Are you ready to meditate with Kari?
Are you ready to stay as still as you possibly can in your bed?
Don't wiggle around too much.
No getting out of your bed.
Just try and stay still and quiet so that your body can relax after your long busy day.
Stanley was a very cute little mouse that had made friends with Tally,
A very big beautiful horse.
And their friendship happened by accident.
Most of the time when horses see mice they just lift their legs and make a lot of noise and they don't really like mice very much.
But one day Tally was in the field just pacing back and forward in the small square that she had.
She was longing for the day where she could run as fast as she possibly could.
She was thinking about how she could escape.
If only I could break through this gate or jump over this big fence.
I've never been good at jumping,
She thought to herself.
If I could open the gate with my mouth or my teeth maybe I could get into the field next door.
Where she was situated was right next to a big,
Big,
Big field.
The field seemed to go on as far as your eyes could see.
Every day was the same for as long as Tally could remember.
She would pace back and forth in her small little square and dream about the big field.
On one day when she was dreaming and pacing she looked at the fence just by accident and saw a little mouse staring right at her.
She went over to the mouse and the mouse didn't run away.
She wasn't scared of the mouse so she started talking to it.
What's your name?
Said Tally.
The mouse said Stanley.
Hi Stanley,
My name's Tally.
Hi,
Said Stanley.
What you doing?
I've been watching you for some time now and you seem to be just going backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards.
Going one side and then the other side and then the other side.
You're making me dizzy.
Tally said,
That's all I really can do in this little square.
I can't run as fast as the wind can take me.
I can't gallop or trot or jump or bounce.
I can't really do very much at all except go back and forth and back and forth to the left and then to the right.
It's about ten paces in all.
How can you gallop and be free when there's only ten paces?
Stanley said,
What about this big field next to you?
How can you go running in that one?
That field isn't my field,
Said Tally.
It doesn't belong to me.
It belongs to another farmer.
Well,
Do you think the farmer would mind if you went running and playing in their field?
Tally said,
I don't know.
I've never been able to.
Stanley said,
I think me and you have got the opposite problem.
I have too much space.
It takes me so long to get to one side of the field and then the other side of the field and I can go anywhere I want.
But to be honest with you,
I'm too tired.
I can't really go all the way to the other side of this field because I can't ever see the end of it.
It just goes on and on and on and on and I would love one day to be able to see the other side of this field.
Maybe they've got some nice sweet corn or something yummy to nibble on.
But you know,
It would take me weeks to get to the other side of this field.
So you would get there very quickly but you can't go and I can go but I can't go because it would take me too long to get to the other side.
Quite a colundrum.
Tally said,
Yes,
Exactly.
Unless you know how to open a gate,
Then we've both got the same problem in a little bit of a different way.
But still,
The problem is still there.
Stanley said,
Oh I know how to open a gate alright.
I'm very nifty with these little fingers.
I can do all sorts of stuff.
We have to learn,
You know,
When we're small.
Otherwise how would we pinch bread and find crumbs and escape from big giant predators.
I can do all sorts me.
I'm really smart.
I bet I could open this gate.
You watch.
Stanley started to open the gate with his little tiny mouse claws.
He could do it.
He did it.
In fact,
It didn't take him very long at all.
Tally was absolutely over the moon.
I have an idea,
She said.
Why don't you climb into my mane and hold on tight and we'll go to the other side of the field together.
Then we both get to get rid of our problem.
Oh,
Said Stanley.
That's a wonderful idea.
I'm coming.
I'm coming.
Stanley run up the middle of Tally's nose,
Ran between her ears,
Settled at the top of her head,
Nestled in a bunch of her hair.
That way you wouldn't fall out.
Hold on tight,
Said Tally.
She took a big deep breath,
Gazed at the field in front of her.
The grass was long.
There was wildflowers here and there.
She sniffed in all the different smells,
Closed her eyes and stood there for a moment,
Completely still,
As if she was in a trance.
She couldn't believe that this was it.
She was going to actually get to run,
To sprint,
To gallop as fast as she could.
She was a little bit overwhelmed with the feeling that she was feeling inside.
Her heart was swelling.
It was beating super fast.
She knew she was happy,
But at the same time she felt quite nervous,
A little bit scared.
What if she got into trouble?
What if something happened?
What if she liked it that much that she would never,
Could never want to go back into her tiny little square?
This was about to change her entire world.
All she'd ever known was this tiny little square.
What if she changed that much that she couldn't bear to be her old self again?
All of these thoughts were racing through her mind so quickly.
Change is such a big deal.
Can be so scary sometimes.
But sometimes,
There's just no way that we can stay the same.
We have to change.
We have to break free.
Tally started to move her front hooves back and forth,
Kicking the dirt underneath them.
She was revving her engine,
Starting to get the power,
The nerves.
She was focused.
She was ready to go.
She started running,
Not too fast at first.
Are you okay up there?
She said to Stanley,
Her new little friend.
I'm great.
You just go.
Run like the clappers.
Be like the wind.
That's all it took.
Tally was off.
Oh,
She could run.
She ran so fast,
The wind was blowing in her cheeks.
It was drying her teeth.
She was smiling from ear to ear,
And the wind was blowing through her teeth and wobbling her cheeks and it felt funny.
The sound of her hooves on the ground galloping,
Mesmerizing.
She'd never heard it before.
It was the best sound.
Freedom.
I'm free,
She kept saying to herself inside of her mind.
I'm free.
I'm finally free.
She ran through the long grass,
Galloping faster,
Faster and faster.
Stanley was bouncing around all over the place,
Giggling away.
Yee hee,
This is the best ride ever.
She knew Stanley was okay.
He was safe.
And she just kept running and running and running and running.
She ran in circles.
She ran all over the field,
All over every single part of it,
As if it was made of a big sheet of white snow.
All she wanted to do was just stomp all over the snow so there was no parts of it left untrudden.
She ran and made circles in the long grass,
Shapes,
Twirlies,
Corkscrews.
She jumped,
She pranced.
Then it was her intention to get all the way to the other side of the field.
She really buckled down.
Her head came down.
She closed her mouth.
And she ran faster than she had ever ran before.
When she made it to the other side of the field,
Stanley said,
Wow,
This is so beautiful.
The field was covered in rainbow-colored flowers.
They were absolutely everywhere.
Knee-high rainbow-colored flowers and the smell was so intense and pretty.
Oh,
Said Tali as she took the deepest breath in.
I've never smelled anything like it.
These flowers were so far away that we never got the sniff of them.
Not even a little twitch of them.
All this was here and we didn't even know,
Stanley.
It's the prettiest thing I've ever seen.
As far as both their eyes could see,
The flowers just went on and on and on.
Fields of glorious colored flowers.
All different colors.
It was like being in another world.
Like being in heaven if it was made of flowers.
If you can imagine looking at the sky and instead of seeing clouds,
Just flowers.
Thousands and thousands of flowers.
Can you imagine?
That's what they were looking at.
Just automatically,
Instinctively,
Tali laid down in the field surrounded by all of these beautiful smelling flowers.
Tali climbed down off her mane and took a seat on the side of her cheek.
He could barely talk.
Beautiful,
He kept saying.
Simply beautiful.
Tali closed her eyes and just smelt.
Just smelt the flowers,
The breeze,
The dirt.
Everything was so different.
So fresh.
This must be what freedom smells like,
Said Tali.
I definitely like this side of the field,
Said Stanley.
I could stay here forever,
Tali said.
Why don't we?
She closed her eyes and started to dream about a life in the flower fields.
How every day would be so bright and beautiful.
Every day she could smell the different smells and run and play and gallop.
In her dreams,
Her and Stanley were the bestest friends and they had all sorts of different adventures day after day.
They were both free.
They didn't have their problems anymore.
Whenever Stanley needed to go somewhere,
Tali was right there and Tali was no longer locked in her tiny little square.
She was free.
As free as a bird flying in the sky full of flowers.
Tali slept and slept.
This was the best day.
The best day that she'd ever had.
And she was never going to be the same.
The end.
