The Daily Sip: Inviting Surprises With Bedtime Visualization
Our
capacity for creativity springs forth greatest when we connect to
the cosmos. If you still read bedtime stories to your child
or can be with your child when he or she is getting ready
for sleep, enhance this precious time by guiding your child to
sleep with a visualization of your own inspired creation.
Perhaps
there is that moment after reading or kissing goodnight when you make
your escape. Tonight, instead of leaving, surprise yourself
and your child by asking them to close their eyes and breathe deeply
as you tell them a beautiful story that they have never heard before.
Sit
near your child and close your eyes. Keep them closed and ask
your child to be sure to do the same as the story is even more beautiful
with eyes closed. Then breathe deeply and still your mind.
Ask your child to breathe with you and come together in stillness.
There may be some twists and turns but with patience and your
own stillness enveloping the space, you will find the time to
begin the visualization.
A new section of this website will
soon provide a variety of visualizations and visualization techniques,
but for now, let it be your own. Begin to tell a story
that uses pretty imagery. Speak of birds made of jewels, trees
that grow to the moon, rain that falls upward, and flowers that kiss your
child's toes as they walk by. In your calm state, the imagery
will emerge and your child will respond. Leave much to your
child's imagination (for example, "and the beautiful bird flew into
nest that had as many eggs in it as you would like." or "the clouds
turned your favorite colors.")
Try not to have any agenda,
or lessons to teach. Allow the visualization to end whenever
you like. If you child is still awake, end at a time in the
visualization where your child and continue it on their own and instruct
them to do so.
In addition to this exercise serving as a wonderful
time for you to spend with your child, you may be surprised with what
surfaces.
