So as you listen to me,
Just allow your eyes to close and with your eyes closed you can begin to drift comfortably asleep.
And as you drift comfortably asleep,
I don't know whether you'll fall asleep faster with the sound of my voice,
The words I use or perhaps the spaces between my words.
And as you fall asleep,
I'm just going to tell you a story.
And this person finds herself walking through a strange land and she gazes out over that land as she's walking along and she can see floating land in the sky.
She can see trees on that floating land,
Mountains on the floating land.
She can see some of the floating land has waterfalls falling from that land down to the land below.
She can notice that that floating land appears to be tethered to other floating lands,
Almost like a matrix of floating lands in the sky with huge tethers between each bit of land.
And then there are points where there are tethers down to the ground.
And the tethers don't appear to be man-made.
They appear to somehow be just part of the environment.
And she'd heard that in this land there was special magnetic rock,
That there were areas where the magnetic rock would repel itself from the opposing magnetic force of other rock.
And so these floating areas were floating on a cushion of magnetism.
And she gazed out as far as the eye could see.
She could see the gaps in the ground where those areas had floated up into the sky.
And she didn't know the cause of this land in this way.
And she could see lakes and the way the sun glistened on the surface of the lakes.
She could see vast forests of tall trees with the occasional even taller tree poking out the top.
Some areas where there was mist across the top of the forest.
She could notice the color of the sky,
Clouds,
Birds flying high.
She gazed out across this land.
And she'd never been here before.
And she was on a journey.
She had to find somebody.
She didn't know what that person would be like,
But she knew she would know when she had found them.
So she walked down the hillside,
Walked down into the forest and started pushing through the forest.
She could hear the sounds in the forest,
Different animals,
Sounds of birds,
Sounds of each footstep she took.
As she pushed on through the forest.
And while she pushed through the forest,
She wondered who this person would be.
She was just told to head west.
She wasn't told how far or when she would meet that person.
She just knew that she would recognize them and know that she's found them.
She was told that they would happily talk to her and be very charming.
And she had something important she needed to learn from them.
So she continued to push her way through the forest.
And as she pushed through the forest,
She wondered about how she was making sure she could stay heading west.
She found that so much easier when she was out in clearing where she could see the sky and be aware of her surroundings.
And after some time she managed to clear the forest and reach a lake.
And she created herself a raft.
And then started paddling across the lake on that raft.
She could hear the sound of the oar in the water as she pushed forward.
The sound of the raft moving through the water.
She could smell a fresh water air.
And notice the subtle mist that hovered just above the water's surface.
And so she rode across that lake.
And at the far side of the lake,
She dragged her makeshift craft up onto the shore.
Covered it over with some giant leaves,
In case she needed it and didn't want anyone to take it.
And then carried on her journey west.
And she came to a mountain and started climbing that mountain.
And as she climbed,
So trees thinned out.
Until eventually she was above the trees.
And she continued climbing and then she reached some snowy area.
And she continued climbing higher and higher.
And she climbed up and over the mountain range.
And as she was on the other side of the mountain range,
So she saw a dragon in the distance circling round,
Above some forest.
And looking around she saw a bird of prey in another direction.
Flocks of birds flying in formations.
Sometimes birds launching themselves from the forest before landing elsewhere.
She was aware of how much life was going on here.
Just going about its everyday business,
While she was on this quest,
To find this wise person.
She started down the mountain,
And found it much easier going down the mountain than going up.
And as she was going down the mountain,
She noticed that there was running water down this side,
Flowing from the mountain.
And she started following that newly forming river,
Which gradually turned into more of a torrent of water and waterfalls.
And then at the foot of the mountain,
As the ground started leveling out,
So the water started slowing,
And the river started widening.
And she felt it would be easier to follow the side of the river,
Than to have to keep pushing forward through the jungle.
So she followed this river.
And after some time following this river,
She saw an ornate bridge,
And either side of that bridge was a road.
And this road looked like it had been well kept,
And so it must be an important road leading somewhere.
So she went to that bridge.
And she saw that there was a man with a cane,
Sitting on the bridge,
Just using the cane to prop himself up.
And she greeted herself to him.
And he greeted her back.
And then he started talking to her,
And it was charming,
And pleasant conversation.
And she wondered if this was the wise man.
She said that she was on a mission.
She had to find something of importance,
But she didn't know what.
But she was told that the wise man would know,
And to just head west until you find him.
And he said he'd been sat here waiting to be found.
And she asked,
What do you mean you've been sat here waiting to be found?
Are you lost?
And he said that he's in exactly the right place for this moment.
And she asked him,
How can you be wanting to be found,
Or needing to be found,
If you're not lost?
Why don't you just go somewhere?
And he said he is somewhere.
He said in fact he's in the middle of somewhere.
And he'd rather be somewhere than nowhere.
And she asked him,
But if you are somewhere,
And you're waiting to be found,
How did you know to wait to be found?
How did you know someone was looking for you?
And he said somebody is always looking,
And nobody finds anyone.
The only person that can find anyone is somebody who's searching.
And she found that his conversation was going through her head in some way.
She didn't fully understand it at the moment,
But it was so unusual.
She assumed this must be the wise man.
He then said to her,
Time stands still for no man.
And she thought that was an unusual thing to say.
Of course,
Time doesn't stand still.
He told her she's looking for time.
And when she's found the time,
She will have found what she's really searching for.
And she didn't really understand,
And she asked how do I find the time?
I don't have much time for this.
I'm looking for something,
And I don't even know what.
And he explained that you do know what,
Because I've told you.
You just have to take the time,
And you need to discover it for yourself.
And he explained that all roads come to an end,
And so she has to decide which road she wants to follow to that end.
And she asked,
But one road is probably the wrong road,
And the other road is probably right.
How do I know which road to choose?
And he said,
You're right.
One road is probably the wrong road,
And the road that's left is right.
And she thought to herself how this doesn't help at all.
She's no clearer as to what road to follow.
And he told her you have all the answers.
You just need to trust yourself,
And know that you know all the answers,
Even if you don't know you know them.
And she thought to herself this man is no help.
She thought to herself that she's just going to wander down one of the roads,
And when she meets someone else she'll ask them,
Maybe they can speak more sense,
Maybe this isn't the wise person really.
So she got up and left,
And as she followed the left road she started thinking about the interaction,
Started trying to process what he might have meant.
And the road followed around,
Along near the river.
And as she followed that road she allowed herself to get lost in thought.
She found trains of thought stretching from one thing to another as she continued to walk,
As she tried to process and make sense of what the man had said.
And as she followed that road she could see across the river to the other road,
And she could see that both roads look like they were going the same way,
Just both on different sides.
And after many hours of walking it was starting to get dark.
She'd crossed mountains,
She'd walked miles,
She felt she needs a sleep.
So she set up camp,
Lit a fire,
Had something to eat,
Took some time to meditate,
To drift off in her mind,
In her thoughts,
To process her experiences.
While she gazed at the flickering flames of the fire,
Aware of the flames dancing around,
Creating dancing light and shadows in the night,
The sound of the water in the background,
The sight of stars in the sky,
The sound of rustling leaves as the wind blew a breeze,
As she then settled down and drifted comfortably asleep.
And as she drifted comfortably asleep,
So she started to dream,
And while she dreamt,
She replayed what that man had said.
Only the man didn't look like the man in her dream,
And he didn't quite say what he said,
But she knew this was a representation of that for her to learn from.
And she imagined herself picking up a mirror,
A handheld mirror,
And holding it out in front of her,
And looking at herself in that mirror,
And then suddenly being propelled faster and faster through space,
Getting faster and faster and faster,
And noticing everything around her slowing down to the point where everything around her almost grinds to a halt,
Where it's going so slow it's almost imperceptible.
And she looks to the left,
And she looks to the right,
And she looks up and looks down,
She looks around her and notices how everything is almost ground to a halt,
And she looks forward again,
And notices that she can see her head turning in the mirror,
And everything in the mirror is happening in real time,
And yet everything around her has slowed right down.
And she knows somehow this is all connected,
And yet she doesn't know how.
And she has this feeling like the sun's rising,
Feeling of warmth on her face,
And she gradually opens her eyes,
Holding on to this dream,
And while she holds on to the dream,
She continues her journey.
And as she continues her journey,
She notices that the road on the other side of the river suddenly comes to an abrupt halt,
As it drops steeply into a gap left by one of the floating islands in the sky.
And yet the road she's on just misses the edge of that gap.
She notices how that river abruptly becomes a waterfall pouring down into that gap.
She looks up at that floating island,
She looks down into the gap,
She looks over at that other road and realizes if she'd been following that road,
It would have been a road to nowhere,
That she'd have to turn around and walk back again.
And if she just followed the river,
She'd have to have tried to steer to the shore before the river turned into that waterfall,
And she continued walking along the road,
Looking down into the gap,
Looking up at the island,
Walking around that gap,
Until she'd passed the gap and carried on walking.
And she realized that perhaps that wise man was actually wise in the first place,
Because what he had said was correct.
He'd said the path that's left is right.
And she got up and left,
Following the left path.
And she did it without any thought at all.
She just decided to get up and decided to just walk along that path.
She didn't realize that she'd just done as he had said.
It just happened instinctively and automatically.
And after some time further of walking along this path,
She saw a palace.
A palace that no one lived in any longer,
And yet it looked like everyone had left just a day ago.
Despite no one living here for hundreds of years,
And she walked into the palace grounds,
Walked through those palace grounds,
Past perfectly kept grounds of plants,
Flowers,
Shrubs.
And as she entered the palace,
So she could hear a ticking clock.
And she walked instinctively towards the sound of that ticking clock.
Somehow she felt that was what she was after,
That she needed to find that ticking clock.
And she came to a vast room in the middle of this palace,
With the ceiling so high she could barely see the top.
And in the middle was a circular table,
And on that table was an ornate beautiful clock.
She went over to that clock,
Reached out and touched that clock,
And as she did,
The ticking stopped.
And as the ticking stopped,
So she suddenly realized,
Time may not stand still for any man,
But it has stood still for her.
And then she touches the hands,
And she slowly with her finger winds those hands back.
And she doesn't know quite why she feels like this is the thing to do,
But she winds those hands back.
And as she does,
She notices life coming back to the castle,
To this palace.
She notices people appearing,
Almost out of thin air.
And then she reaches a point where as she's winding,
She hears this slight click with the clock,
And she feels like that's the place she's supposed to stop winding.
So she stops winding,
Moves her finger.
Here's the clock chime,
And as the clock chimes,
So all these people start milling around and moving,
As if life has returned to this palace.
And someone suddenly startled to see this woman they didn't see a moment earlier,
Stood at the clock.
And she knew with this that she'd undone a curse that was brought upon her own land that she traveled from,
That was somehow connected through time and space with this palace and this clock.
That in her own land,
Somehow time ground to a halt,
Everyone started disappearing,
As if they no longer existed.
And she got out of the land,
But was aware that this problem was following her not far behind,
At the rate of one tick per tock.
And she couldn't really explain that,
But she knew she was keeping ahead,
And had a sense that somehow there was a connection between these things.
And she walked through all the people in the palace,
And went on her journey,
Able to enjoy this land more on her journey home,
Knowing that she had changed her land,
And helped save the people in her land,
Just as much as she had just helped to save the people in that palace.
And when she eventually reached back to her land,
She was gratefully received.
She saw her loved ones,
Saw how happy she'd made everyone.
And people had a vague sense that something had happened,
And that now they were back.
And she looked forward to just going home after a long journey,
Relaxing down,
And falling asleep.
