Lie down and let your body sink into the mattress.
If you are overthinking it often feels like you are swimming upstream.
It feels like you are trying to hold on to water,
Trying to solve things that cannot be solved tonight.
It's exhausting to swim against the current.
So tonight we are going to stop swimming.
Tonight we are going to float.
Imagine you are standing on the bank of a wide,
Gentle river.
It is twilight,
That magical time between day and night when the sky is a deep,
Soft indigo.
The air is cool and fresh.
You can smell the water and the damp earth.
The river is flowing slowly,
Steadily.
It is a powerful force,
But it is calm.
The river represents the flow of time.
It represents the natural order of things.
Everything flows one way,
Downstream,
Towards the ocean of sleep.
At the edge of the water there is a small,
Comfortable boat waiting for you.
It is filled with soft pillows.
It is tied to the shore,
Gently bobbing in the water.
Step onto the boat.
Lie down on the pillows.
Look up at the first stars appearing in the sky the moment the current catches the boat.
You are drifting away from the shore,
Away from the solid ground of doing and thinking.
As you float,
Realize the name of this river.
It is the river of no return,
And this is a beautiful thing.
You do not have to go back to fix the conversations you had earlier.
You do not have to go back to change the past.
The water only flows forward.
It carries you away from your mistakes,
Away from your what-ifs.
Look at the water moving past the boat.
Imagine your thoughts are like leaves falling onto the surface.
Watch a thought land on the water and see the current take it.
It drifts past you.
It gets smaller.
It appears around the bend.
You couldn't hold onto it,
Even if you wanted to.
The river is taking it for you.
Let the river carry the heavy things.
It is strong enough to hold them.
Feel the gentle rocking of the boat.
Water supports you.
If a thought comes up,
Say to it,
Float away and watch it go.
Downstream.
You are just floating.
Effortless.
There is no resistance.
No swimming against the tide.
Just surrendering to the flow.
The river widens.
The current becomes so slow.
It feels like you are barely moving.
You are entering the ocean of sleep.
Your breathing is like the tide.
Nothing to fix.
Just drifting into the deep.
