Take a moment to settle here,
Allowing yourself to arrive slowly.
Let your body find a comfortable place to rest and give yourself permission to be here for a few moments.
Feel the surface beneath you gently supporting your weight.
Notice the places where your body is making contact,
The quiet sense of being held.
Let your shoulders soften in their own time.
Let your hands become still.
Allow your face to relax,
Perhaps letting the space around your eyes become a little softer.
And simply breathe.
There is no special way to breathe here.
Let your breath come and go naturally,
Like a quiet rhythm moving through you.
Feel the gentle movement of your chest.
Your belly.
The subtle rise and fall that continues without asking anything from you.
With each breath,
Allow yourself to settle a little more deeply into the present moment.
And as you rest here,
Imagine that you are stepping into a quiet,
Peaceful place within yourself.
A place where you don't have to explain yourself.
A place where you can simply be.
Let everything outside of this moment become a little more distant.
The things waiting for you.
The conversations.
The thoughts.
They can all remain where they are.
For now,
You are here.
For now,
You are here.
Perhaps you can feel the quiet becoming a little deeper.
Allowing you to rest in a space where you don't have to make sense of everything.
There may be something you have been carrying for a while.
Something your mind has returned to many times.
You can allow it to come gently into your awareness without needing to hold it tightly.
Maybe it is a moment you wish had gone differently.
A decision you still wonder about.
Something that brings up the familiar feeling of I should have known better.
Let yourself remember it from here,
From this quiet place with a little more space around it.
Notice what it feels like to hold the memory without immediately trying to change it.
And as you breathe,
Gently remember that you were there in that moment with everything you had available to you then.
The knowledge you had,
The experiences that had shaped you.
The emotions moving through you.
The things you understood.
And all the things you had not yet learned.
You were living that moment from inside your own life.
With your own history,
Your own fears.
Your own hopes,
And your own understanding of what was possible.
Perhaps you can begin to see a little more of the person who was standing inside that moment.
Not only the choice they made,
But the person who made it.
What were they feeling?
What were they carrying?
What were they hoping for?
What were they needing?
Perhaps without even knowing how to name it.
Let the questions rest gently within you.
There is nothing you need to answer right now.
Perhaps simply allowing yourself to wonder is enough.
And as you stay with the memory,
You may notice the question beginning to soften on its own.
Why did I do that?
Slowly making room for another question,
One that carries a little more tenderness.
What was I needing then?
Stay with that question for a few quiet breaths.
Let it move through you without searching for an answer.
Perhaps something comes to mind.
Perhaps nothing does.
Either way,
You can simply remain here,
Breathing gently,
Allowing yourself to see that moment with a little more understanding than you had before.
Take a slow,
Comfortable breath and feel yourself arriving back into the space around you.
Notice the surface beneath you.
The air against your skin.
The quiet sounds that may be present.
Let your body remain soft for a few more moments.
And when you are ready,
Gently open your eyes,
Carrying a little of this softness with you.
