Sandy Cove

Sandy Cove cottage is a charming stone house set on a grassy slope above a secluded beach with wooded hills that stretch inland behind it. The view from the picture window, which looks out over the bay, reminds one of the true meaning of getting away from it all. From here, you can see the calm sea and a peaceful bay where the gulls call and the waves lap the shore in contemplation. This view of the bay serves as a gentle reminder that beyond the hurly-burly of everyday life, there is a quieter way to be. Everything here, the sea, the open sky, the beach has a gentleness about it. And we have all the time in the world to drink it in. So we can make the most of it, I think it's nice to begin with a little wind down. Tonight's wind down is a visualization. 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 to 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. 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. Qualities of warmth, space and ease as it continues to travel up through the body, up past the waste to the back and the stomach. It's as though it washes away any discomfort. It continues up through the chest and the 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 a 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 you drove down the winding hill through the forest to get to the cottage, a feeling of peace descended amid the soothing green light of the trees and the scent of wild garlic. Occasionally, an overgrown bush or stray bow would brush against the sides of your car with a pleasant somehow encouraging rustle, as if to say, "Nearly there". And in the background, beyond the sound of the car's engine and its tires crunching as they rolled over the stony ground, if...