Little Monkey is happy

Jo and the River

Jo was sitting by the river under a huge weeping willow tree, throwing pebbles into the water and thinking of what happened yesterday.  She was upset: Her best friends had been horrible at school.  She felt really alone as she couldn't tell her parents because they were just too busy with work.  She watched the ripples go further and further each time she threw a stone : Plop!  The rings of ripples soothed her, and throwing was helping her to release her anger and frustration.  After a while she grew tired and stopped throwing.  The water grew very still.  The river was deep.  She was only a few miles from the sea.  Jo watched the clouds reflected in the mirror of the water.  The warm sun and hypnotic patterns of the clouds sent her to sleep.  

She dreamt that she was floating down the river on a cloud boat, circling around ripples, like whirlpools, and being taken by the current.  While gently rocked by the flow of the river she saw beside her, in her dream, another person: At first she thought it was simply her reflection but it was her mirror image, smiling such a beautiful smile at her.  She was not afraid. Her ‘twin’ softly whispered, "Hello!” with a lovely, musical voice, like ripples on the water. Then she laughed, a tinkling, sort of sparkly laugh: Which made Jo completely at ease.  Jo-two had lots to tell her and it seemed like hours went by.  Jo-two told Jo she was going to show her things, to help her whenever she was lonely or sad and pointed over the side of the cloud boat. Jo peered over and saw the river they were floating on seem to become like a movie of her life.  Jo could see herself when she was tiny, crawling on the floor at her mum’s feet; her first, wobbly steps; when she fell in the garden and her dad scooped up and cuddled her. She saw the garden at their old house so clearly, and could almost smell the sweet peas near the fence. Jo could see so many memories, some happy, some sad.  Then Jo-two told Jo they could go swimming and visit these memory pictures, if she wanted to, reassuring her that they could come back to the boat at any time. Jo hesitated for a tiny moment, just a little bit afraid. She took hold of Jo-two's outstretched hand and felt so much love and support in her clasp that she then felt brave enough.  

So together they jumped over the side of the boat.  It was not even wet!  Jo felt really free.  It was exhilarating to be swimming in the river.  They swam upstream with no effort at all.  The water felt like caresses of spun silk.  There were sparkles and rainbow colours, (like you see when you blow bubbles).  Jo-two was whispering to her again, well Jo was not sure if it was inside or outside her head, but the whispering was like a beautiful song, telling her she could go wherever she wanted to.  Jo-two suggested visiting happy memories first, to help her feel strong. Almost straight away, she saw herself sitting on her mum's lap on her 2nd birthday, together  unwrapping a fluffy, white teddy bear and she could see her dad smiling at her.  Jo felt really warm and happy inside.  Next she saw her puppy, sitting on her lap, all snuggled up (when they brought her home in the car). She visited many happy memories and felt her heart fill with delight.

Jo-two told her she could visit a sad memory, if she wanted to, and help that memory be better.  With Jo-two Jo felt so strong and contented she felt she could go anywhere.  The first sad memory she felt drawn to, was surprisingly, not the recent time at school, but a time when she was very little.  She was at her grandma's, her mother had gone to hospital, and she felt very alone, she did not understand and feared she would never see her mum and dad again.  Jo-two encouraged her to speak to her little baby self, and to comfort her.  It seemed a little strange to hold her baby-self, but she felt so much love for her, and the baby looked at her with big trusting eyes.  She whispered to baby Jo, telling her who she was and that she would always be with her, even if the baby could not actually see her.  As she held her close to her heart, she told her all the things she would have liked to have been told at that time. Then shared with the baby all the fun things she would be doing as she grew up. She sang her favourite songs, and baby Jo fell asleep in her arms, with a smile on her face.

With her baby-self so close, she felt inside her own body, a knot of tension melt and sighed a big sigh of release.  Jo-two suggested she put a magical protective bubble around the baby.  Jo chose pink and saw a shimmering, soft, pink haze all round the baby like a cocoon.  Gently she placed her, wrapped in that safe bubble, right next to her mum, so that when she woke she would see her.

For anything is possible in a dream.

With that new image tucked in her heart she again took Jo-two's hand, and together they swam, this time in the opposite direction, downstream.  Jo-two had a surprise. They passed the cloud boat, and swam further and further, until the river grew wider and wider with less bends.  They swam past many scenes, until Jo-two signalled her to stop swimming.  There Jo saw an older version of herself: A lovely woman in a homely house, with two children playing in the garden.  Jo could see a man making dinner through the kitchen doorway.  The woman did not seem surprised to see Jo and Jo-two, and welcomed them into the room.  It was almost as if she was waiting for them. They were greeted with a huge, warm hug from older Jo.  Her husband was playing music enjoying creating a nourishing meal for his family and was oblivious of the meeting in the sitting room.

Older Jo was radiant.  She seemed so happy, so Jo asked what she had done to make her so satisfied with her life.  Older Jo told her that she had decided, when she was a teenager,  there was so much sorrow and unhappiness in the world she didn't want to add to it.  A friend taught her tapping (see appendix), which helped her start watching the way she talked to herself.  Her days seemed to work out much better when she noticed how she actually had power to change her thoughts.  So everyday she was more and more vigilant, and each day her life grew happier and happier.  If ever she felt unhappy or disappointed, she would do tapping and also talk to the angels, as she was certain they were looking after her.  At night, especially, if the day had not been so great, she would ask them for help, so that she could see things differently.  Then in her dreams she would often go to a sparkling river, with hundreds of reflected clouds, and in the morning she always felt much better. Jo told her all about the memory river, and then older Jo knew why she was not surprised to see them, she had met them in her dreams! Older Jo taught Jo tapping, and encouraged her to talk to the angels,  and to remember to thank them.

They spent what seemed hours, sharing adventures and laughing lots.  Then Jo-two got up and magically turned back the hands of the clock on the shelf, saying they must go now.  Older Jo gave Jo such a lovely hug and kiss.  She felt totally loved, and her whole body tingled with warmth and delight.  She knew in her heart she would be seeing her again, they really didn’t need to say goodbye!

The scene changed, transforming slowly, the colours and shapes softly going out of focus from the room, becoming like multi-coloured snowflakes.   She saw the river all around her.   Jo and Jo-two were swimming again, holding hands, both smiling at each other.   It was not long before they were climbing back into the cloud boat, and lying sprawled and laughing in the bottom of the boat.   Above them the stars were glittering.  Yet before too long the light was changing, it became brighter and brighter, with it the sound  of birdsong.  There were a few soft, pinky clouds above them.  The stars disappeared out of sight.   Jo-two whispered to her that she would always be with her.  Jo felt her hand in hers even when she woke, even when she got up from under the willow tree, and even when she walked away from the riverbank.  In fact she often felt her hand in hers, and heard her soft whispering.  She was sure she had other river adventures many times when she slept, and she somehow knew she was never totally alone. She would always have her secret twin, who she could talk to, and of course the angels, which made her smile.

Strangely, or maybe not: The next day at school her friends ran to meet her, as if nothing had happened and together they went to sit under the old beech tree, at the edge of the playground, and chatted and laughed until it was time to go in.

Caterpillar poem

Often we are like caterpillars
eating all we can
munching the plants and more
taking without plan
but if we stop and ponder
what we do and why
we can transform our world
which would be very wise
we will transform our world
with thoughts like butterflies
butterflies pollinating with the bees
helping all the flowers and trees
healing the planet everyday
working with nature that's the way
spreading so much love and light
colourful butterflies take your flight
dance your magic with the sun
touching gently everyone
so our hearts can be unfurled
to love and honour our One World

For the One World Festival August 2015

Fundraising for animation

We need your help to raise enough money to make an animation so these stories can help children all round the world.... already translated or being translated into 9 languages!!

                            http://igg.me/p/eft-tapping-animation-for-children/x/10111933

Thank you!

Little Monkey and Bluey the Butterfly: A Tapping Story

A tapping story to help younger children ...   (him/her… of course can be used) ...and the story can be adapted to fit the situation, with suitable images without making it too blatantly obvious so the child can relax and learn to talk to the butterfly...

   Little Monkey and Bluey the Butterfly

Not so very long ago, or maybe it was, there was a little monkey who was so cute and lovable all his monkey tribe loved him (her *) very much. They used to play with him and have such fun… he felt so happy, safe and cared for.

But… for some reason one day all this changed, he did not even remember when, it seemed so long ago. Suddenly he realised all his tribe were no longer there and he was in a strange place. He was still very small and was looked after by other monkeys but they were not his tribe and sometimes they did very strange things to him, which upset him ...and rather than tell them he stored them up inside... as he did not want to be left again!

The only thing thing that had not changed, as far as he could remember was his invisible friend Bluey the butterfly. Now of course Bluey was not invisible to him, he could clearly see the shiny gorgeous blue butterfly, and when the sunbeams lit it’s wings they shimmered with all the colours of the rainbow! However it seemed that Bluey was invisible to everyone else… which was fine by him because… Bluey was magical!

The little monkey could tell Bluey all his problems and Bluey would do a special dance to help him feel better.

The dance was mostly the same every time and yet the little monkey would find he could whisper all his upset feelings to Bluey while the butterfly would dance on him… and, at the end of the dance his troubles seemed to have floated away!

Perhaps you’d like to learn Bluey’s dance… you can use your fingers like butterflies wings or make a butterfly to put on your finger…

The dance goes like this:

Bluey would land on little monkey’s head, right at the top and flutter its wings a few times. Then down between his eyebrows and along one… following the bony ridge around the eye like a branch, pausing at the side and under the eye, as if to collect nectar from a flower.

Then Bluey would fly under his nose, this usually tickled quite a bit, then under the mouth on the chin.

That was the first bit of Bluey’s dance… then Bluey would flutter down to little monkey’s chest and jump up and down. (A butterfly is of course not very heavy!) Little monkey knew this place well as he and his monkey friends often pounded this place with their hands! (Sometimes Bluey would even go under little monkey’s arm to the place monkey’s like to scratch!!!! … that was only if little monkey was feeling extra bad that day ...and sometimes that tickled a lot!).

Bluey, the butterfly, would then flutter on to the inside of little monkey’s wrist, and while jumping and fluttering from thumbtip to fingertip, not missing any and down the side of his hand, Bluey would ask if he was feeling any better yet or if there was any other thing bothering him…

And if there was, well Bluey would do the dance all over again! And again if needed until little monkey felt much better.

Sometimes he felt so good he would imagine he was back with his own tribe, playing all the games he used to play... with his friends… and feeling so loved and so safe. Bluey would whisper and weave magic colours around him ...it felt like his own special cocoon… little monkey would then notice that the happy feeling would be in all of him … he could feel it in his head and his heart and all of his body ...sometimes like a tingling... sometimes like shimmering sparkles and they would grow bigger and bigger sending his happiness out to the trees and hills and sky ...to the whole world and even to the stars!

You too can have your own butterfly to help you… can you do the dance? What is your butterfly called?

All rights reserved   L N Willis...Sept 2014

Bluey's song

                                          

I fly here        

I fly there        

Because

I care

Dancing          

A spell

To make you

Happy and well!

To your head

And your brow

Round your eye

I know how

Dancing

A spell

To make you

Happy and well

Under your nose     

On your chin

Round your chest     

Flapping wings

Dancing

A spell

To make you

Happy and well

To your wrist

Then I land

And all around

Your hand

Dancing

A spell

To make you

Happy and well

I fly here        

I fly there        

Because

I care

Dancing

A spell

To make you

Happy and well

All rights reserved   COPYRIGHT LNWillis Sept 2014

How to make a butterfly to tap with

Two ideas:

You can find a piece of coloured card or greeting card and make two horizontal cuts in the centre big enough to put a child's finger through (or your own because it would be lovely to make one for yourself to show them!)

or

You could stick two pieces of 50mm Micropore tape together and colour with crayons etc and a strip for the finger..double sided in the middle so not to stick to the finger! (Of course you may have better ideas... felted and attached with a hair elastic would work well too.)
Just drawing a butterfly on to a fingertip would also be fine .. even just imagining the butterfly too!



All rights reserved   COPYRIGHT LNWillis Sept 2014