Let's take some moments for gentle,
Generous breathing.
To come into this time together with all of the fears and uncertainties and excitements with which you've arrived.
Being honest with ourselves that it's okay to feel things,
To be confused or distressed.
To come into a bedtime meditation with a lot of uncertainty and not enough tranquility.
So much of the human condition is agitation.
Whether it's anxiety and worry,
Rush and activity,
We could never take enough time to sit.
We are in our nature perturbed.
The neurons fire,
Transmit and fire again.
Thoughts come and go,
With and without our conscious will.
Maybe that's something to be proud of or at least grateful for.
The precise functioning of our bodies is so fantastical.
Take a few breaths in and out.
And each time you might want to deepen the inhale and extend the exhale.
You may even want to use the ancient biblical cue for breathing,
Which is the word Salah.
Settling down,
Letting gravity take over,
Whereas the rest of the day you probably had to resist and work against it.
Now you can settle down.
Let go of any that may have harmed you.
Let go of slights and rudenesses.
You may not be able to fully forgive,
But you can tentatively forgive.
Putting aside any resentments or discomforts you feel.
Just as you have been injured,
Just as you have been slighted in the course of a normal day or week,
You may be able to forgive.
Just as you have been slighted in the course of a normal day or week,
So too you could assume that you have hurt someone else,
Hurt their feelings by accident or on purpose.
It doesn't even matter.
You may not be in a place where you feel ready to ask for forgiveness.
So just take a practice run before bed.
Imagine what it could be like to ask forgiveness.
Ask forgiveness even for something you may not realize you've done.
As you feel yourself surrendering,
You might notice light dimming,
Fading,
The tension in your eyes relaxing,
Pupils dilating,
Fragments of dream just coming in at the edges.
Breathing in,
Deeply.
You can use the word sala as you breathe out.
You might for a moment before sleep comes in,
Pause to consider the great and abiding unity of creation.
The great and abiding unity of creation.
That the world is diverse but connected,
Sharing a common essence and origin.
It may strike you with gratitude or love or compassion or faith.
You may sense this love pervading all of your experiences.
The awareness of common unity filling you with a deep,
Pervasive gratitude.
The awareness of common unity that you may not have felt before.
Sheltered within this fabulous unity.
As though in a refuge,
In a tree or mountain,
A cleft in a rock,
Under the wing of an eagle,
Beloved,
Made strong.
Breathe in,
Deep,
Out,
Slow.
Maybe exhaling on the ancient breath word sala.
You're lying down in peace,
Wholeness and good.
Certain to awaken again with the same strength and wholeness and harmony.
Secured from enemies and illness,
Protected from violence and hunger,
Comforted in sorrow.
You will go out of this waking time into lands of sleep and you will return from your sleep rested and strong.
You know there are great and good forces surrounding us always.
These great and good forces preceded us with our ancestors.
They watch over us.
And they will continue to shepherd those who follow us.
Breathing,
Settling in.
Coming into deeper stillness,
More serene,
Quiet,
Loving rest and restoration.
You are blessed and you are guarded.
The world is your home.
You are the home of the world.
And you are guarded.
The world looks upon you with grace.
The world turns toward you and gives you peace.
And mighty and gentle angelic presences watch over you while you sleep.
All day we ask questions,
We wonder.
Sometimes those questions can keep us up all night.
But you can leave your questions to your right with a great and good force,
A great and good force responsible for mystery.
During the day we play and work,
Struggle or strive.
And at night we can lay our burden down to our left with the great and good force responsible for heroic vigor.
Some days things can be bleak.
Some days the path is not clear.
And at night,
There is a light shining for us there is a light shining for us held by the great and good force responsible for illumination and wisdom just in front of us.
We are ourselves full of aches and pains,
Sufferings and illnesses.
We can rest our weariness behind us with the great and good force responsible for healing.
And over us and all around us,
The massive and wondrous presence of a loving universe looking down upon us.
Looking down upon us like so many shimmering stars,
Safeguarding us in care and affection.
Take any last moments to wiggle and squirm,
To release yourself of any remaining conscious thoughts,
Adjust,
Breathe in and then breathe out.
The world continues mysterious and awesome and you within it protected and carried along by a loving hand with nothing to fear.
