Hello my friends,
This is Crystal.
Are you ready for a story?
As you get all nice and settled in,
Just take a moment to take a look around you.
Wherever you are,
Just notice what you see around you.
Listening with your ears,
What do you hear going on around you?
Any loud sounds?
Any quiet sounds?
Who is there with you as you get all settled in for some quiet,
Restful time?
What comfy,
Cozy things are all around you that make you feel most comfortable,
Most relaxed?
Take your hand and feel your blanket or your pillow.
Notice how soft it is.
Or maybe if there's any patterns or textures on it,
Just notice how that feels with your hand.
Listening closely to any sounds that might be going on around you.
And if it's quiet,
Notice what that feeling of quiet is like.
Is it warm and soft?
Or maybe it feels thick and heavy.
Take a nice big breath in,
As big as you can,
And then letting it out.
See if you can sigh as it comes out.
One more time in and out,
Letting it out long and soft and just sighing if you can.
Great job.
And now close your eyes down.
Relax back.
And remember again in your mind's eye what the things around you look like.
Remember the feeling of being so comfy and cozy as you imagine in your mind the room,
Your bed or your couch,
Your blanket and pillows.
And as you notice all of them,
Remember them in your mind.
You can relax back even further and get so,
So comfortable.
Now this story begins at your favorite summer spot.
No matter whether you're listening to this during the winter,
The spring,
The fall or the summer,
In your mind bring yourself to your very favorite place to be on a hot summer day.
And wherever that is,
All of your favorite people are there.
Your loved ones,
Friends,
Those people who are most special to you and who make you feel the happiest.
They are all there with you on this sunny summer day.
And you and your favorite person had just been playing and all of a sudden a dog wandered in.
You notice the dog out of the corner of your eye,
Its fluffy furs,
Little perked up ears.
Then after getting permission from a trusted adult,
You run over to the dog and begin to pet it.
It's soft fur.
This feels so lovely under your hand.
Maybe it starts to lick you,
Trying to befriend you too.
Being around this dog makes you remember how much you love animals and how much you would like to be surrounded with your favorite animals right now.
All of a sudden you have a great idea,
Which you promptly share with your favorite person who's right there with you.
Let's have a pet party.
After asking permission,
You call up everyone you know who has pets.
Can you name all the pets that you know?
Take a moment to bring them all to your mind.
And you ask those people to bring their pets for a party.
Perhaps if you don't have pets of your own,
Or if you don't know a lot of people with pets,
You call the local animal shelter and ask them to bring some of their favorite animals to your party.
Now with all of the pets invited,
You set about making up decorations for the party.
So I'd like for you to imagine in your mind how you would decorate for a pet party.
What kind of decorations would you make for the walls?
Would you hang balloons?
What are the best kind of decorations for a pet party?
Now imagine what kind of food you would have for the pets.
Would you have wet food?
Or dry food?
Would you make them a big cake out of all their favorite kinds of foods?
Would you put hot dogs on the cake?
Maybe some cat treats?
What kind of treats would you make for these animals at the pet party?
So you and your friend made all these preparations for the party and everything was prepared and in place,
Waiting for the guests to arrive.
Now your new dog friend was still there with you.
Since he's the one who inspired you to have the party,
He was definitely there to participate.
Then all of a sudden he starts barking and you can see cars coming up the road with all the pets arriving for the party.
Your dog friend gets so excited and starts running and chasing after the cars.
All of a sudden there's a parade of happy,
Excited dogs and cats running toward the party.
You have to herd them in so they don't run off.
But you get all of them in and they're there,
Safe and sound.
Now notice any pets at the party that you know.
What are their names?
Say a family pet or neighbors pets?
Pets from the animal shelter?
How many dogs are there?
How many cats?
Are there any other kinds of animals there?
Maybe mice or gerbils or rabbits?
Just take a moment to notice them all.
Now it was a party atmosphere,
But some of the animals weren't getting along.
Two dogs were staring each other down and a dog and a cat were growling at each other over the treats.
When two puppies tried to jump over the gate together to escape,
You knew you had to do something.
So you and your friend brought out the big,
Beautiful,
Made just for animals,
Pet cake full of all their favorite things.
All the running,
Jumping and chaos in the yard stopped as all the animals,
One by one,
Saw the cake and just took off towards it.
They ate and they ate and they ate.
Everyone got some part of the cake and every pet was satisfied at the end.
Most of all,
You were the most satisfied and happy knowing that you had all of your favorite animals right there with you.
Once they were done eating,
Just like animals tend to do,
One by one they each found a shady spot and started to lay down for a nap.
Just like them,
With their full bellies and happy hearts,
You were starting to get very,
Very sleepy as well.
So I'm going to count down from 5 to 1.
And just like the pets at the party,
As I do,
You're going to get even more comfy and cozy and ready to drift down into sleep.
Number 5.
Two dog friends cuddled up together in the corner of the yard,
Getting all cozy in each other's blanket of fur,
Laying on a little grassy patch.
Number 4.
Going down,
Deeper down,
All of the cats found little spots to curl up in the beaming rays of the sun.
Number 3.
Feeling so warm and cozy,
Like a napping cat,
Snuggling up into the blankets and falling slowly,
So slowly to sleep.
Number 2.
Going even deeper down,
Feeling so warm and cozy,
Like you are almost floating in the warm rays of the sun.
Number 1.
All of the animals now,
So cozy and peaceful in their warm beds,
Drifting further and further down into a quiet slumber,
Happy,
Safe,
And loved.
Good night my friend.
