Bobbity and Aunt Ruby's Crystal Cave (Tiger Eye)

Bobbity awoke on a fine clear morning, his head filled with thoughts of all the things he could do.
However, he simply couldn't decide which one to choose, it was as if there were so many thoughts swimming around his head, he was unable to grab just one.
He decided he must be hungry, food usually fixed everything for Bobbity.
Hopping out of bed he jumped over to where his mum had made him a steaming bowl of porridge, gulping it down, he waited for everything to become clear in his mind.................... but it didn't!

In fact he now had even more ideas of things to do.

Shrugging his shoulders, he told his mum about his problems.
She looked at him and said "Hmmm, sounds like a visit to Aunt Ruby is just what you need, off you go"

Bobbity's eyes opened wide, he loved visiting Aunt Ruby.
Aunt Ruby lived in a cave underground along a winding passageway with a bright Ruby Red door.
Inside, her cave was filled with gemstones and crystals all over the walls and ceiling.
Some had been there when she started digging (which is why she chose to live there) others had been collected from around the world for her by friends and relatives.

Every time she got a new gemstone she would settle herself and sit down holding it. She would allow the energies of the gem to wash over her and she would notice the areas of her body she felt the healing taking place in.
This way she always knew exactly what each gem was best for.
People would come from far and wide to have a visit with Aunt Ruby where she would give them specially chosen gems and crystals to heal what ever was wrong with them.

Bobbity excitedly set off for Aunt Ruby's tunnel. His little tail bouncing in the air BOBBITY HOP, BOBBITY HOP, BOBBITY HOP, just a little bit faster than he usually went.

Arriving at the entrance it looked just like any other burrow he had ever seen.
He wiggled down into the tunnel and wound his way along the passageways, he knew exactly which way to turn to get to Aunt Ruby's.
Sure enough, rounding the last corner he came upon a bright red 'Ruby' coloured door.
Above the door were some bright shiny herkimer diamonds - to put everyone who entered into a happier state of mind.
To the side was a lovely shiny brass bell and hanging down on the string was a beautiful quartz crystal to make the ringing even clearer.

Bobbity happily rang the bell and listened, he heard the delicate tap, tap, tapping of Aunt Ruby's pretty slippers coming closer to the door.
She swung the door open and looked down at Bobbity.
A big smile crossed her face "well hello, my favourite nephew, come on in, I am so pleased to see you".
Bobbity grinned - it was so lovely when a grown up was delighted to see you he thought.

As he entered the cave his face lit up as he slowly looked around her beautiful cave. It didn't seem to matter how many times he had visited before, every time it was even more magnificent than the last and he truly loved being here.

He looked up to see twinkling gems scattered all over the ceiling. On the walls were more gems carefully pressed into the hard dirt walls where Aunt Ruby had made special shapes in the wall just to hold each one snugly.
The floors had tiny tumbled gems pressed into them which made a lovely 'massage' feel on your feet as you walked about. In fact Aunt Ruby often asked the people who visited her to take off their shoes and walk on her floor to tickle their reflexology points on their feet (they are the points that wake up different parts of your body and make them healthy again).
In the middle of the room was a fascinating roof light, it had a globe in the middle where the light came from and Aunt Ruby had made a metal frame to go around it and from the frame hung all manner of gems and crystals that twinkled and danced in the light.
It really did make the room feel quite magical.

Aunt Ruby bustled about to make Bobbity and herself a cup of tea from freshly picked herbs and infused with some gem essences to brighten their day.
Soon they were seated, drinking tea and Bobbity was feeling brighter already.

"What can I do for you today Bobbity" winked Aunt Ruby, knowing that Bobbity's mummy would always send him here when he was being just a little bit too difficult for her to handle.

The words tumbled out of Bobbity's mouth so quickly that Aunt Ruby had to ask him to sip some more tea, calm down and tell her all over again.
Bobbity sipped the tea, took a deep breath and told Aunt Ruby about how he had so many thoughts and idea that he just didn't know where to begin. He wanted to do EVERYTHING today, he wanted to travel and to build things, to explore and to adventure, to climb up high and dig down low and then he had ideas about inventions that could change the world.
He shared that he had so many thoughts he couldn't possibly pick just one and therefore he was doing absolutely nothing!
Zip, nada, not a thing, he couldn't possibly know where to begin and then with so many thoughts running through his mind, he couldn't possibly stop and he certainly couldn't possibly rest.

Aunt Ruby nodded (she had heard everyone's concerns before and always knew exactly the best thing to fix them). Standing up she reached way up high over her head for a sparkly yellow stone and plucked it from it's resting place.
Handing it to Bobbity, she said "I think this will be just the thing you are needing, sit quietly and hold on to it for a little while as I go about some washing I need to do".

Tip toeing away in her little slippers Bobbity was left alone with his gem, he looked down at the stone in his paws - as he moved it about it twinkled back at him with flashes of yellow and brown, glinting in the light.

"I know this one" Bobbity thought, "this is Tiger Eye, I remembered because it looks like a sparkly tigers eye".

Aunt Ruby had previously taught him to sit still and quietly allow the energies of the stone to wash over him. At first he felt absolutely nothing as he held the stone, he wondered if it was working and turned the stone over in his paws watching it glint in the light.

Sometimes Bobbity felt the energies of the stones, other times he didn't. Sometimes they worked immediately, other times they began their healing hours, days or even weeks later.

Sometimes the stones were just held once, other times Aunt Ruby needed to give Bobbity essences of the gems to take home and use every day for several weeks or even months.

But whether Bobbity felt the energies or not, over time, there was always changes.

As he sat there today, he felt nothing! He was a little disappointed as Aunt Ruby came back into the crystal cave and asked how he was feeling.

"Fine" Bobbity sadly replied

"Why the sad face my darling nephew"? asked Aunt Ruby.

"I guess I was just hoping to feel the energies today and nothing happened" replied Bobbity

"really" exclaimed Aunt Ruby, "how's that head of yours doing, are there still thousands of ideas and thoughts running through it then"?

Bobbity thought about it for a moment and a huge grin appeared on his face "Nope, Aunt Ruby, there's only one thought right now" Bobbity hopped over, giving Aunt Ruby a great big hug.

"I'm off to get a diary to write down all my inventions so I can use them later and then I am going out in the field to pick mum some chamomile tea for us to share before bedtime, as I am pretty sure I am going to get a good nights sleep tonight".

Aunt Ruby, hugged Bobbity back and smiled "that's a good chap" she carefully took the Tiger Eye and popped it back in its little space in the ceiling, "I'm so glad to be able to have shared with you today".

Bobbity grinned back, thanked her and hopped out the ruby red door into the passageway.

He felt fresh and happy, like his mind had room to breathe again.

He thought about getting his diary and writing down all his plans and off he went, BOBBITY HOP, BOBBITY HOP, BOBBITY HOP all the way back to the chamomile patch and then home.

.............................................................................................................

(All energy infused gem essences can be purchased individually, as blends or in a complete set from Renascent - click here to read all about them and make your purchases)

Delore's Day

It came to pass that one day Emma found herself sitting in the garden with absolutely nothing to do.
It was a beautiful spring day, the sun was gently shining and it would be a perfect day for.... well.... something!

But, everyone was busy, everyone except Emma that was. Mummy was working, Daddy was in the shed building something that he said little fingers could not yet be around, big brother was doing whatever big brothers do, absolutely everyone was busy, all except Emma.

Emma tried and tried but could think of absolutely nothing she wanted to do, so here she sat, just wishing for something, anything she could fill her day with.

As she sat on the warm grass, a delicate little dragonfly alighted on the rock next to her and looked up at her - its wings sparkling in the sun. "Why do you look so sad Emma?" the little dragonfly asked.

Emma was most surprised as she never realised dragonflies could talk, but quickly (so she didn't seem rude) replied, "that's just it, everyone is busy except me, like you I have nothing to do at all".
"Like me?" the dragonfly asked, "Why I think you must be mistaken I am one of the busiest of all. My name is Delores and I have sooooo much to do on this wondrous day".

"Like what?" Emma asked, wondering what on earth Delores would need to do.

Delores sighed and rested down her wings next to Emma. "You are rather lucky Emma" she explained, "you see, your life is long and you have a great deal of time to do things. Sometimes that is good, but sometimes it leads you to miss how beautiful and important things are"

"For me, my life is short compared to yours, once I have hatched into an adult, my life is only from a few weeks to around two months". "In that time, I need to grow, to explore, to see this wonderful world and everything I can". "I must find a mate and have some babies and complete all I need to before the last sun sinks for me, it is not a great deal of time".

Emma looked at Delores and said "you mean you only live for up to eight weeks, is that it?"
Delores smiled at Emma
"Yes, Emma I am afraid so, but it is not as bad as you think". "All people and animals have different life cycles and times they are on earth, but it is different to each, you see my life feels as long to me as yours does to you, but to you, my life seems very short".

"You have the joy of taking your time to do everything, I do not, I must love every day, enjoy every moment, do as much as I can and squeeze as many adventures into every day as I can"

Delores winked at Emma and continued "when life is precious to you, you make the most of it"

Emma smiled  and jumped up with glee when Delores alighted from her resting rock shouting "come on Emma, the sun is shining we have adventures and discoveries to make, lets go together"

Delores showed Emma the most magical day. She taught her how to imagine the rainbows were floating in water when the suns rays danced on the water fountain. She delighted in watching the mosquito wrigglers do their funny dance in the pond, they giggled together at the funny songs the frogs made up to welcome the new day and both rolled around in laughter as the kookaburras chuckled away in the treetops.

Delores found a mate and laid her eggs in the water to hatch into dragonfly larvae to begin their special day in a few months.

Emma looked at the trees in a different way as they swayed in the breeze and she felt the energies of the universe flow through her on the top of the hill.

Their day was filled with excitement and adventure, even though nothing had really changed except the way they looked at things together.

As the sun grew low over the valley and the day closed, Emma looked sadly at Delores and asked "Is this your last sunset?" she whispered to Delores.

Grinning at her Delores replied "Never can tell you know, no one can, that's why you must live everyday as if is was, one day you'll get it right and if you have done everything you could then the sun will set happily on you".

"Goodnight Emma it's time for you to go in, I can hear your mummy calling to you" Delores smiled
"Goodnight Delores, thank you for showing me a wonderful day"

Emma dashed inside, ate her dinner, bathed and brushed her teeth, kissed everyone goodnight and tucked up in bed thinking about Delores.

She decided to live every day as if it was truly special, just like Delores.

Tomorrow she would plants some vege seeds, dig over the old patch of dirt she wanted to grow a peach tree in, take her puppy for a long walk, make sure her chickens are well fed and happy and be extra sweet and kind to everyone she met (even her brother).

Drifting off to sleep, she whispered goodnight to Delores and thought (just in case it was her last sunset) that she would surely keep a look out for Delores's babies and watch out for how they decided to make the most of their wonderful days too.

Opening hearts and Fairy Visualisation

Close your eyes and take a deep breath in, now gently breathe out and then another deep breath in.

As you breathe out imagine all your worries and troubles flowing out of you.

As you breathe in, imagine yourself filling with beautiful bright light.

Visualise a person standing in front of you that you deeply love.

See them opening their arms and embracing you, as your chests meet, feel the love pouring from their heart to yours and yours back to them.

See the love flowing into your heart like a beautiful golden stream.

As you stand heart to heart, imagine each heart is like a flower and the petals are gently opening

See the petals reaching out to each other and gently mingling together, as they touch, feel the love flowing around the petals and into your heart filling you with a beautiful warm glow.
Know you are deeply loved, you are supported, you are cared for.
See your heart smiling
You feel warm, safe and loved.

As you separate from your loved one, know that even when they are not with you that their love fills your heart and loves you always. You are always connected and together and you can feel safe always by going into your heart.

Your loved one gently moves back from you with the love still flowing into your heart as they have someone special who has been waiting to meet you.

As you look down you will notice a stream with a tiny lily pad floating towards you and on that lily pad is the tiniest, most delicate little fairy waiting for you. She looks most excited to see you and begins waving and shouting out hello to you.
As she gets closer you can see she is holding out her hand and wanting you to come to her.
You reach down to take her tiny hand and notice that you begin to get smaller and smaller until you are the size of this tiny fairy.
She is so thrilled to be with you, "come on" she says
"I have so many exciting things to share with you"

You look back up at your special person, filled with love and they are so much bigger than you now, making their love for you seem even larger, they smile and wave to you wishing you a happy adventure.

Giving them a little smile, you look back to the fairy and say hello
She tells you that she has some amazing places and special things to share with you tonight.
Keeping your eyes closed you can imagine all the special place she wants to take you.

Looking down you notice that you have climbed aboard the lily pad and it is setting off now - what a wonderful adventure.
Up ahead you can see sparkling castle turrets and a wonderful fairy kingdom in the distance.

The trees sparkle and glimmer and she tell you that this is just the beginning, there are so many wonderful things for you to see in fairy land and she is going to show them all to you.

Keeping your eyes closed, I am going to leave you with this tiny special fairy now and I look forward to hearing about your wonderful adventures in fairy land in the morning.

A grounding visualisation

Do you ever have a day when you feel like you aren't really in your body?
Perhaps you have been a little clumsy or tripped over just about everything.
Mum or dad may have got cross when you dropped something or spilled the juice, or maybe you are just feeling a little - "not quite right".

It may be that you are not grounded.

We all have spiritual bodies, etheric bodies and physical bodies.


Auric colours showing the energies around
Daryll's physical body



The physical ones are easy - they are what we see and can touch, this body bleeds and gets bruised when we hurt ourselves.

The etheric body is our energy body, whilst we can see our physical body, the etheric body is the one we cannot see with our usual eyes.

Whatever we have in the physical we also have in the etheric body. For example - you have a physical arm, you also have an etheric arm. If you cut your physical arm, you also cut your etheric arm.
When the physical is cut, blood comes out and we put a bandaid on or get a person to fix it until the arm begins to heal.
However, what has happened to the etheric cut, it is also there and still leaking, but it is not leaking blood - it is leaking energy!

However, almost no one sees the energy leaking and so we often don't fix it.
Yet, it is quite easy to do with energy healing, we can use a Renascent Chi energy practitioner disc and simply wave it over the body to heal the area or we may use a Quartz crystal and some etheric healing work (listed in the Awaken your energies with crystals & gems book)

If you think back to every broken bone, every cut, every bruise, every hurt you have had and begin to remember all these injuries, you may realise that there may be many energy leaks in your body.

Once these are fixed, you may find that you have more energy and are feeling a lot healthier and more balanced (I'll share some more ideas with how to do this later on).

Then we come to our spiritual body, this is the part of us that we carry from one life to the next, it is the part of us that grows, learns and we always keep.
As we move into a new body, the spiritual body comes with us and moves into that body also.
However, some times our spiritual body begins to move away from the physical, it slips up out of the physical body and we become ungrounded.

This is when we drop things, we get tired, we can't focus as well, we get funny aches and pains for no reason and we get more easily upset by others.
You can see it's pretty important to keep grounded.

There is a really simple exercise you can do and I'd like to share it with you now.

Relax and close you eyes, take a few deep and slow belly breaths.
Allow yourself to relax and calm your mind and body.

Imagine your spiritual body sliding down inside you.

Feel it coming down into your head, your shoulders, sliding down your arms, your elbows and your hands.
Feel your spiritual body pushing down into your finger tips like sliding into a glove.
Feel it sliding down your throat, your chest, your tummy, down to your hips, your knees and your feet.

Feel your body sliding down inside you and filling your feet, imagine your feet are toes gloves and your spiritual body is sliding down inside these toe gloves, feel yourself sliding into each and every toe, feel yourself pushing into the end of each toe.

Your body feels heavy and solid.

Remember up to the top and look through your body in your mind, imagine your spiritual body, filling up your physical, look over your body, is there anywhere that is not full, if so, slide into it, push right down into your toes and fingers, your nose and hair, feel yourself completely filling this beautiful physical body you have created.

Notice how settled and peacful you feel, your mind is quiet, your body is calm, you are grounded, centred and at peace.
You can now relax and sleep peacefully knowing when you wake up your body will be grounded and able to work really well to do everything you want to do.

Opening Heart Visualisation

Have you ever had a day when you heart is feeling closed.
Perhaps a few things have gone wrong and you aren't feeling very special.
Here's a special visualisation just for you to help your heart to blossom open once more.

Lay down and close your eyes
Take a really deep breath, so deep your tummy raises up as you breathe in, breathe in slowly feeling your tummy rise and then slowly breathe out.
As you breath out, feel your tummy come back in.
This is called belly breathing, slowly breathe in and out allowing your tummy to raise up and lower down.
As you breathe in, imagine your body being filled with a beautiful bright light.

See the light coming in through the top of your head, flowing throughout your body and then washing down and out your toes and fingers.
Any areas of sadness or trouble will look like black marks in your body, see the light wash them away.

As the light swirls down your body, see it reach the stuck black marks and send them swirling around your body, see the darkness moving and spinning around in circles, turning into beautiful bright light and spiralling out of your body.

See this light coming in and swirling around you until all the dark spots are gone, changed into beautiful bright light.
See the light swirling throughout your entire body.

See your body glowing with this beautiful bright light, see it getting brighter and brighter, see your entire body beginning to glow.

Look into your heart, what ever has been troubling you, allow the light to wash it away.
Can you see you heart clearly now?
Is it smiling, is it open and blossoming?

If not, smile at your heart.
Imagine the biggest grin you can and send it to your heart.
It's funny, when you make such a huge smile, that your heart just can't help smiling back.
Does your heart have a little smile or a huge grin?
If it's only a little smile, smile right back at it, even bigger.

Imagine your heart is a beautiful flower, see the petals opening, your heart is beginning to blossom.
Allow each petal to gently unfold one at a time.

Can you see how each petal is gently curling open?
Can you see how each time a petal unfolds you can see a little more of the hearts beautiful big smile?

Continue on, opening each and every petal, the first row is now completed, the 2nd row of petals begins to open, then the third and the fourth, your flower is opening right up now and if you look carefully in the middle you will see your hearts beautiful smile.

Have you seen this before?

Perhaps you have never smiled at your heart before.

Look at your heart smiling at you, isn't it beautiful?
This is where you keep all your special thoughts and memories, your heart is always with you and it is filled with love.
Tell your heart you love it, welcome your heart and tell it you think it is beautiful.
Notice how it opens even more and the smile grows bigger and bigger.

See the love streaming from your heart for yourself and all people in the world.
Imagine a beautiful stream of love flowing from your heart to everyone in the world, see how it mingles with the love of other enlightened people and gets even bigger, see their love mingling with yours and coming back to you.

Notice how beautiful it is.

This is you, your special place to come and feel love any time you need to.
Why not snuggle into your heart, it is soft and warm and lovely, like sleeping in a bed of rose petals.
It smells beautiful and feels so soft, snuggle into your heart and feel the love all around you like a beautiful warm blanket, snuggle up inside and drift off to sleep knowing you are loved, you are special, you are cherished and you are a very blessed beautiful person filled with love for yourself and others.

Goodbye to my Grandma from Gabe Mitchell



Gabe Mitchell

 Although this blog is predominantly by Emma and Lesley
I would love to share a beautiful little story Gabe Mitchell wrote by himself when he was 10 years old and then stood up in front of over 100 people at his grandmothers funeral and shared beautifully.



June and pat - 1st women to ride around Australia
on motorbikes for publicity for BSA bikes!

 Hello I’m Gabe, short for Gabriel and I Miss my grandma because she was really kind to me, for one thing she used to bring me on holidays and look after me while my parents were working.

And we made up our own secret language, which we talked to each other in.

I think she has gone to heaven and may be having a much better time up there than what she was having down here.

I am sad that she’s gone but I am still happy that she has gone to a better place.

I think I might see her as a ghost soon, maybe just for a while but maybe for a long time.

I think when I grow up to be much older she may be watching everything I do; I think she will be happy watching.



Looking for gemstones with my mum
(she's the little girl in the picture)

 If baba could do anything for me, I think that today she would hug me and love me and say goodbye.

She would say she would miss me very much and I am sure she would tell me don’t let anyone put you down and always remember that you are perfect.

That was the great thing about my grandma; she always loved people and especially me, just as they are.

She never tried to change anyone; she liked them all because they were different and individual.

She liked the things that made them different.



My Gran always loved being with me!

 She always had a huge smile whenever she saw me and today I am pretty sure, she still has a huge smile watching me and all of you.

I will miss her, but I look forward to her visiting me in my dreams and my meditations and I know we will continue to be great friends for a long time to come.

The Two Butterflies by Emma Mitchell

A sweet little story written entirely by Emma Mitchell (on her own) when she was four years old)

Once upon a time, there was a butterfly and her name is Rosey and she has a friend called Kate.

Rosey and her friend Kate went on holiday and they had a good time,

but when it was time to go home they were sad.

But they still went home and they were happy they were home together again.

Fairy Sparkles and Sally the snail

Fairy Sparkles loved rainbows, she loved colours, she loved glitter, she loved dew drops that glistened in the sun.
She loved the light that sparkled through the trees on a hot afternoon, she loved the way the road sparkled in the heat like a mirage............... she loved............... well anything that sparkled!

Fairy Sparkles would awaken early in the morning and begin her 'walk of wonder' looking in amazement at the way the earth sparkled.

Fairy Sparkles and Sally Snail

Have you ever woken early in the morning, in the middle of winter and looked out at the sparkly ice all over the grass tips, well Fairy Sparkles had ................ and she loved it. It was her favourite time of the year.

One morning, she awoke early to begin her 'walk of wonder' to see what sparkles Mother Nature had created for her today, when she came across the most beautiful delicate path of sparkles.

Well........... she was intrigued (intrigued is a big word that means very curious, maybe even fascinated). Looking down Fairy Sparkles noticed how the light played on the sparkles, it was as if they formed a thin sparkly path that weaved and twisted around the garden.
Hmm, most curious Fairy Sparkles thought - her eyes opened wide and her tiny fairy tippy toes began to walk along the silvery path.

Her tiny body shivered in delight as her feet touched the sparkly path, it was wonderful, the most delightful thing in the world to discover a sparkly path that you could even walk upon. You would have loved it too.
Stepping carefully her feet moved along the twisty line of sparkles that shone in the morning sun. Fairy Sparkles noticed she could see little flecks of silver and a faint blue, even a tiny shimmer of purple............ she thought it was wonderful.

Stepping ever so carefully Fairy Sparkles made sure her tiny feet did not leave the sparkly path. As she walked you could even hear the tiny crunch (if you listened very carefully) of the icy grass under her feet.
She could smell the fresh morning air and fee; the warmth of the morning sun.

The sparkly path twisted and turned and she followed it in delight ............... over the rocks on the path, around the big old tree where Ollie the owl hooted at night, across the grass, over a very large rock, around a fallen branch, over the hard knotted wood of another branch, around the side of the ants nest, past the edge of the burrow where Ernie the Echidna slept soundly...............

Fairy Sparkles could not believe her luck at such a long and sparkly path, she was so delighted in her adventure that she almost didn't see Sally the snail who was also following the path right in front of her.



Sally loves the scent of the frangipani flowers

 Slowing down, she patiently waited for Sally also to continue along the path.
Sally was moving soooooo very sslllllooooowwwwllllllyyyyyy..................
Fairy Sparkles began to jump around from one tiny foot to the other and back again, she started to wiggle and jiggle, her arms twitched and her forehead went up and down.
She desperately wanted to get back to following her sparkly path, she was determined to find out where it went.

Eventually she couldn't hold it in any more, bursting out, she exclaimed "Oh, please do hurry up Sally snail, I do so want to get past".

Sally slowly looked back at her and said 'then go around me my dear, there's no trouble here".
Fairy Sparkles looked down at the sparkly path she so wanted to walk on with Sally directly in front of her and she just couldn't leave the path.
She had an idea - "Sally would YOU please go to one side so I can get past you, pretty please".

"Well, since you asked so nicely - I suppose I could" replied Sally.
She ever so slightly began to turn  to one side, Fairy Sparkles eagerly stepped forward but then realised the silvery sparkly path went off to the side that Sally was on and she still couldn't follow it.
"Oh Sally, I am so sorry" exclaimed Fairy Sparkles, "but it appears you have moved to the side I wish to go, would you be so kind as to turn to the other side".

"Yes, my dear" said Sally and slowly turned the other way.

Fairy Sparkles leapt forward, but alas, the path now turned to the other side where Sally had just moved.

"Oh, gumdrops", sighed Fairy Sparkles.
Looking down at the sparkly silvery path, she had an idea.
"Sally, I am very tiny and gentle - would you mind if I carefully stepped over your shell?" she politely asked Sally.

"Well, I suppose a fairy's weight won't do any harm" shared Sally
"that will be fine - go on then".

Fairy Sparkles carefully tip toed over Sally's shell as careful as walking on water so as not to hurt Sally, her face lit up with delight at the sparkly silvery path and she gently stepped down in front of Sally.
Smiling down at the path, Fairy Sparkles was surprised to find that the path was .............. completely gone!



Sally Snail

 Fairy Sparkles was astonished.

She shook her head and looked around and then noticed that Sally had turned off to chew on a leaf and there underneath her was the sparkly silvery path.

"Sally", she exclaimed, "would you be so kind as to move off to another plant". "Certainly" replied Sally as she slithered off in another direction.

there underneath her was the most beautiful shimmery, silvery path.

"Oh, Sally, it's you" Fairy Sparkles exclaimed.
"It is YOUR sparkly, shimmery, silvery path you are leaving everywhere, how truly wonderful. What a beautiful creature you are to slither around and leave beautiful sparkly, silvery, shimmery trails everywhere".

Fairy Sparkles leant down and hugged Sally saying "thank you so much for making my world even more sparkly, I love your work".
Sally looked down at the ground and then at the trail she had left behind her, she slowly realised what Fairy Sparkles was saying and the cutest smile you have ever seen, broke out all over her tiny little face.]

Fairy Sparkles and Sally have been perfect friends ever since and I am pretty sure that sometimes if you go out into your garden, you may see some sparkly, shimmery, silvery paths that Sally (or one of her relatives) have left to make your garden even more sparkly.

What part of the elephant do you hold?

Have you ever done something with a friend and when you tell someone else about it you find you are sharing 2 different stories.

This happened to Emma once.

She had shared a lovely day at the beach, seen many sea creatures and danced in and out of the waves that crashed against the shore with fluffy white foam, happily collecting sea shells that washed ashore.

By the time it was time for bed she was very excited to tell her daddy about all the lovely things she had seen and done during the day.

As she started telling her daddy all about her day, her brother joined in, but he had a very different story. He said the waves had been small, there was no sea shells to be found and there were birds everywhere.
Emma became angry and said this was not true and that her story was the right one, her brother became angry at her and shouted that his story was correct.

Emma and the elephants ear

Daddy tried to tell Emma that 2 people can have different stories about the same thing and still be true.
Emma thought he was being silly and that only one story could be true.

Daddy tucked her up into bed with a promise that tomorrow she would understand. Emma wondered how it could be possible that 2 different stories about the same thing could be true and drifted off to sleep wondering what Daddy would show her tomorrow.

The next day Daddy took Emma out for a walk, he told her to close her eyes as he lifted her up in air and said “keep your eyes closed and tell me what you feel”

Emma did not know that her daddy had lifted her up to the ear of a large elephant.
Reaching up, she described what she felt “it is warm and soft, a little hairy and very flappy”

Telling her to open her eyes, Emma gasped in delight at the wonderful elephant in front of her.

Daddy looked at her and said “So, Emma, if I asked you to tell me what an elephant felt like you could say it was warm and soft, a little hairy and very flappy”

Emma nodded in agreement.

Emma and the elephants leg

Daddy then told Emma to go and stand near it’s leg and tell him what an elephant felt like

Emma hugged the huge leg of the elephant and said “it is hard and strong and very heavy”

Emma and the elephants tummy

“What about the tummy, Emma?” Daddy asked

Reaching up, Emma said “it is enormous and soft and it wiggles a little, it covers all of my head as far as I can reach”

Emma and the elephants tail

Moving around to the tail, Emma shared “Oh, here it is small and skinny with a little tuft of hair and it moves very quickly”

Emma and the elephants tusk

Coming back to the head and reaching up to the tusk Emma shared “it is very hard and shiny and smooth with a pointy tip”

What about the trunk Emma? Daddy asked. "Oh it moves and it is soft and yet very hard and it has a small finger on the end to grab things with" Emma replied.

Emma and the elephants trunk

Daddy swooped her up and asked her to look at the whole elephant, Emma understood.

“I get it Daddy” she said, “it depends where and how you look at things what they look like to each person”

Emma understood how an elephant could be enormous and skinny, fat and cold, hairy and smooth, flappy and strong all at the same time depending on which part of it you were holding or looking at.

Emma and the whole elephant

She understood how 2 people could go to the same place at the same time and by looking at different things they could have 2 very different stories to share.

She also understood how people can see the same thing and depending on what they were thinking about, their stories could be different.

She smiled at Daddy and said “Thank you Daddy, from now on I will listen to other people’s stories even if they are different to mine and maybe by hearing everyone’s stories I might understand even more, just like putting all the stories together to see the whole elephant, instead of just bits of it”

She and Daddy laughed and Emma gave the whole elephant a big hug – well at least the bits of it she could reach.

Guided Visualisations - stress related illness and benefits (for parents)

Never too young to enjoy reading
or quiet meditation / visualisations

STRESS RELATED ILLNESS VS HEALTH AND HARMONY:
In our modern society medical Doctors now recognise 'stress related disorders' as a very real part of illness and concerns.
More & more we discover that children either directly or indirectly are now also often suffering these same symptoms. As life speeds up, people rely more heavily on e-communications, we often find ourselves lost on our life path.
We often feel out of touch with ourselves and mother earth, many people feel they have no one that is 'there for them'

Guided visualisations allow a calming point, a point to reconnect with ourselves and what is important to us.
They create stress releasing hormones and assist us to cope better with day to day life. Through the use of angels or guides, we also develop a sense of not being on our own, of having someone who loves us share any burden that may come our way.

BENEFITS OF VISUALISATION OVER MEDITATION:
For so many people who have busy lives, when they try to meditate their thoughts gradually switch back to life / work / shopping / concerns and troubles and it becomes increasingly more difficult to meditate. Guided visualisations (especially for children) make this process so much easier. Rather than excluding thoughts from the mind, the visualisation provides creative thoughts for the mind to focus on, which in turn create a calm, peaceful outlook and the ability to cope more easily with life.

Studies in China have found that when the mind is calm and focused, illness disappears and many ailments are calmed or even removed.

Many parents have reported that through the use of guided visualisations their children allow them to calmly leave the room at bedtime, sleep more peacefully and deeper and are often excited in the morning to share the wonderful adventure they went on in their visualisation the night before
(*Parents tip - be excited with your child(ren) if they wish to share this with you, encourage their creativity and their stories, always acknowledge their experiences as OK even if some may concern you or seem troubling, over time they will allow you to glimpse what is going on for your child and how to best assist them)

All of the visualisations we create for the children have different endings, however they all begin much the same.
We find through the continuity of the scenes the children are able to remember what is happening, this creates a sense of comfort and safety in what's to come and allows them to create their own visualisations once they become familiar with the techniques.

HOW TO SET UP MEDITATION/ GUIDED VISUALISATIONS FOR CHILDREN:
To begin, get the child warm and comfortable, make sure they have been to the bathroom, cleaned teeth, said goodnight to whomever they need to.
Explain the rules which are:

• Lay still (don't worry about a few wriggles and jiggles, especially in the beginning)
• No talking, only listening to the person giving the visualisation. (Some times, something so exciting will happen in the visualisation that the child simply'must' immediately tell you about it, allow this to be OK, yet ask them to whisper and remain very calm and then gently state "quiet now, stay with your meditation" (Meditation is an easier word than visualisation for children, yet it doesn't really matter which you choose to use
  *If a child continues to talk, wriggle, jump around, quietly get up and say, well I guess we won't be able to do our visualisation tonight, you'll need to wait until tomorrow to discover the magical world that I was going to share with you.
  I have found that generally this will only need to be done once or twice and the child(ren) will calm down immediately and listen.
  The child(ren) look forward to the journey they are being taken on and their special time with you and don't want to miss out and once they have heard a couple (you may need to just push through the wriggling and talking the 1st couple of nights so they know what is in store) they will quickly quiet down to listen.
  I usually give 1 or 2 warnings and then quietly leave - this produced much screaming and protests the first time but once the children realised I would calmly leave and not come back - it never happened again.
• The nice thing with guided visualisations is that although the children are listening to the same story - it is filtered through their own minds and imagination, therefore the same storyline can produce 2 entirely different stories to different children. In this way, we often shared visualisations with our (then) 5 year old and 11 year old at the same time and both immensely enjoyed them.
• Explain before you begin that at the end you will be calmly leaving the room and allowing the child(ren) time to imagine their own outcomes, however, you will never disappear without letting them know you are leaving (this way they can relax and know that they are in control of the situation and will not have any nasty surprises of a parent quietly disappearing)
  Explain that the reason you are leaving is so that they can fully explore these magical worlds with their special friends and guides. Let them know that you are eagerly awaiting to hear their stories in the morning and that they cannot tell you that night as the stories may well filter into their dreams and turn out differently.
  I often found this way, when I got up in the morning that a child (or 2) was eagerly waiting saying "you are not going to believe what happened / where I went last night" and then delight in all the wonderful adventures they had experienced.



Even babies will enjoy the tone and peacefulness
of their parents voice even if they do not
fully understand the story

• If you say you are going to do something - you must, ie - if you say "you must stop talking or I will have to finish" and they keep talking, quietly leave & be firm (perhaps give 1 chance the first time)
  If they get to know they can talk over you / get you to stay by screaming/crying it negates the authority you have in giving the visualisation.
  They must feel supported, loved, nurtured and know there is a reason for the rules (perhaps explain it is so THEY will get the best adventure out of the visualisation)
• The next morning, never negate their adventures or brush them aside (this will undo many of the positive benefits you have created), if you are really busy - explain so and set a time (ie- after school) when you will be free to hear all about it.
• I often found that although they didn't discuss their adventures, they had extremely beneficial outcomes and often weeks later would say something like, "yes, in my visualisation, my angel talked to me about a better way to speak/do that/etc"
• Congratulations - you are doing an excellent job as a parent, your child is now finding a space within themselves where they are able to solve their own problems/concerns (granted at this stage, they may believe it is their angel/fairy/talking tree/ etc - but that doesn't matter) - they are becoming self reliant to sort out their own concerns and find a space within where they can find comfort and solutions
• Guided visualisations can be done at any time, although I generally like to do them at bedtime. This assists the child to 'switch off', calm down after a busy day, release any tensions/worries they may otherwise be taking to bed and tossing and turning over. It also provides you (as a parent) the promise of something lovely - which often gets the little ones off to bed easily and assists to keep them there so you may have some quiet time to yourself at the end of your busy day also.
• Authors suggestions: We found that prior to the visualisations a spray of Renascent Emergency Essence and a tab of Renascent Sleep Balm really assisted to calm & produce deep, restful sleep.

Each visualisation has:

• Relaxation - to calm & centre
• A magic well - to release tensions & stress
• A bright light: the starlight / energy ball / light bubble - renewal of energies
• A guardian angel / guide - a sense of companionship & support
• A journey - to awaken the imagination (this is varied and you may choose your own depending on the situation the child is going through, often we make ours about friendships, speaking kindly, completing tasks & the many varied events in life the child may need guided direction in)

Happy children that are well rested cope better with life
and are able to problem solve for themselves

Now you understand the theory and why, join us in the "Guided Visualisations Starting Point" and follow on as we add more visualisations for you to share with your children.

Bobbity Rabbit

Bobbity Rabbit

On a cold hill in the little village of Warrandyte sat Bobbity Rabbit. His ears turned one way and then another, then back again listening intently for the sounds of the village.

His nose twitched with the smells of fireplaces warming cottages, mingled with the delicious smells of hot stews & soups the people made the night before.

Bobbity's mother was busy making porridge for breakfast, which gave Bobbity just enough time to pop out of his burrow & bathe in the morning sunlight.
He popped up on his hind legs and stretched his neck up looking over the valley, his legs felt the chill in the air, his nose twitching all the while.

Deciding it was safe, he set off with his little white tail - BOBBITY HOP, BOBBITY HOP, BOBBITY HOP.

It was this funny little hop that his mother had named him after.
You see, some rabbits ran and some hopped, others bobbed about and a few of the tiny ones scampered wildly, but Bobbity never did any of these.

In his own gentle way he just went ......... well........... BOBBITY HOP, BOBBITY HOP, BOBBITY HOP and so he was named "Bobbity Rabbit".

Bobbity loved the crisp morning air, he loved the mist rising over the river, the kookaburras waking up cackling and the cockatoos screeching overhead.

Across the valley he could hear a rooster singing cockadoodledoo & some hens next door cackling over their eggs.
Sniffing again, he could pick up the fresh wattle starting to fall and the eucalypt leaves on the tree.

Bobbity loved the tiny fresh flowers

He found a particularly delicious flower to nibble on & licked his lips over the sweet juicy petals.

But the thing that Bobbity loved most of all....... was the little girl that lived in the house.
Looking back to make sure his mother wasn't watching, up he went - BOBBITY HOP, BOBBITY HOP, BOBBITY HOP all the way out of the paddock and into the top garden.
He stood up high on his tippy toes and stretched his neck all the way up, he could just see into the room where the little girl played.

He had heard the big people who lived in the house call her "Emma", "hmmm, Emma! he thought to himself, what a pretty name for such a lovely little girl"

He loved to watch her dance, she spent a lot of time dancing, swirling around and dressing up in fancy clothes, singing and playing. Some times she came out into the garden and he peeped out around the grass to catch a glimpse of her.

His parents had told him, he must be very afraid of people as they were dangerous, especially in Warrandyte, but he was sure Emma would never hurt him. All the same, best to keep his distance and never get close enough to get caught - just in case.

Emma was already up playing with dolls and reading books, Bobbity hid behind the grass as she looked out of the window.

Bobbity Rabbit and Emma

Emma didn't see Bobbity hiding in the tall grass, but she smiled anyway as looked out into the sunlit morning and the birds flew overhead.

Bobbity loved her smile, it made him feel all warm and lovely inside.

BOBBITY, BOBBITY, BOBBITY his mother called "Porridge is ready"

Bobbity crouched down in the tall grass and took another peep at his lovely Emma, "see you soon" he thought to himself and with his little tail bobbing up in air, off he went - BOBBITY HOP, BOBBITY HOP, BOBBITY HOP, all the way back down the paddock into his warm burrow where a delicious bowl of porridge was waiting for him.

He looked down and smelt the lovely warm steam rising up out of the porridge and thought about Emma, his truly lovely little friend.

Bobbity hopped off down the path for breakfast

The conception of Once There Was A Story

Several years back, we found our children were having troubled sleep, they were tossing and turning, having nightmares & finding it difficult to drift off to peaceful sleep.

Emma pampering Lesley
with Pink Clay hand masks

We began doing visualisations every night with them and the results were dramatic:

• They drifted off easily to sleep
• They were happy to let us leave their room once done so they may complete their visualisations
• In the morning they were excited to share the things they had 'seen'
• They slept deeply & more peacefully
• Problems that were difficult to talk about we brought up in visualisations & allowed them to 'stick on their worry tree'
• They began sharing their concerns with us
• Many negative behaviours disappeared

After this, we would often be in the garden working and they would become side tracked or bored, we began telling them the names of every creature that lived in the garden and what they had been up to (yes, it took some pretty quick thinking some times).

They came to love the fables that lived in our garden & the magic that filled their lives.

All creatures are now well known by their names and discussed with any visitors as if it is completely general knowledge about the 'three wise men that live under the grass smoking their pipes'.
Any newcomer is promptly names and a story about his life made up, not only by us anymore.

We have been taken on fantastic journeys of the imagination & delight in the sense of belonging everywhere we travel - linked by fables and stories. Life is richer, fuller and more fun. Everyday problems are put into perspective and the stories have got us through many troublesome times.

Bedtimes stories are now often replaced by "please put the book away mummy and tell us one of 'our' stories".

Gabe + Mollie the guinea pig

Our son Gabe has begun his own fanciful stories & is inspired from history of stories through the ages (his take on life delves into the mysteries of the world and the depths of humans & their psyche)

Our daughter Emma, loves art and creating in all forms, inspired she began paintings & drawings of her favourite stories.

For about 2 years now she has begged me to write a book to share these stories with other children and illustrate them with her art.

We finally decided (after a computer crash lost all our stories) to start again and blog about them.

We hope you may print them out and take them to your children as bedtime stories. We would love to hear of how the bedtime visualisations worked for you and your children and the changes that take place for them.

We have set ourselves a goal of 50 stories within the year.

We look forward to sharing them with you & hope they enrich your childrens lives.............

http://www.renascentcollege.com/