So let's focus on the breaths,
Eyes closed,
Spine straight.
Pull your shoulders up,
Roll them down the back.
Let's breathe in for a count of six.
One.
Hold it.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Now exhale through the nose for six.
Inhale,
Count of eight.
And hold it,
Count of eight.
Now exhale,
Count of eight.
Let's settle in with the rhythm of the breaths,
Even breaths in and out through the nose.
Breaths in and out,
Fully engage the abdomen.
Feel your chest swell and expand all that nourishing oxygen moving through the system.
Take some deeper breaths than you've allowed yourself to take all week long so far.
Let them fill you up with vitality,
With light,
With possibility,
With gratitude.
Just settle into that rhythm.
And once you've established that pace with the breath,
Keep it consistent.
Try to pull it back to slow it down.
We're going to get centered right here,
Fall into this rhythm.
Your eyes can be closed or half closed.
Raise your gaze up,
Maybe slightly towards the center,
Either to the point between the two eyebrows or off in the distance.
Use points of focus with the gaze,
With the breath,
With your straight posture,
Keeping you more wide awake than you've been all week.
If the mind wanders,
Just bring it back to the breath,
Back to the gaze,
Back to the spine.
That's what you have to do for the next 25 minutes.
With each breath that you take,
Let it dim the image of your immediate surroundings.
Fade it to white.
On a countdown of five,
We'll go all the way to white.
Five,
The room you're in,
The environment,
Slightly faded.
That is urgent,
Taking the edge off.
Four,
Everything around you is a little bit more chalky now,
A little smoky.
Reminding you that this too could also be a dream.
Let it fade,
Deep breaths in and out.
Three,
A little bit whiter.
Anything that calls you to start working or start your day is just fading off into the distance now.
Slightly gray,
Slightly white.
Old white outlines.
Two,
It's more white than color now.
You're able to see the contrast,
The shadows.
You remain in full vibrant color against this increasingly white backdrop.
Hold the gaze,
Follow the breath.
One.
Everything is solid white,
Just the faintest white outlines.
Zero.
You're fully submerged in a completely white space,
Vast.
You can't discern how close or how far the walls are.
Just get comfortable in this space.
Breathe into it.
And as we get comfortable here,
Let's take an inventory of a few things that we did as recent as yesterday that were once distant dreams.
Maybe they're people or relationships that we coveted or loved that now spend all their time with us.
Maybe it was a job that we've grown a little bit bored of,
That we once would have done anything to get.
Maybe it's how we spend pockets of time and freedom and creativity in meditation.
Choose one.
Choose something you did yesterday that if you really think about it,
You were so blessed to do.
With each breath,
Start pulling gratitude and light into your body,
Filling you up,
Directing it back out,
Reflecting it onto this act.
Showing yourself how lucky you are and how far you've come.
Breathe in the gratitude deeper,
All the light,
Let it fill you up.
Let it permeate every particle of your being.
Pause for a moment and reflect back on the distance between who you once were and where this was in your future.
Did it seem distant?
Did it seem unattainable?
Realize how far you've traveled physically and emotionally.
Now,
We'll release that vision.
As we breathe,
Begin to focus on something that you have coming up between now and the start of the fall,
Something that by the end of summer,
You will experience.
Maybe it's a gift to yourself,
A trip,
A special event with close friends.
As you breathe in and out,
I want you to amplify that gratitude,
Amplify that excitement,
That anticipation.
All the planning,
All the work,
Financial investment,
Your time,
The love and attention you've given it,
That you need to give it until you're living it.
Bring yourself into that moment.
Project yourself there.
How do you feel?
What do you see?
Look around you.
How grateful are the people there to have you close?
Notice how they feel that energy and excitement coming off of you,
Reverberating off of you.
Reflect on how far you've traveled to be here,
Physically and emotionally.
To your right is the pause button,
Hockey puck sized,
Gleaming white,
Silver.
Let's hit pause and hold this vision as we breathe.
Breathe fully into the vision.
Adjust the light and the contrast.
Make it vibrant and real.
Perhaps it's better than you imagined it.
It's more vibrant because you are awake inside the dream.
You're fully aware.
Aware of all the work it took.
As we begin to release this vision,
Let's deepen the breath,
Slow it down.
Start bringing into focus a big,
Audacious dream you've been carrying around with you,
Maybe secretly in your heart,
Maybe outward in your work that will undoubtedly come to pass within the next five years.
The most distant travel adventure,
The most spectacular arrival on the biggest stage,
The widest and deepest possible impact for your work.
You know what it is.
Don't be shy.
Bring it into focus.
Notice how you're dressed.
Notice how you hold your posture.
Each breath making it more real,
More present tense.
All the flashing cameras,
The shining sun,
Standing applause,
A look of awe on everyone who knows you because they can and can't believe that you did it.
Hold this vision.
The highest summit of your life so far.
And turn and gaze backward down at this entire journey that's led you here.
Connected to the moments that happened yesterday.
Connected to the moments that will happen by the end of this summer.
By all those moments and exclamation points five years hence.
Breathe in.
And understand that the connection here,
Common thread,
The link,
It's you.
It's you amplified by your gratitude.
By your belief and by your audacity.
To honor what you've achieved.
Where you're going.
Always moving forward and up.
Hold this vision.
Notice the weather.
The wind on your skin.
Crashing waves nearby.
Family friends.
Hold this sense of achievement.
And remember that what got you here was the gratitude for the simple things you accomplished that happened yesterday.
The bigger things you planned that will happen this summer.
And your daily commitment to reconnect with your gratitude.
And your breath which leads you to the space you need to fulfill these big,
Audacious dreams.
Of your I wanted to share a couple readings from some sources that really inspired this meditation.
These have really stuck with me over the last few weeks.
This first one is from a piece of artwork that my friend Celia sent me for speaking at one of her events.
It's by an artist named Nicole Barsolo.
She's an artist and printmaker,
And this beautiful print has the following words.
Have you ever had a dream you thought was impossible?
You abandoned your dream,
But it remained in your heart?
I had a dream.
I tried to ignore it,
But it was wedged deep in my heart.
It followed me wherever I went,
Then one day something shifted.
I honored the essence of the dream.
My dream became light,
So every day I did one action connected to my dream.
Then I did two things.
Then three.
Then four.
Now I am living my dream.
This next inspiring piece is from an amazing children's book by an author named Dallas Clayton.
I highly recommend you pick up this book for your kids and also maybe another one for yourself.
The book is appropriately titled An Awesome Book.
This is the back half.
Yes there are places in the world where dreams are almost dead,
So please my child do keep in mind before you go to bed to dream a dream as big as big could ever dream to be.
Then dream a dream ten times as big as that one dream you see.
Then once you've got that dream in mind please dream a million more and not a million quiet dreams a million dreams that roar.
A million dreams so loud they scream so loud they sing and shout so super huge they say hey world guess what I'm dreaming about.
I'm dreaming about everything that no one thought to wonder.
Dreams so big that they've got dreams and they've got dreams up under.
Please dream for those who've given up for those who've never tried.
Please use your dreams to make new dreams for all the dreams that died.
Because you're the one whose dreams can be whatever dreams you want.
Whose dreams can change the way things are and the way that things are not.
And if they say that all your dreams seem too big to come true you tell them what I told you.
That's what dreams are meant to do.
They're meant to make you seem as if you don't know up from down.
Because dreams are dreams and that's why dreams are worth having around.
So when you think your dreaming's done just remember what I said.
Close your eyes my child and dream that perfect dream inside your head.
As powerful as Dallas Clayton's words are you really have to experience the artwork that comes with this book.
It's phenomenal.
It's hand drawn.
It's so ambitious.
So beautiful.
It's so ruckusly weird and inspiring.
That's an awesome book by Dallas Clayton.
This has been a guided meditation from Casey at This Epic Life.
If you enjoy what you heard you can find me at thisepiclife.
Com.
In the iTunes podcast app just search this epic life all one word.
Or highly recommend you pick up the Insight Timer app.
It's a great app for all meditation practitioners.
You can find me in the group This Epic Life The Pause as well as all of my guided meditations under Christopher Carter.
Thanks and Namaste.
