Maybe you've been feeling a little bit turbulent recently.
A small thing triggers something and you find your mind racing off and telling stories to make up reasons for the feelings.
And the feelings get stronger,
The story gets repeated and we can go round and round in circles like this.
Let's see if we can find a bit of calm instead.
So let's imagine that we're on a small boat on a beautiful lake.
It's completely safe,
You have everything you need to spend a lovely peaceful time on the lake by yourself.
But there are people on the shore if you need them.
So you're in your beautiful little boat on this wonderful lake surrounded by nature.
It's incredibly peaceful.
Just connect with your breath and feel it come in,
Out.
You're enjoying being at peace alone on the lake.
You notice a few droplets of rain start to fall on the water around you and into the boat and the clouds are gathering and the sky is darkening.
Soon rain is falling quite heavily.
This wasn't what you anticipated when you set out for your day on the lake.
There's quite a lot of rain.
It's eating down on your little boat,
It's making the water choppy and churning.
The boat is rocking.
It's not dangerous and you know you're safe but it's not what you wanted.
The boat is moving faster and faster.
Sky is dark and stormy but you're safe.
You have the right clothing for the journey.
You've got a waterproof coat.
You're not far from the shore.
There are people there who can help you in if you need it.
It's just not what you anticipated.
So the water is choppy and dark and you're not feeling as comfortable as you wanted to when you set out on the lake.
You look up to the sky and the rain is really pouring down now and you decide instead of cursing the weather that you're going to accept this is what the weather is now.
It is raining.
It is raining and the rain falls on your face.
Big splashy droplets.
The rain falls into your boat.
You can hear it pitter-pattering on the water and as you look at it you see that it's actually beautiful and that it's nurturing the trees and the grass around the lake.
It's causing beautiful splashes on the water.
You start to accept the rain,
To feel gratitude that the rain has come to water the plants,
To fill the lake.
You breathe and sit in your little boat in the rain,
Gently rocking and as you look up to the sky you realize that the rain is starting to ease again a little.
The sky is turning from a dark threatening color to a paler more subtle shade.
The rain is easing.
The movement of the boat gets more gentle.
It's very calm now.
The rain is stopping.
Take a deep breath in through your nose down to your stomach.
Let it out gently.
The rain has almost stopped now and the sun is coming out.
The sky is blue with some clouds.
As the rain is passing away you can see the most beautiful rainbow.
All the colors so beautiful and you notice that the lake is calm now.
So calm and as you look around the lake you can see that the colors are more vivid than ever.
The grass is brighter and greener.
There are flowers.
The sun is making everything glisten.
You can look into the distance and see mountains and trees and everything looks brighter in the sunshine.
Take another deep breath.
Turn your face towards the sun with your eyes closed.
This is what you are hoping for when you set out on this peace and calm gentle movement.
So you take some time to enjoy this beautiful place.
Calm deep lake.
Your beautiful boat.
Breathe in and out gently and when you're ready you start to make your way to the shore ready to continue your day.
