Crystal Shop

There's a crescent moon tonight. And a smattering of stars in the sky. Above the crystal shop in the valley. It's a tranquil retreat. For a little rock and gem shopping or browsing. For a little dose of amazement about our planet's marvels. Such as these miraculous pieces of rock that formed underground long before any of us were even twinkles in our great-grandparent's eyes. Before we head down, let's take a moment for a brief wind-down exercise. Tonight's wind-down is an exercise we call noting. It helps to soothe the mind. And once you've learned it, you can even use it if you wake up during the night. We're going to be counting our breaths. And then gently noting thoughts and feelings as they arise. We're not trying to change them. We're simply labeling thinking as thinking; feeling as feeling. It may sound incredibly simple. But it can help to create distance between ourselves and the thought. And ourselves and the feeling. So we don't get so involved in it. That in turn, creates a more restful state of mind. In other words, the perfect conditions for gentle, restful sleep. So to begin, take a moment, or two, to get comfortable. Make sure you're nice and cool. And starting out with some big, deep breaths. Breathing in through the nose, and out through the mouth. And with the next out breath, allow the breath to return to its natural rhythm. In and out through the nose, and feeling the weight of the body pressing you down into your bed. And in your own time, starting to count the breaths as they pass. One with the rise, two with the fall. Just up to a count of 10. And you get to 10, you can stop and start again at one. And remember, anytime you get distracted the moment you realize you're distracted by a thought, simply note it thinking. And return to the breath. Or if a feeling arises, note it as feeling, and return to the breath. Noting is very gentle, not harsh at all. Think of it like a feather. Just gently touching the surface of a crystal glass. I'm going to give you a few moments just to keep counting the breaths. And noting any thoughts and feelings that arise. That's great. A cabinet of glass displays drawers at the back of the shop, which houses some very fine and valuable minerals. These pieces are generally not much bigger than a palms width, sometimes much smaller, but they're rare and priced accordingly. Here is a piece of neptunite, a dramatic gemstone formed of a matrix of geometric shapes, illustrious whites, blacks, and purples. It looks like some sort of geological Rubik's cube that you'll never puzzle out the answer to. Another striking specimen is an unusual tourmaline crystal, the shape and color of a miniature stick of rhubarb. And this lavender colored gemstone is hackmanite with its jagged, octahedral shape. It may not look that remarkable,...