Make yourself comfortable and close your eyes.
Take a slow deep breath and let go of any tension as you feel yourself sinking into the surface you're resting on,
Becoming more comfortable and relaxed.
Take another slow deep breath and release your thoughts,
Letting them drift far away.
And take another slow deep breath and know that in this moment,
All is well.
Imagine you are walking in a wide open grassy field in the country just before dawn on a crisp fall morning.
It's quiet and you can see some early morning fog rising from the ground.
As you walk along,
You can feel the uneven ground beneath your feet.
You are carrying a heavy backpack and it's filled with all the worries that have been weighing on you lately.
You could enjoy the morning so much more if you were to put that down,
But you just haven't felt ready to do that yet.
So you continue walking on through the field,
Soon you begin to make out some kind of large round shape coming up out of the fog a little way ahead.
And as you come closer you see that it's a hot air balloon.
Just finishing filling up,
The basket is tied down with four ropes staked into the ground on all sides.
There's a burner above the basket,
Heating the balloon.
And the balloon itself is made of colorful sections of material arranged in strips running top to bottom.
It's quite a sight to behold.
There's a brass plaque on the side of the basket.
And as you take a closer look,
You see that it has your name written upon it,
In ornate scrolled letters.
And printed below your name are the words,
Let the healing begin.
You think to yourself,
That sounds promising.
Now you know where you can put your backpack full of worries,
Better take a last look at them,
Just to make sure.
Pull your heavy backpack off your shoulders,
One strap at a time,
And put it down.
Take each worry out of the backpack,
One at a time.
What do worries look like?
They could look like anything.
Some peoples look like big globs of mud,
Some look like spiky metal balls.
Some peoples look more like old,
Musty encyclopedia volumes.
Take each worry out of your backpack,
Take a look at it to be sure you know what it is.
Become certain that you'd like to let it go,
And then toss it into the basket.
Take a few moments to do this for every worry.
Once you've gotten all the worries out of the backpack,
And tossed them into the basket below the balloon,
Go ahead and toss the backpack in there too.
You won't be needing that now,
The basket is filling up,
And now the balloon is completely inflated and ready to go.
It's pulling hard against the ropes,
And looks eager to take off.
Look down to your right,
And you'll see a big knife in a leather sheath.
Pick it up,
And pull off the sheath.
The blade is gleaming stainless steel,
And very,
Very sharp.
It's going to feel really good to cut those four ropes with this knife.
Go to the first rope,
And cut it with the knife.
It cuts like butter,
And the balloon shakes a little,
Leaning a bit to one side.
This is good.
Go to the opposite side of the balloon,
And cut the rope there.
Easy,
It's so easy to cut it.
The balloon wobbles a bit.
Cut the third rope,
And the balloon leans toward the side of the last one.
Straining hard,
And ready to take off,
You're ready too.
To say goodbye to your worries and the balloon,
Cut that last rope,
And the balloon begins to rise.
As the balloon ascends,
You begin to feel freer,
And as it rises further,
Ties that you may have still had to any worries become thinner,
The balloon goes higher and higher,
It gets smaller and smaller,
Until you can barely see it,
And now,
It's gone.
There's nothing in the sky,
But a few puffy white clouds,
And a flock of geese,
Way up there,
Flying in a v-formation,
Migrating toward their winter home.
You are free now,
Imagine everything ahead of you in your life,
Working out perfectly,
Visualize all your affairs going exactly the way you'd like them to go.
Be happy,
Look forward to your life,
Put your mind in good order,
Take a few moments to do this now,
It's a little later in the morning now,
And you walk on through the field to the other side,
And as you come to the edge of the field,
You notice the scene has changed,
To a setting somewhere in your everyday life,
One that is very positive and enjoyable for you.
Put yourself as fully as possible into this positive,
Happy scene,
And take a few moments to enjoy it,
It's almost time to bring this inner journey to a close,
But first,
Take a moment to thank yourself for giving yourself this gift,
Gradually bring your awareness back to your physical surroundings,
Take your time,
And when you're ready,
Open your eyes and feel awake,
Alert,
And refreshed.
