her favourite places.
The end.
