We'll begin with a bell.
Let's start with a few calming breaths and just come into self.
Come into the joy of meditating and the gratitude of giving yourself time to be before you act without worry or regret for a few moments.
Just sitting in self,
In present moment.
A few deep breaths.
A few more deeper and slower out,
Using that energy to bring yourself into greater stillness,
A more profound quiet,
A heaviness in your body as you sink into gravity.
Maybe a yawn,
Or you could breathe and exhale on the ancient biblical breath word,
Sela.
Sela.
Sela.
Check in with your body.
Where do you feel good?
Where are you sore or stiff?
What needs your attention?
Where might you direct your breath so that it loosens up or feels better?
Give yourself that loving gaze,
Considering yourself with a lot of generosity and grace.
You're a good enough person.
You were created just as you are intended to be.
Sit with your fundamental goodness and your fundamental brokenness.
We are all incomplete,
And ideally we are each striving.
That might be as good as we can hope for.
And that's okay.
It's good to exist.
In this meditation,
We're going to talk about seven seven-year cycles of sabbatical,
And then at the end,
A jubilee.
49 or 50 years might not be plausible where you are in your life.
That's okay.
Think about them metaphorically as extended periods of time.
Time enough at last.
So we'll go through seven periods of imagining what good things might be coming to you,
And ways in which you might grow and achieve.
You don't have to be specific,
Not tied to an exact age,
But a period,
And then a period farther out,
And so forth,
Seven times.
Breathing in deeply and out slowly,
And knowing that you're going to get distracted.
Forgiving yourself in advance that you will get distracted,
And reminding yourself each time to return to this meditation.
Let's start in the nearest seven-year,
Or metaphorical seven-year period,
To where you are now.
Let your mind drift ahead.
Hopefully not with anxiety,
But with a sense of relief.
But with hope and faith.
Maybe desire and eagerness.
Good things are coming,
Unknown and unknowable.
Of course there'll be struggle,
But there will undoubtedly be good things ahead.
Let your mind wander over that time period of possibility.
Breathing and drifting,
The horizon expanding ahead with time.
The ribbon of time unfurling.
And you bravely imagining ahead.
Let's go into another seven-year period,
This time a little more distant,
Harder to fathom.
Again,
It doesn't have to be an exact time frame,
Whatever is appropriate to your age and stage in life.
But farther away,
A little more misty,
Full of good,
And change,
And loss,
And potential.
Breathing and letting your heart drift forward in time.
What might be.
What could be.
Maybe a hope comes up.
A wish or a prayer for that future.
Breathing.
Coming back when distracted.
And a third cycle.
Farther out still,
Less visible.
You could think in seven-year frames or approximate frames,
Cycles.
We're getting farther and farther into the future.
Not with anxiety,
Just curiosity.
What could be.
In this third frame of time.
No need to worry.
The future is ephemeral and not even real.
But perhaps exciting and interesting.
So we'll look ahead into a fourth section.
If you're thinking in literal seven-year cycles,
This would be from year 21 to 28,
Out ahead.
Implausibly far,
Hard to figure.
But fun to daydream about,
And that's all we're doing.
So look into that fourth cycle.
What might be there.
Interstellar journey.
Interstellar travel,
Who knows.
Weddings and funerals.
Gifts and forgivings.
It's all possible.
If you give it enough time.
Problems that you think are insurmountable now might be unwound in four cycles of seven-ish time.
Breathe into that potential.
Let's step into a fifth period of unknown time.
Far,
Far ahead.
Almost opaque to us.
That's okay.
It's behind the veil.
What amazing things might there be for you or even humanity.
Good and bad.
Surprising,
Exciting,
Disappointing,
Weird,
And fun.
Surprising,
Exciting,
Disappointing,
Weird,
Who knows.
Far enough away,
All the anger,
Anxiety,
Worry,
Heart sickness you might feel now might have dissipated.
Probably won't be there anymore.
On a long enough scale,
The problems will find their solutions.
Breathe,
Stretch,
Yawn,
Whatever you need to do to settle again.
And we'll go into our sixth cycle.
Could be seven years,
Could be approximate,
Could be metaphoric.
It doesn't matter.
Just really far away.
Where everything that seems to matter now has probably fallen to the side.
Maybe new things matter.
Maybe you've let go.
You're not encumbered by much.
Maybe your body is already changing.
The world is refreshed.
You could even be living on Mars.
Not capable of planning for that.
Not possible to plan for.
Just so far away as to be relaxing in this daydream.
As you settle into it,
Let's look into another seven-year period.
Seventh of seven.
Again,
Seven years of meditation.
Just a placeholder term.
So,
So far away.
Immeasurably far,
But wonderful to imagine.
What could be,
What would be,
What could not be,
What could be,
What could be,
What could not be.
What could be,
What might be.
Letting all the possibility unfold.
And then very last,
A release.
An acceptance,
A giving away,
A letting go,
A jubilee.
Take a few moments just to imagine that at the end of all of these cycles that you are free.
Free of whatever contained you now.
No debts,
No licenses,
Nothing left to forgive.
Breathe into that as we prepare to close.
