Find a comfortable position,
Maybe seated in a comfortable chair or maybe lying down on your bed and gently allow your eyes to close or your eyelids to become heavy.
Begin to notice your breath,
Inhaling and exhaling.
Not trying to make it do anything different,
Not trying to change it,
Just feeling each inhale and each exhale.
Begin to visualize a place in your mind where you are happy.
Maybe that's a beach with the waves rolling in,
Maybe it's a forest with a creek bubbling in the distance and the birds singing.
Maybe your happy place is with your family at home,
Living room,
Playing a game.
Wherever your happy place is,
I want you to really visualize it.
Drink in every detail with your eyes,
Noticing the colors and the shapes and the people,
The animals and the plants,
Noticing every detail of this place that makes you happy.
And then I want you to hear the sounds of this happy place.
Maybe you hear the birds singing,
Maybe you hear the waves rolling in,
Maybe there's the laughter of friends and family,
Whatever you're hearing,
Focus on those sounds.
Allow yourself to really hear them right here,
Right now.
Now I want you to smell your happy place.
Maybe you can smell the seawater of the ocean,
Maybe you can smell the pine trees all around you,
Or maybe you smell your childhood home,
Dinner,
Cooking in the kitchen.
Allow yourself to be immersed in the smells of this place that makes you feel so peaceful.
And now taste,
Taste this happy place.
Maybe you can taste the salt in your mouth from the seawater,
Or maybe you can taste the cool clear water out of the creek,
Or maybe you can taste that home cooking from your childhood home,
Noticing every little of the taste of the place that you're in.
And now begin to feel,
Feel all around you,
Maybe you can feel the coarse grains of sand,
The cold water,
Maybe you feel grass and the rough bark of trees,
Maybe you feel the soft squishiness of a well used sofa,
Whatever it is that you feel,
Really allow yourself,
Bring your hands down and touch everything in this scene of yours,
In your happy place.
And now that you're there and peaceful and relaxed,
You find a small rock or a pebble lying on the ground in front of you.
I want you to pick up that rock and start to feel it,
Visualize what it looks like,
Take a sniff and smell it,
Maybe run your fingernail across the surface and see what it sounds like,
Even take a small taste before rubbing it between your fingers and feeling every inch of that pebble.
Get to know the pebble just as well as you got to know your happy place.
Now I want you to put that pebble in your pocket and know that any time you want to visit this happy place,
All you have to do is remember that pebble and it'll bring you right back here to the sights and the sounds and the smells of this place that is so very relaxing.
Continue to enjoy the peace of this happy place of yours,
Really relaxing into it.
Slowly begin to bring your awareness back into your breath,
Back into your body and back into the room,
Wiggling your fingers and your toes,
Taking a full body stretch,
Bringing yourself back into this reality.
And when you're ready,
You can go ahead and gently open your eyes and continue your day.
