Shop of Curiosities

The street is peaceful this evening as the lights come on inside the old Curiosity shop. It looks so plain on the outside, you almost didn't notice it. But take another look because this friendly little place is packed full of curious, wonderful things. And best of all, it's open for browsing at all hours. Is it a store, a museum, a funny kind of garage sale where nothing's actually for sale? No one really knows, but one thing's for sure. It's the perfect place for browsing and dreaming. Before we begin, let's prepare for our visit with a brief wind down exercise. Tonight's wind down is a visualization. When you are ready, let's begin. So just take a moment to get comfortable, letting go of the day. Enjoying that feeling of having stopped, of having nothing left to do. We are going to focus the attention of the mind on the different parts of the body, watching as the muscles in the body switch off for the night, leaving the body feeling rested and leaving the mind more at ease. So starting down at the toes and feeling a sense of the muscles switching off, the feet, the arches, all those muscles switching off. Same in the lower half of the legs. Notice any tension being let go of as the muscles switch off, shut down and the upper half of the legs. Any tension melting away, being let go of into the area of the hips. With pelvis again, any muscles shutting down for the night, completely at rest. Everything from the waist downward is heavy at ease. The muscles in the lower back and the stomach are now switching off. Middle of the back around the diaphragm, the upper back, and the chest. So any muscles not needed, shutting down. Switching off for the night. The shoulders switching off, the upper half of the arms and the lower half of the arms switching off. The hands, fingers, just switching off any muscles around the throat and the neck switching off. The head, the face, the jaw, the eyes, any last areas of tension, melting away as the muscles shut down. Switch off at rest for the night and allowing thoughts to come and go. Allowing the mind and body, the space they need to rest. 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....