For the next 10 minutes,
I want to invite you into a small experiment.
We spend so much of our lives thinking about the future.
Thinking about where we are trying to get to.
What we wish would happen.
What we are afraid might happen.
What we need to fix,
Solve,
Where we need to reach,
Who we need to become.
Even when this moment is here,
Part of our mind is already racing somewhere else,
Further down the track.
So,
For the next 10 minutes,
We're going to let all of that rest.
Imagine that your life is a train journey.
There is somewhere you want to get to.
Maybe it's a place.
Maybe it's a feeling.
Peace.
Love.
Freedom.
Rest.
Clarity.
Home.
Whatever it is,
Some part of you has been reaching for it,
Searching for it,
And you Now,
Imagine you are on the train,
And you've got a first class ticket.
You have your own cabin.
The world is moving outside.
The train already knows the way.
And I am the guard on that train.
My job is simple.
You tell me where you want to go.
And when it is time,
I wake you up.
So you can now go into your cabin,
And close the curtains,
And go to sleep.
Your job is not to keep asking how much longer.
You don't have to shove coal into the engine.
You don't have to stare out the window as if that will help you arrive any faster.
Your job is to rest.
To trust.
To let yourself be carried.
That is the meditation.
Not giving up on your life.
Not forgetting what matters to you.
Just letting go,
For a little while,
Of the effort of trying to arrive.
So let's go into our cabin.
Take a slow breath in.
And let it out.
Again.
Breathe in.
And out.
Now feel yourself on the train.
Feel the motion beneath you.
The support of the seat.
The noise of the world outside quietly disappears behind the curtain.
Even now,
Without your effort,
The train keeps moving.
You are being carried.
Take one more slow breath in.
And as you breathe in,
Bring to mind the place you want to get to.
Not the whole plan,
Just the essence.
What are you longing for?
Take a moment and name it.
Feel free to say it quietly to yourself,
Or go ahead and yell it out.
Nobody will hear it,
Or the noise of the train.
Just say it.
This is where I want to go.
Now that it has been named,
You don't need to hold it so tightly.
You don't need to keep rehearsing the future.
You don't need to keep checking if you are there yet.
For now,
Let the destination be known.
And let it go.
Feel your body in the seat.
Let your jaw soften.
Let your shoulders drop.
Let your hands rest.
Take a deeper breath in.
Hold it gently.
And now let it out.
Again.
Breathe in and feel all the trying.
All the managing.
All the pushing.
All the,
When will I get there?
Hold it for one moment.
And now let it go with a sigh if you need to.
Just let it leave your body.
You don't have to solve your life right now.
You don't have to arrive right now.
For these next few minutes,
The train is moving.
That is enough.
If thoughts come,
Let them pass like trees outside the window.
You don't need to run after them.
Just come back.
Back to the breath.
Back to the motion.
Back to being carried.
So for the next little while,
Go to sleep.
Not into numbness.
Into trust.
The same train that has brought you to other stations before.
Work.
Relationships.
Family.
Graduations.
Successes.
Even the failures.
You've always arrived exactly where you needed to get to.
Let the same train carry you.
Let yourself drift.
And when it is time,
You will wake up.
Now gently feel your breath again.
Feel the body here.
Feel the seat beneath you.
The train is still moving.
Life is still moving.
Take one more slow breath in.
And let it go.
And when you are ready,
Open your eyes.
You are still on the journey.
You just don't have to force it every second.
Have a safe journey.
