I had been sitting for a period of time in silent meditation and the kittens had been running and playing around the room for the majority of the time. Years ago, I had learned how to keep my awareness within myself and not focus on the noises in my environment thus I wasn’t focused on them.

My son walked into the room quietly.

“Mum,” he said gently.

I opened my eyes and turned my head towards him.

“Yeah babe,” I responded.

He was reaching down to pat the kittens who were running and playing.

“I had to use the bathroom and I wanted to say good night one more time.”

I stood up and gave him a hug and a kiss on the forehead.

“Did you want me to walk back with you to your room?” I asked.

“If you wouldn’t mind,” he said.

We started walking out the door, and a sadness came through his voice. “Mom, the kittens ran away from me. What did I do? How did I scare them?” he asked.

I giggled at him. “Babe, why do you think that they are scared? Why do you think that they are running FROM YOU? The kittens were playing and running around to get energy out before they went to sleep. They had been running around like that for a long time babe, it wasn’t about you.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” he said with a clear shift out of sadness.

“A better question is why you created the story in your mind that their behavior was about you, that them running around the room was them running away from you, and that somehow you did something wrong.”

We speak openly in our home about the stories that we create in our minds and if those stories are serving us.

“Fair point, Mum,” he responded as he hugged me and jumped back into bed.

I leaned over and kissed him and said, “I love the human who you are, babe.”