Albert the Cat

It's dusk, and a familiar ginger tomcat is sauntering down the street towards you, and there's a light rain pattering, just like the cat's feet, and every now and then, he darts playfully into a doorway as if buffeted by the breeze. This delightful fellow's name is Albert, at least that's one of his names, and well, he gets around, so you may have seen him somewhere before. Albert is a night owl. He even looks a bit like an owl sometimes, especially if he's startled, although Albert is rarely startled. He's pretty chilled on the whole. This chilled out night owl is about to embark on his nocturnal tour of the neighborhood. Before we join him, let's take a moment to do a brief 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. Albert's next stop is a local artist studio. Being the gregarious fellow he is, Albert has no qualms about what some might see as breaking and entering, and he enters the studio the same way he always does, through the large window that's generally left wide open, even in inclement weather. His friend, the artist, is taking a break from his work. He's seated on a paint-speckled wooden chair holding a cup of tea while he gazes critically at the half-finished piece on his easel. Before the painter has even noticed the...