How to Enjoy the Magical Wonders of a New World by Simply Falling Asleep?

The first thing my mom (who was the narrator of most of my bedtime stories) would say is “lie down in your magical bed and close your eyes while you slowly begin to breathe and clear your mind of all previous thoughts. As soon as your mind reaches a fully relaxed state, begin to think about which superpowers, you want to use tonight?”

Flying above trees while enjoying the breeze of the wind with the ability to see everything below with near-perfect vision has always been one of my favorite superpowers. After this, all I needed to do was select my destination.

For me, this choice was always easy, as my life-long wish was to visit a real-life African jungle. Looking forward to the most exciting part of my day, I anxiously allowed my mind to relax and drift away as I flew from my bedroom to the exciting jungles of Africa! Soon I was fully immersed in my new world and was able to smell the fresh scent of tree leaves and feel the excitement of my new surroundings as I flew around witnessing the interactions of different species within the jungle.

It was exhilarating flying side by side with birds as I listened to their different chirping sounds. They were emitting sounds of joy, and now for the very first time, I fully understood why they felt that way. Being able to get a front-row seat to everything that was happening below me from a safe distance was a very comforting thought!

Still, my curiosity led me to stop and watch an encounter between a lion and a Giraffe. It was clear that while the interactions between both animals were minimal, both knew what was about to happen. The Giraffe knew that it must move quickly to escape while the lion understood that it would have to move quickly to catch and devour its prey.

Watching such an encounter gave me joy and sadness as I recalled my mom telling me that while I was a witness in my new world, I should avoid trying to change the outcome of events unless I was ready to deal with the consequences of my actions

Not surprisingly, I was confused and saddened to learn that I was watching a precious life about to come to an end unless I intervened. How would I feel if I knew that I did nothing to alter this dire outcome? It was something that made little sense to me. Could I fly down and distract the lion and ignore my mom's warning, or should I move on to another part of the jungle where there might be fewer conflicts?

I quickly realized that I needed to make a split-second decision and decide what path to take as my heart raced uncontrollably. After witnessing the chase for what seemed like an eternity, I couldn’t bear it anymore, and I decided to fly down to distract the lion. As I got closer, the lion shifted its focus towards me.

At first, I felt as though I had accomplished my goal as the Giraffe sprinted away. Yet within seconds, the lion stopped focusing on me and resumed its chase of the Giraffe! Despite my good intentions, it soon became apparent that I had not saved the Giraffe from its eventual fate.

“What now,” I asked myself, “should I get closer, and risk injury, or should I just move on?" To me, the decision was clear, since I wanted to save this Giraffe, I would have to proceed more aggressively!

So, I decided to fly down again and get closer. After all, if the lion came after me, I could always fly away and give the Giraffe enough time to plan its escape. As I flew down to get closer to the lion, I could sense fear and danger were lurking below.

Suddenly, the lion became distracted and even more annoyed with my presence. As expected, the lion's rage quickly turned against me as the Giraffe ran away from any danger. Now it was my turn to fly away towards safety. But as I began to prepare for my getaway flight, I noticed that the lion had grabbed onto my pajama shirt.

No problem, I could quickly take my shirt off and still proceed with my escape! But the lion anticipated my move and had just enough time to grab onto another one of my garments. Now I knew that removing clothing was no longer an option for this smart opponent.

My new strategy was to yell as loud as I could to scare the lion away. But the louder I yelled, the more determined the lion became to make me his newly found prey. “Why was I in this terrible predicament,” I thought. After all, I was just trying to aid a helpless Giraffe. But as my mom would often joke “no good deed goes unpunished.” Yet this was not a moment for jokes, as I was truly fighting for my survival.

I could feel the brute force of the lion overpowering my efforts. He threw me against the floor and wrestled me to the ground. I truly believed I was losing the battle, so I began to scream, “Help Me, Help Me.”

But silly me, none of the animals probably understood what I was saying and even if they were able to decipher my panic message, they surely wouldn’t come to my rescue and put their lives in danger. Yet after a long struggle, I felt a strong tug away from the lion. But as I looked around, I failed to see anything leading me to believe my intense fear was causing me to hallucinate. Besides, if an animal had come to my rescue, it must be an unseen one, and as far as I knew, there were no invisible animals in Africa. Still, the pulling and tugging continued. After a while, I slowly began to accept my sad fate that I was going to die.

Then suddenly, I opened my eyes, and my mother was hovering over me and reassuring me that everything was okay. She then asked, “Did you try to change the outcome of your dream?” Reluctantly, I nodded in agreement. She said, “Oh, that is why you were sounding so agitated.”

"You have learned an important lesson today," she said. "I always advised you not to attempt to change the course of your dreams. But as we mature, we must decide when to take the path of least resistance and be a witness and when to intervene. So, pay close attention to what the outcome might be without your intervention, and if it might be something that you will find troubling, go ahead and do something while always understanding that such choices come with consequences."

"Being able to make these types of decisions in life is what many define as maturity, and today, you received your first lesson,” my mom said.

"Please try to go back to sleep," she ended with a deep breath!

**Bedtime was always a special time for me as my mom was a great storyteller. The story you just read above is just one of the many bedtime stories she created and shared with me during my childhood! Please feel free to share this story with friends if you enjoyed it as much as I did as a child.