Shop of Curiosities

It's wonderful to see you again. There's a nip in the air tonight, and the breeze is making the sign out front of the old curiosity shop creak just a little, a reminder that behind this modest facade is an eye-popping collection of treasures, tchotchkes, and trinkets just waiting to be marveled at. Perhaps you can also hear, if you listen closely, the gentle swells and crests of a classical melody drifting out from inside, where there's music playing. Let's just take a moment to settle ourselves in for the night with a short 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 and 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. There's a young woman behind the counter at the Old Curiosity Shop today. Her name is Aria, and she works here part-time. She has long chestnut-brown hair, and a bright pink wedge dyed into her bangs. The owner, Carol Lee, was reluctant to hire an assistant at first. She likes doing things her own way. But Aria is good with people. She got the measure of Carol Lee straight off, and made sure never to overstep. Now, Carol Lee trusts her completely. Aria is carefully dusting something with a soft cloth. It's a netsuke, one of a series of miniature Japanese sculptures, small enough to hold in the center of your palm. Carol Lee has some particularly rare ones, made of unusual materials,...