Evie had been counting down the days all summer. She’d picked out her backpack, sharpened her pencils until they looked like tiny spears, and even practiced writing her name in fancy curly letters.
“This year is going to be amazing,” she told her cat, Lucy. Lucy, being a cat, responded by licking her paw and ignoring her.
Finally, the day came for the school open house. This was the day she would meet her teacher, find her classroom, and maybe even make a friend before the first day. Evie bounced into the school with her mom, her eyes sparkling.
At first, everything seemed fine. There were colorful posters on the walls, a big bin of crayons, and the smell of new books in the air. But as she walked down the hallway, Evie started to notice something…
Everything looked so big.
The hallways seemed longer than a football field. The desks looked like they belonged to giant kids. Even the clock on the wall seemed to be watching her.
Then she saw the kids.
Some were laughing in little groups. Others were talking like they’d known each other forever. Her teacher smiled warmly, but suddenly Evie’s chest felt tight.
A thought popped into her head: What if no one talks to me? What if I’m all alone at lunch?
And just like that, her brain decided to host a Scary Thoughts Parade. Thoughts were marching through her head, like:
What if I get lost on the first day?
What if I say something silly and everyone laughs?
What if my teacher doesn’t like me?
By the time they left, Evie wasn’t bouncing anymore. She just wanted to go home and hide under her blanket forever.
The next day, Evie’s mom had an appointment. Evie wondered who was coming to watch her while mom was out. maybe Papa P, or one of her aunts. Just then there was a knock on the door. She ran to the door to see who it was.
It was Great Grammie.
Great Grammie live nearby, but everytime you saw here it was like finding a surprise cookie in your lunchbox. She was small but sturdy, with light brown hair that curled just right, twinkling eyes, and a way of making you feel like she had all the time in the world just for you.
“Well, hello there, sunshine,” Great Grammie said, giving Evie a hug that smelled faintly of peppermint. “What’s with the long face? You look like you lost your favorite popsicle in the sand.”
Evie flopped onto the couch. “I went to see my new school yesterday. I thought I was excited, but when I saw the kids and my teacher, I got really, really scared. Now I don’t even want to go.”
Great Grammie nodded like she’d heard this kind of thing before , probably because she had. “Mmm-hmm. Sounds like your thinking’s been busy.”
Evie frowned. “It’s not my thinking. It’s the school. And the kids. And the teacher. And...”
“....and the stories you’re telling yourself,” Great Grammie finished gently.
Evie looking confused. “Stories?”
“Yes,” Great Grammie said, settling into the chair across from her. “When I was your age, I used to imagine all sorts of scary things before they even happened. I’d run little movies in my mind, starring me as the one who tripped in front of the whole class or forgot her lines in the school play. The thing was… none of them were real. They were just thoughts. And thoughts are sneaky. They can make your knees shake even when nothing’s actually wrong.”
Evie sat up a little straighter. “So… my thoughts are scaring me? Which means I'm scaring myself! Evie giggled
“Exactly,” said Great Grammie. “It’s like this, imagine you’re watching a scary movie in your head. Your heart might pound, and your stomach might feel funny, but you’re still sitting safe on the couch. The movie can’t actually hurt you. The only thing making you feel scared is that you’re watching it.”
Evie’s eyebrows scrunched together. “So… if I stop watching the movie, I won’t feel scared?”
“Well,” Great Grammie smiled, “you don’t even have to stop the movie. You just have to remember it’s a movie. Then it doesn’t seem so scary.”
On the first day of school, Evie still felt a little nervous as she walked through the door. She saw the other kids laughing and chatting, and for a moment, the Scary Thoughts Parade tried to start up again.
What if—
Then she saw herself thinking.
“Oh, wait,” she whispered in her head. “This is just a movie. It’s not real.”
Her heart still thumped a little, but she found her desk, smiled at the girl sitting next to her, and said, “Hi.”
The girl smiled back.
It wasn’t magic. It wasn’t perfect. But it was a start ,and Evie felt a tiny bit braver than before.
Three Principles in Action
1. Mind – Great Grammie’s wisdom came from the quiet place inside that we all have. That’s where fresh ideas and a calmer perspective live, waiting for us to notice them.
2. Consciousness – Evie’s awareness made her scary “what if” thoughts feel real, like she was actually in trouble, even though she wasn’t.
3. Thought – The stories Evie made up in her head were just thoughts, but when she believed them, they shaped her whole experience. Once she saw them for what they were, the fear began to fade.
Final Thought
Sometimes our minds play movies that make us want to run away. But here’s the secret: we’re the ones holding the remote. And if we can’t find the pause button? Well… at least we can remember it’s just a movie, not a monster.
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