Are you ready to meditate with Kari?
Make sure that you're laying down and you're comfortable in your bed.
Or maybe you're listening to this story actually on an airplane.
Or you're waiting in the airport and you're listening to the story.
Either way,
This story is gonna help you to get over your fear of flying.
Lily was scared of flying and so was her mom.
But Lily didn't know that her mom was scared of flying.
Lily's mom knew that Lily was scared of flying because Lily would get super super nervous before she flew.
She was really really scared.
She would get an upset tummy.
She would have bad dreams the week before she traveled.
She got so she lost her appetite and she couldn't eat because she was so nervous about flying.
Everything that you could possibly have from being nervous about flying,
Lily had.
Her mom had all of those things too.
But her mom always tried to be super brave and tell Lily lots of different stories about how safe it was to fly.
How it's probably more dangerous to be in a car sometimes,
She would say.
Flying's so much more safer.
But Lily never seemed to believe her because she was just so over distraught with worry and stress and anxiety.
Something bad was gonna happen.
The plane was gonna crash and that would be the end of that.
Lily,
Her mom and her dad were sat in the terminal waiting to board the flight.
They got about an hour and a half left of waiting and time was ticking so slow.
Lily was quite happy people watching,
Watching all the different types of people that you see in the airport.
And at some point she actually got distracted and forgot that she was worried.
She was watching people getting on planes,
People getting off planes.
Some people that were getting off planes,
When they got off they would run to their families and hug them and kiss them.
She really liked that.
There was something really sweet about it.
And then some people would just look very businesslike and they'd be on their laptops with their heads down,
All serious,
As if they couldn't stop working for one single minute.
And then sometimes there'd be kids running around all over the place.
She was always jealous of those kids.
There were always younger kids and it was as if they didn't even realize that flying could possibly be dangerous.
It was just like a day trip for them.
Just like going on a bus or going in the car.
But instead they were flying in the sky.
One of her friends at school that she'd been talking to about being really nervous about flying had said that what she always did was imagine that she was a bird.
Lily had never done this before so she was gonna try it on this flight.
Imagine that you're a bird,
Said Sally.
That's what I do.
And then when the plane bumps and it moves around and it has like that turbulence where you think you're gonna crash any moment,
Fall from the sky,
I always imagine that I'm a bird and I'm just bumping through like a rain cloud or I'm bumping over a pocket of air in the sky.
Or maybe I'm bumping around some other birds that are flying by.
Like when you swerve in the car to dodge things on the road.
It's just like that really.
Think of it like that.
It doesn't have to be that the pilots lost control of the airplane and that's it you're going down.
Sometimes it's just a bump in the road,
Right?
Lily liked the idea of this and she really liked her friend Sally and she said to Sally that she was definitely gonna try and imagine that she was a bird when she was flying.
She thought it might be really helpful.
But what happened later on was the most helpful of all.
Lily held her mom's hand as they were getting on the plane and her mom touched the side of the plane as if she was blessing it before they actually got on.
And Lily noticed.
She'd never noticed her mom did that before.
They got to the seats and when they sat down Lily said,
Why did you do that with the plane?
And her mom's hand was shaking a little bit.
Lily said,
Are you scared of flying mom?
Her mom said,
No Lily I'm fine.
But Lily knew that her mom wasn't quite telling all the truth.
Her mom explained that she always blessed the airplane and in her mind she imagined that she put it in a bubble of white light that always kept the airplane safe and everyone on it safe.
And it would fly to its destination easily and safely and everything would be well because it was protected by a white bubble of light.
Lily said to her mom,
Why didn't you ever tell me that you did that?
I think that's a really good idea that actually makes me feel a bit better.
Lily's mom said,
Well to be honest with you Lily I really didn't want to tell you that I get nervous too because I thought well if you think I'm nervous and you're nervous then that will double both of us being nervous and someone has to be brave.
Lily said to her mom that she didn't think of it like that.
Now that she knew that her mom was nervous too,
Lily could be brave for her mom.
Lily said,
I know something that's gonna make you feel better and we can do it together.
We pretend we're a bird.
Lily told her mom all about what Sally does when she flies and partway through the flight there was just a little tiny bit of turbulence.
The plane bumped and moved a bit.
Normally Lily and her mom would both start to freak out inside,
Grip the arms of the chair and just sit there and panic.
But Lily said,
Close your eyes and imagine you're a bird flying through the sky mom.
Lily watched as her mom closed her eyes and then Lily closed her eyes and both of them pretended that they were a bird flying through the sky in complete control of all the bumps.
Every bump that they felt was just as if they were dodging a cloud or flying through a rain cloud or taking a turn so that they would miss another bird.
But all of it was them controlling every little bump and for some strange reason it actually really helped.
Feeling in control really helped.
Doing it together really helped.
Staying calm,
Knowing that the aeroplane was inside a bubble of white light really helped.
When they landed two hours later both Lily and her mom admitted that that was the best flight that they'd ever had.
They were safe,
They were on the ground and all was well.
Sometimes one of them or the other one would take a few long slow deep breaths and tell themselves all is well.
All is well.
All is well.
And they'd imagine that they were flying through the sky like a big giant bird and then they would calm down again after a moment and go back to reading their books or watching their telly.
All in all it was a great success and Lily and her mom would definitely,
Definitely do that the next time that they fly.
The end.
