Rainday Antiques

Hello there. Thanks for joining us at a night's visit to Rainday Antiques. If you're looking for somewhere snug to relax, it's the nonpareil on any day of the week, but it's especially congenial on a rainy night like this. It almost seems to exist somewhere outside ordinary space and time, a shelter for more than just the weather. Before we begin our visit, I think it's nice to start with a quick wind down. Delights wind down is an exercise we call noting. It helps to sooth 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, 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 state of mind, the gentle restful sleep. So to begin with, just take a moment or two to get comfortable. Make sure you're nice and cool. Just starting with some nice, 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 just feeling the weight of the body pressing 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 a thought, simply note it, thinking, and return to the breath, or if a feeling arises, 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 and feelings that arise. That's great. If you've ever found yourself one evening wandering down a quiet street in the rain, looking for somewhere to take shelter, you'll know what a blessed relief it is, to find such a place as rain day antiques. It (murmurs) into view between two residential buildings. A beautiful double fronted store with a big window, on either side of the entrance. The windows are divided up into square panes, and the glass between the metal bars, is ever so slightly wavy giving the place a dreamlike quality. This quaint little establishment, stays open 24/7, if you can believe it. Catering to international antique connoisseurs who might arrive at any hour, and casual passersby. Which of these...