Hello and welcome to this meditation to help enforce the practice of choosing your partner during stressful times.
If you're doing this meditation by yourself,
Find a comfortable position sitting upright with a straight spine or lying down on your back.
If you're doing this with your partner,
You too can sit facing each other or lie down side by side while also holding hands if you'd like.
Once you're set up,
Go ahead and gently close your eyes.
Prepare to take deeper,
Fuller breaths,
Filling the whole body with air as you inhale.
And as you exhale,
Feel your whole body start to relax.
Exhale deeply,
Sending air all the way to the fingers and toes and exhale,
Allowing each muscle to relax a little more.
Keep it going,
Maybe even sighing as you exhale to really let something go.
Good,
Now allow your breath to fall back into its natural rhythm and start to imagine that you're in a wide open field.
It's covered in grass and small wildflowers and there's nothing else around.
All you can see is this big expanse of peaceful land.
The sky above is a beautiful blue,
Peppered with a few fluffy white clouds.
Feel your bare feet touching the soft,
Lush grass below you.
Feel how grounded you are standing here without any other noises or distractions.
You feel at peace and able to connect to yourself easily.
Now,
Let's relax.
Now looking straight ahead across the field,
You see your partner far in the distance.
You can see that they're slowly making their way to you.
You know that you need to meet them in the middle,
But before you do,
You pick up a wooden basket filled with sunflowers that's been resting by your feet.
Each sunflower represents something you need to let go before you can meet your partner in the middle of the field.
Maybe it's a past resentment toward them or maybe it's someone else's idea of what your wedding or partnership should look like that you didn't realize you were carrying.
Grabbing the first sunflower,
You softly drop it to the ground and start to walk forward.
You may not even know what it is you're letting go of,
But you know that each time you drop another sunflower,
You're choosing your partner over something that doesn't really matter.
You keep dropping sunflower after sunflower.
Instead of holding onto trivial things or beliefs that you don't agree with,
You know you're being left with just the big values that are important.
You and your partner are getting close to each other now and you see that they've been dropping their own sunflowers along the way.
You each are down to your last sunflower,
Just steps from each other.
Looking at your partner,
Tell them why you're choosing them.
And with that,
Your last sunflower is ready.
Your last sunflower drops and you too embrace.
Slowly you start to leave the field,
Returning to the present moment.
And when you feel ready,
Taking all the time you need,
Slowly and gently open your eyes.
