Are you comfortable in your bed?
Are you warm and cozy?
Let's go on a bedtime adventure together.
How would you like to go camping?
Sit around a campfire,
Sleep in a tent,
Look up at the night sky full of stars?
Let's go there with our imagination.
Are you ready?
Close your eyes and imagine yourself lying down just as you are,
But instead of your bed,
You're in a sleeping bag,
Resting in a tent.
You look up and you see the fabric of the tent closed above you.
It's night time.
Everyone you love is outside around the campfire.
Would you like to join?
Come on then,
Unzip your sleeping bag and let's go.
The tent is small.
As you try to stand up,
Your body rubs against the fabric of the tent and you open it and come out ready to stand straight and tall.
It's dark outside,
But the light of the campfire illuminates just enough so you can find your shoes and put them on.
Don't forget to close back the tent or bugs will get in it.
Before we walk over there,
Let's take in this amazing scene with all our senses.
Just stand still and listen.
What do you hear?
What do you smell?
Take a deep and slow breath in and out.
Do you smell the scent of pine trees,
Of cold fresh oxygen,
Of campfire?
Breathe in again to experience the smells fully and out slowly.
Are you ready to walk over to the campfire?
Let's go then.
All your loved ones are gathered around it.
You can see their lit faces.
Everyone stares at the fire as they talk among themselves.
Some laugh and some eat s'mores.
As they see you walk up,
They make a space for you in the bench.
Come,
Come,
Sit here,
They say,
And you smile and sit next to them.
You bring your hands out to warm them with the fire.
You can feel the warmth that the fire is offering,
While you also feel the cold in your back coming from the forest.
It's fresh.
It also feels good.
The perfect balance between cold and warm.
The fire is hypnotic.
No one can take their eyes off of it.
The dance of the orange,
Yellow,
White,
And sometimes blue flames undulate and swirl upwards,
While at the bottom,
The bright orange charcoal forms shapes,
And you play a game with yourself to see if the shapes remind you of things.
There is a shape that looks like a dog,
One that looks kind of like a tree,
And another one that makes you think of a bicycle.
Suddenly,
You also feel like walking a bit on your own into the darkness of the woods.
Not too far.
You're just craving a little silence.
You stand up.
Those around you smile at you and nod.
And you turn your back to start walking towards the trees.
You put your hand in your pocket and find a flashlight there.
You bring it out and point it towards the floor,
Just to make sure your steps are stable.
The light of the flashlight allows you to see some dirt,
Some grass,
Some stones on the floor.
You just saw something move.
It was a frog.
You keep walking until you find a good spot,
Far away enough where you no longer hear the chatter from the campfire,
But close enough where you still know you're way back.
And you just stand still and take the forest all in.
You turn off your flashlight and look up at the sky.
You've never seen it more full of stars as in tonight's beautiful night.
So many bright dots.
It's a good reminder of the beauty of nature.
We sometimes need to stand feeling the ground under our feet and remember how lucky we are to be alive to experience it.
And with a smile on your face,
You're ready to go back into your tent.
You walk back with the flashlight,
Take off your shoes,
Get in and close the tent behind you and get in your sleeping bag.
You close your eyes and with the imagery and sounds of this beautiful forest,
You drift into a calm sleep.
Good night and thank you for meditating with me.
