Go ahead and find yourself in a comfortable position.
Make sure that you are relaxed and open.
Go ahead and close your eyes and feel the warmth of your eyelid upon your eyes.
Also take a moment to notice your breathing.
Just touch your attention on it,
Not trying to change it.
Notice the temperature of your breath.
Notice the rhythm of your breath.
And now send some gratitude to the warmth inside of you and your breath that's always there,
Always sustaining you in life even when you're not thinking about it.
And now imagine yourself outdoors on a snowy day.
You might be in a place that you know,
That you know very well,
That you've been to in real life or in a place in your inner world.
You're wearing warm clothing.
It's one of those snowy days where it's sunny and the wind is not blowing.
So you feel warm even though you're surrounded by snow.
As you walk through the snow,
You crunch yourself for your own path made by your footprints.
You look around you and notice how the sunlight sparkles on the snow.
You're surrounded by an incredible amount of light.
And you feel grateful for the abundance of light in the universe.
And how it shows itself to you in the snow on the snowy day.
As you're walking,
You notice an area of snow that's cleared away.
As you approach it,
You see that there are five white candles,
The same color as the snow.
You almost wouldn't notice them if you hadn't noticed the spot in the ground.
You come closer and kneel next to the five candles.
And as you look at the first candle,
You think about yourself.
Think about one hope that you have for yourself.
It can be something small or something very large in your life.
It can be something for this year or sooner or farther off.
What is something that you feel hopeful for?
And imagine that hope becoming reality.
And as you do,
You feel joy inside.
You feel warmth.
And that spark of joy that you feel lights up in the candle and the candle catches flame.
Seeing this happen helps you feel encouraged.
And so you look to the next candle.
And this time you think about your home.
Imagine one hope that you have for your home.
Imagine how it would feel.
Start to feel joy and warmth and safety and comfort of your home and your hope for it in the future,
Near future or far future.
Perhaps even a new home.
Feel yourself in that space with that warmth and gratitude and happiness and let that spark within you.
Show itself in the candle.
And the candle lights up with flame.
And then you look to the third candle and you think about your family.
Think about one hope that you have for your family.
It could be overall or for a specific family member.
Think about that one hope.
You're filled with love for your family,
For that person,
If there's one person in particular.
And that love warms you up again inside and that spark appears in the candle.
You look to that flame and you see your hope coming to be.
So then you look to the fourth candle.
Think about your community.
Your community could be physically surrounding you in your area or it could be through other connections of friendship,
Family,
Could be over distance.
But whoever you consider to be your community,
When you hear that word,
Whatever comes to mind,
Imagine one hope that you have for your community.
Simply picture this coming true,
This hope.
You're filled with the comfort of your community and the excitement about this hope coming to be.
And as it becomes more and more real,
So does the flame crackling on this candle.
And you see that this candle too has lit up.
So then you look to the last candle,
The fifth candle,
And you think about the whole world.
What is one hope you have for the world?
As you think about this,
Truly feel hopeful.
Know that this is possible,
That this can truly come to be.
And let this hope bring you joy,
Bring you excitement for the future.
You feel trust in the universe.
You feel trust in yourself and the world surrounding you.
Can you know it can happen?
And that last candle lights up.
You look down and you see these five candles all lit.
And you're reminded of all the things that are possible.
You raise your eyes to see in the distance,
Smoke coming from a chimney of a home.
And it reminds you of the warm feelings of your own home,
The warmth of safety,
Of comfort,
Knowing that everything will be okay and better than okay.
Everything will be wonderful.
You feel that warmth inside of you and then you start to notice again the warmth of your eyelids against your eyes.
And you go ahead and start feeling your body again and your space,
The warmth of your body.
Start bringing yourself back.
By carrying this light of hope within you,
You open your eyes.
