Hello,
My name is Dr.
Hank and I'm going to read you a story I wrote.
It's a story about nature,
But it's also a story about transformation,
Meaning how things change over time.
Before we start,
I'd like to thank you for choosing to listen to this story for your quiet time.
I hope it resonates with you and even though I don't know you,
I wrote it for you.
So get comfortable,
Take a deep breath,
And let it go.
This story is called Am I Still the Ocean?
By me,
Dr.
Hank Finkel,
And it goes like this.
Once there was a great ocean.
It was calm,
Deep,
And peaceful.
The great ocean was all that was.
One day,
The great ocean grew bored.
It wondered what it would be like to be different.
It wanted an adventure.
Can you imagine what that's like?
Take a deep breath and picture it in your mind.
Imagine being the great ocean.
The great ocean churned.
It produced waves.
Those waves had great fun crashing over and over,
One after another.
Then one wave asked,
Am I still the ocean?
It thought about this question with every crash.
Am I a wave or am I the ocean?
I feel like I am both.
Can I be both?
Can you imagine what that's like,
Being two things at once?
Take a deep breath and imagine being the ocean.
Now,
Take another and imagine being a wave.
One day,
A wave crashed on some rocks.
Part of the wave formed a pool in the rocks.
The water in the pool wondered,
What happened?
I was a wave,
But now I'm a pool.
Am I still the ocean?
Do you ever feel turbulent like the waves?
Can you picture the waves hitting the rocks?
Take a deep breath and imagine those waves as they crash over the rocks.
One hot day,
The sun was out.
Soon,
The water in the little tidal pool evaporated.
Evaporated water eventually reforms as a cloud.
So the little cloud wondered,
Was I once the water of the tidal pools?
The wave?
The ocean?
Am I still the ocean?
Can you imagine being a cloud?
Take a deep breath and picture that you are a cloud.
Now,
One cold day,
The cloud,
Feeling quite full and heavy,
Let itself empty to fall gently down as snowflakes.
The snow covered a mountain.
The snow wondered,
What a mysterious adventure I am experiencing.
I'm excited to see what happens next,
But am I still the ocean?
Can you imagine being a snowflake,
Drifting down,
Flying on a mountain?
Take a deep breath and see yourself as a snowflake,
Drifting down to rest on the ground.
Are you enjoying your adventure?
Spring came and the snow melted.
The snow that was once the ocean learned that when snow melts,
It becomes water once again.
When the snow on the mountain melted,
It formed a small stream that ran down the mountain.
Within the stream,
Fish were swimming and spawning.
They were experiencing their own adventure inside the stream itself.
The stream that was once the snow and before that had once been the ocean wondered,
The fish are in me.
Are they part of me?
The stream started to feel confused.
I used to be the ocean.
It's been a very long time since I was the ocean.
I've been a wave,
A pool,
A cloud,
A snowflake,
And now a stream.
This is a big adventure.
But am I still the ocean?
I don't feel like the ocean.
I am this,
But I was that.
I was part of one thing and now other things are part of me.
I wonder if I am still the ocean.
I feel very apart from the ocean.
Do you think that the stream was confused?
How do you think the stream was feeling?
Do you ever feel confused?
What's it like when you feel that way?
At the bottom of the mountain,
The little stream met a great river.
The stream flowed to and merged with the river.
The little stream didn't realize that the mighty river was having a similar adventure.
The mighty river had also once been part of the great ocean and had taken many forms.
And at this very moment,
The river was heading back to join the great ocean.
How do you think it felt for the river to reconnect with the great ocean?
The great ocean thought,
I am the great ocean.
I am calm and peaceful.
I take many forms,
But I am always connected to all.
I flow with nature.
I am nature.
I am the snowflake,
The river,
The pool,
The cloud,
And the wave.
I am this and I am that.
I am all that is and that is all.
You've just heard,
Am I Still the Ocean?
By Dr.
Hank Finkel.
This is Dr.
Hank Finkel and I thank you and I hope you have a pleasant night.
Good luck.
