Welcome.
Sweetheart I am so glad you're here.
Let's take a moment to get settled together.
Start by getting your body in a comfortable position,
Either sitting or lying down.
Ask yourself,
What would feel best for your body right now?
If you have the sense that lying down would feel most supportive to you,
Please do that.
Alternatively,
If sitting upright feels best,
Get into a position that helps you feel supported and dignified.
Imagine the crown of your head growing towards the sky.
Allow your chin to slightly tuck toward your heart so the back of your neck is long.
Now gently bring your attention to the sensations of breathing.
Perhaps feeling the in and out of your belly,
The sense of air blowing in and out of your nose.
Or perhaps just relishing the gentle rocking of your whole body as you breathe.
Now take in a nice long inhale as if you were breathing in your favorite scent.
And exhale out releasing any stale,
Funky energy.
And again,
Sweet long inhale.
Sweet long exhale.
I know you're here because you're hurting.
All of us will experience disappointment at some point in our lives.
Be it the plans we've so lovingly crafted only to have them fall apart at the last moment.
The friend who no longer seems to respond how we hoped when we reach out.
Losing someone we simply can't imagine living without.
All of us experience disappointments large and small,
Mundane and profound.
I'm with you.
We are together in this.
You are not alone.
And you might be thinking right now,
So that's hardly comforting.
And I hear you.
But disappointment is a natural part of the human experience.
Of course,
If you're having a particularly tough day,
It can seem like disappointment is all there is.
When our expectations get crushed,
We commonly experience a pretty serious dip in hope.
We can feel so low,
There isn't a blues song blue enough to capture the level of despair we can feel about the future.
But hear these words and imagine with me.
Imagine that you were sitting on the beach,
A beautiful beach.
You're sitting on a soft blanket.
And your bare toes are sifting through the sand.
The sun is warm.
You feel the warmth of the sun on your back,
Tops of your arms.
You tilt your head to take in more of the sun.
You feel light behind your eyelids.
And after a while,
You notice that there is no more light behind your eyelids.
You open your eyes and see that a cloud has moved over the sun blocking its light.
You begin to feel colder now and a wind picks up,
Sending goosebumps shivering up your arms.
You begin to feel cold.
The worry thoughts kick in.
Will it be cold for the rest of the day?
What are you going to do now?
You didn't bring a sweater.
You can't handle this kind of weather.
This is so unfair.
Why does this always happen?
Suddenly,
You feel some warmth again on your back.
The cloud has moved away,
Unblocking the sun and its light.
The sun feels even more delicious now as it re-warms your back,
Your arms,
Your legs.
You tilt your face up with even greater appreciation,
The warmth keener in its pleasure for having lost it for a moment.
You might now guess where I'm going with this.
The sun was always there.
You just couldn't see it.
Joy is always accessible even when clouded by despair.
Weather changes.
Life changes.
The clouds in our day can help us appreciate the sun even more.
Despair is not a teacher we would hire if given a choice,
But nevertheless,
It's one that can direct us to even greater appreciation and gratitude.
Even without the sweater,
You can bear the cold moments by trusting in the cycles of the natural world,
The cycles of diminishment and renewal.
There is no light without dark,
But there is also no dark without light.
The bitterness of despair will leave your body and be only a memory,
A wisp of a cloud in a vast sky of possibility.
You will be joyful again.
You will feel the warmth of love.
You can choose to break out of the ordinary and you can choose to be joyful.
You can choose the warmth of love even now.
Breathe that in.
Rest here for a moment in your breathing.
And allow yourself to take in what your heart most needs right now from this visualization.
I will share a moment of silence with you and then come back.
Sweetheart,
Let these images now wash over you.
Listen.
See with your heart a flower blossoming through a crack in the sidewalk.
A loving hand stroking your back.
A warm blanket around your shoulders.
Every dog sleeping by a fireplace.
Children playing.
An elder gazing at you.
Let's breathe together.
Breathe in joy and breathe out despair.
Breathe in freshness.
And breathe out staleness.
Breathe in belonging.
Breathe out isolation.
Breathe in life.
Breathe out what you know can no longer live in your heart.
Open the doors of your heart house and air it out.
Out with the dust of despair and in with fresh air and possibility.
And when you are ready,
Sweetheart,
Taking the time that you need,
I'll invite you to wrap your arms around yourself in a warm embrace of care.
You always deserve a hug.
Now give your body a nice,
Sweet stretch wherever you need it.
Just bringing your arms up and rolling your shoulders.
Now letting out a big long sigh.
Thank you for caring enough for yourself and the people in your life to come here and take care of yourself.
I'm so glad you came.
And I hope you open to the joy in your day.
