Flower Market

Hello and welcome. We're so happy you could join us tonight at the neighborhood flower market. Built along the banks of a sleepy canal, this market lives in harmony with its environment. The building's tall glass walls appear almost invisible, allowing patrons to peer directly through to the gentle landscape beyond. Tonight, fog rising from the canal makes the whole scene feel almost like a painting. The water looks soft in the moonlight, its sweet scent blending with that of freshly-cut flowers and healthy soil. As the sights and sounds lull you into a state of calm, let's sink even deeper with a short 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 in the night. We're going to be counting our breaths and then just 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 a gentle, restful sleep. So, to begin, just take a moment or two to get comfortable. Make sure you're nice and cool. Just starting 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. When 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 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 breath and noting any thoughts or feelings that arise. That's great. In the center of the flower market is a stone fountain, where visitors can light tea candles and set them floating on the water. Hannah, a photographer, pauses and kneels down to light one. Then she places it on the surface of the water, watching it spin. Hannah likes coming here at night, when the light is low and the flowers look magical in their shadows. She loves the elegant bouquets, the tasteful displays, the customers who wander the market at this late hour, looking for...