Moonlit Apiary

If you're driving by on the main road, you might just miss the sweet valley between the lavender fields and the twilight forest, where Hamish's Honey Barn and the adjoining apiary are nestled amongst the rolling green hills and cozy acres. But if you know where to turn, you'll come upon beehives, a shimmering pond, the beekeeper's cottage and a honey barn with rows and rows of brilliant honeycomb and bottled honey. Before we visit the apiary, let's pause for a wind-down exercise. Tonight's wind-down is a visualization. So when you're ready, let's begin. So no matter what's been going on today, whether it's been a busy day or a calm one, this is an opportunity to put everything down, to let go of any inner chatter and find a place of rest in both the body and the mind. So first, get yourself comfortable in bed, just taking a moment to pause and be still, and when you're ready, taking a big deep breath, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. And as you breathe out, allowing the body to sink down into your bed, feeling the weight of the body, allowing thoughts to come and go. Now imagining a steady flow of warm sunlight flowing down through the body, dissolving any tension, any discomfort as it begins to fill the body, starting with the toes, moving up through the feet and the legs being filled with sunlight. The qualities of warmth, space, and ease as it continues to travel up through the body, up past the waist, through the back and the stomach. It's as though it washes away any discomfort. It continues up through the chest, the upper back, into the shoulders and down the arms, all the way down to the hands and fingers. A sense of relief in the body and stillness in the mind as it continues to travel up through the neck and the throat into the head and face, all the way to the very top of the body until there's nothing other than that sense of stillness remaining. And now just gently bringing the attention back to the body. As the sun fades, the low hum of a car engine sounds over the hill above the apiary. A red car winds through dew-soaked pastures, finally pulling into the parking lot of Hamish's Honey Barn. The bees have returned to their hives for the night, but the barn where the beekeeper sells his honey is open for one more hour. Olivia has driven all the way from Avenue ZZZ, as she does once every few weeks after work to purchase the tasty, fresh honey for her store. She steps out of the car now into familiar surroundings, pausing to admire the emerald fields glistening against the star-filled sky. The converted barn is three stories high from the outside but opens inside onto a drafty, cool, loft-like space. The floor is littered with hay, and hay bales covered with thick...