Let's start with the bell.
Settle down.
Come in.
Find your quiet,
Your space,
Your comfort,
What you need.
Honor this time for self-care,
Giving yourself unequivocal permission to relax.
Nothing you need to hold on to.
There's nothing you need to wrap up.
There's nothing you can prepare for.
You're just going to be here,
Wherever you are resting.
Your mind is going to wander.
Your emotions are going to come and go,
But you're not going to get up.
You're just going to rest because you deserve to care for yourself,
Because it's important to be kind to yourself.
And when you're kind to yourself,
You can give to others when the time comes.
Take a few deep breaths just to get into the space,
To become fully settled down.
Feel a weight sinking in.
Let gravity do half the work just by pulling you down.
And let the earth exert its loving embrace on you and don't resist anymore.
Let everything slump and begin to collapse and give way.
And let your thoughts get silly,
Dreamlike,
And unspool.
You can't stop thinking.
Your neurons are always going to be firing and moving and transmitting data and chemicals.
But you can take your hand off the wheel and let the ship of your thoughts just blow in the breeze.
In any given day,
Mistakes were made.
Someone certainly hurt your feelings.
Someone undoubtedly said something that didn't sit right,
Or maybe even invaded your physical space on purpose,
By accident.
Not much to be done about it now,
So commit yourself to forgiving.
Maybe you're just forgiving while you sleep.
Maybe it's a more long-term forgiveness.
Just forgive for now.
And knowing with a kind of detached and slightly amused awareness,
If people made mistakes toward you,
You probably did the same to someone else.
And if you can summon the humility,
Just ask forgiveness of a person or just the world so that you can be free,
So that you can sleep.
Feel your eyes getting heavy and in fact,
Or in your imagination,
Notice the light dimming and the world around you beginning to recede and become farther away from your conscious mind.
Become aware,
Even if only metaphorically,
That all of these things,
My voice,
Your ears,
Your body,
This world,
Are really one thing.
There is a unity hidden below the variety of our experience.
And within it,
They all come from a shared source,
Literally and figuratively.
And the most appropriate response when we become aware of the unity of existence is an outpouring of love.
To feel such an intense love for creation and for this world that we get to experience,
Sometimes only briefly and never enough,
With all of its pains and celebrations,
It is worth living.
You're breathing,
You're letting go,
Surrendering.
And above you and beyond you,
You are sheltered,
You are safeguarded,
You are protected by forces and sources greater and deeper than you can imagine.
Above and beyond,
Shielding and sheltering you and always aware of you and your needs.
You're breathing,
You are resting,
You are settling in,
And your thoughts are coming disassembled,
Starting to wander and become free of conscious restriction and ordering.
Isn't that nice,
Not to have to steer your thoughts anymore?
Right now,
As you meditate,
As you rest,
Perhaps you consider sleeping,
You don't need to solve any problems,
You don't need to come up with any answers.
You are lying down in wholeness and fullness.
And when the time comes,
You will almost surely wake up safely.
And as you go in and out of consciousness,
You are guarded at every step.
There are great and good forces looking over you,
Looking over you as you rest,
Looking over you when you sleep.
They looked over those who came before you,
And these great and good forces are protecting you.
And these great and good forces will be looking out for your descendants.
You are blessed,
You are guarded.
The world is looking over you with goodness and mercy.
The world is looking at you and wishing you peace,
Wholeness,
And harmony.
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
Taking it all in,
And then letting it all go.
Whatever parts you're still holding on to,
We're going to set them down to our sides.
At the end of every day,
We have unanswered questions,
Mysteries,
And curiosities that we couldn't resolve.
Gather them up and place them down at your right side with the great and good force responsible for mystery.
And every day there are exertions,
Liftings,
And strugglings,
And work upon work as it is.
Now you do not have to exert yourself.
Now no heroic effort is necessary.
You are letting go.
On your left side,
Put down all of your efforts.
Let them be attended to by the great and good force responsible for heroism.
In every experience,
Every day,
And every life,
There are darknesses,
And doubts,
And uncertainties.
You don't need to answer those questions or face those fears right now.
Put them down right in front of you.
Let them be cared for while you sleep by the great and good force responsible for illumination.
Every day we're a little older,
And every day wounds,
And sorenesses,
And injuries creep in,
Small and large,
And the pain can be intense.
Imagine a force for healing right behind you and fall back into that force,
Letting go of all of your harm,
And pain,
And trauma,
And suffering.
Let it be surrendered to the great healer resting behind you and above you,
The incredible presence of all that is awesome and joyful in the world.
You're continuing to breathe,
Falling into a deeper state of relaxation,
A thinner setting of consciousness,
Letting your thoughts become haphazard,
Totally unregulated,
Rolling away.
And with any last tension or anxiety,
Just shiver it out.
Give any last wiggles or squirms,
Any last doubts or worries,
Let them go,
Let them go.
And know that as you prepare for sleep,
You are held in a deep and awesome and loving hand,
Supporting and nurturing you as you rest,
And you have no need to fear.
