Twilight Square

It's dusk, and night is falling on our little town square. It might not look like much, but the town's people are rather proud of this place. But its fountain, and its white colonnades on two sides. It's a rather modest space, made lovely more by familiarity than any architectural distinction. It's a brisk night, and the breeze carries with it the smell of popcorn and the murmur of quiet voices. In the middle of the square is the town's fountain, erected by some local dignitary. Now long gone. Its pedestal is carved from an unusual pink granite, which shines in the twilight as the water cascades from one marble basin to the next. Nearby at a table, two old friends play chess, laughing, as one loses a bishop a bit too early in the game. The fountain fills a shallow round pool with a broad granite lip. It's quite comfortable to sit on. And if you do, perhaps to enjoy the cool breeze and the way the fountain's drops play on the water surface. You can't help but notice the constellation of copper coins at shimmer at its bottom. Each one representing someone's wish. That's a lot of wishes. I know this place well, its features and its characters. And it's my great pleasure to describe them to you this evening. However, before I do, I think it's nice to begin with a little wind down exercise. Tonight's wind down is an exercise we call noting. It helps to soothe the mind, and once you've learned it, you can 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 are not trying to change them, we're simply labeling thinking as thinking, feeling as feeling. It may sound incredibly simple, but it can help create distance between ourselves and the thought and ourselves and the feeling. So we don't get too involved in it. That in turn, creates a more restful state of mind. In other words, the perfect conditions for gentle, restful sleep. So to begin, just take a moment or two to get comfortable. Make sure you're nice and cool. Just starting with some big deep breaths, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. And with the next out breath, allowing the breath to return to its natural rhythm, in and out through the nose, and feeling the weight of the body pressing you down into your bed. And in your own time, starting to count the breaths as they pass, one with a rise, two with a fall, just up to a count of 10. When you get to 10, you can stop and start again at one. And remember, any time you get distracted, the moment you realize you're distracted by thought, simply note it, thinking and return to the breath. Or if a feeling arises, noted as feeling and return to the breath. Noting...