Hello Wayfarer,
We are now nearing the end of this particular path,
Yet the journey of the heart is one that never truly finishes.
Thank you for continuing to walk beside me.
Perhaps today your mind feels like a crowded marketplace,
Loud,
Busy and filled with voices vying for your attention.
It is so easy to get caught in the weeds of our own worries,
Believing that we are the chaos we feel.
But just as a gardener is not the soil,
Nor the thorns,
Nor the blossoms,
You are not the thoughts that move through you.
It is okay if your inner landscape feels a bit overgrown or neglected today.
We aren't here to judge the garden,
We are simply here to pick up the tools of awareness and begin to tend to the earth with kindness.
I invite you to find your center once more.
Feel the breath moving into the back of your heart,
Expanding the space between your shoulder blades.
As you exhale,
Imagine you are rooting yourself down deep into the cool dark safety of the ground.
I invite you to notice the weather of your mind right now.
Is it stormy?
Is it hazy?
Whatever it is,
Let it be.
You are the sky and the weather is just passing through.
Soften the muscles of your stomach,
Let the breath be natural and effortless,
Like a breeze moving through tall grass.
Feel the loosening of the need to control your thoughts.
For the next few minutes,
You don't need to solve anything.
You only need to be the quiet observer of the life growing within you.
I want you to imagine you are sitting in a small walled garden.
This is the sanctuary of your mind.
Notice what is growing here.
Some plants may be the bright flowers of joy or hope,
While others might be the tangled weeds of old fears or stories that no longer serve you.
Instead of pulling at the weeds with anger,
I invite you to just look at them.
Notice how they thrive on the energy of your struggle.
See what happens when you simply breathe into the soil around them.
Feel the unfurling of a new space,
A clearing,
Where you realize that you're the one tending the garden,
Not the plants themselves.
You have the power to choose which seeds to water today.
So let us sit in the stillness of your garden.
Practice being the gardener.
When a thought arises,
Acknowledge it and then gently return your attention to the feel of the sun on your skin or the breath in your lungs.
Gently bring your awareness back to the room,
Feeling the steady support of the earth beneath you.
Your mind is a sacred space.
Treat it with the tenderness it deserves.
I'll meet you tomorrow for our final day together as you make our sacred pact.
Thank you for joining me today brave one.
Until we meet again,
Stay close to your heart.
