Please find a comfortable place where you can sit or lie down now for the next 10 minutes or so.
Make sure that you're really physically comfortable.
Put up your Do Not Disturb sign.
Get out a candle or some lavender oil,
Grab a fuzzy blanket,
And let's begin.
Start by gently closing your eyes,
Breathing deeply in through your nose and out through your nose.
I want you to do a body scan as you're breathing deeply.
Identify any part of your body that's holding tension,
That you might be feeling pain,
Anxiety,
Fatigue.
Just pause when you get to that body part.
Take a deep breath right into that spot.
And on your exhalation,
Imagine that the pain or the discomfort is leaving your body with your breath.
Continue breathing deeply and slowly and with every inhalation,
Visualize that you're inhaling the peaceful,
Positive,
Expansive energy that's all around you.
And with every exhalation,
Allow yourself to release anything and everything that no longer serves your greatest good.
With your eyes gently closed,
Just drop your attention inward.
Your hands are resting in a completely natural position,
As is the rest of your body.
Now do a body scan again.
Do you feel expanded?
Do you feel relaxed?
Continue breathing,
Knowing that every breath deepens your relaxation.
Now I want you to imagine that we're doing a visualization that actually has to do with releasing regrets.
And I'm sort of putting regrets in the same category as fear of the future,
Because they both entail a lot of ruminating and circular thinking,
Which is very exhausting and not productive.
So I want you to imagine that you're on a country road,
And you're carrying two heavy suitcases.
And as you're walking,
The sun is getting hot,
And you're feeling the heat,
And you're starting to sweat.
And I want you to see that one of those suitcases,
You know it inside of you.
That is filled with future worries.
And the other suitcase is filled with past regrets.
So now you take a moment on that country road,
On the street,
Wherever you're standing,
Wherever you imagine yourself,
Whatever path you're on,
And feel the weight of these two heavy suitcases.
Let's take a moment to reflect about each one.
So let's reflect about the future.
Somewhere down deep you know that you can impact it to a certain degree,
But that worrying about it is basically praying for the opposite of what you want to happen.
So we really have to think about how much of the time the things we've worried about,
They never come to fruition.
But your body doesn't really know the difference.
So when you have those worries,
When you're thinking the worst about yourself,
About someone else,
You're still releasing adrenaline and cortisol in your body.
You're still having your muscles be tense.
All the same fear-related physical reactions still happen.
So I want you to really think about the truth about the future,
Is that there's a lot that we can do,
And then there's a lot that's out of our hands.
Now I want you to consider the other suitcase.
This heavy suitcase that is weighing you down and making you sweat.
Really think about the fact that the past cannot be changed.
All you can do is what you've been doing,
Which is in this present moment,
To learn whatever there was to learn in those circumstances.
Change whatever it is that you can and want to change.
Continue to evolve what you're doing.
Become more skillful.
Continue becoming a better version of yourself.
And then move on.
Because this is all that we can do.
So standing on that path,
Feeling the weight of these two suitcases,
Really think about your reflection right now.
Somewhere in your body,
You know that this is the truth.
The most empowered place for you to be is in this present moment.
You reflecting right now,
Making that decision to not waste any more time ruminating about the past that you cannot change fearfully projecting into the future that doesn't even exist yet.
Deciding,
Making a conscious decision,
Making a commitment to just not.
So just visualize and ask yourself,
Do I really want to drop this suitcase of fear and worry about the future?
And if so,
Then see yourself,
Just drop it.
Simply drop the suitcase.
And then standing in that same path,
You have the other suitcase in the other hand,
Just so heavy and filled with past regrets.
Make that decision.
Do you want to let it go?
Have you learned what you needed to learn?
Do you want to drop that suitcase?
And if so,
Do it.
Simply let it go.
And as soon as you've dropped both of the suitcases,
I want you to see yourself going back into your apartment or your house,
Just floating right in and plopping down exactly where you are right now in the same exact physical place,
Totally and completely relaxed,
Feeling like you're coming home to yourself in this present moment,
Feeling so much lighter,
Allowing yourself to feel that sense of peace,
Allowing yourself to feel that sense of peace and of well-being.
I release the past with ease.
I release the past with ease.
So I'll ask you to silently start repeating the affirmation in your mind,
Imagining as you repeat it that you accept all of yourself,
The light and the dark.
I release the past with ease.
Please gently stop repeating the affirmation,
I release the past with ease.
And slowly bring your attention back to your body,
Back to the room that you're in.
You can start to wiggle your toes and stretch your hands and give yourself a nice,
Big,
Full body stretch as you bring your awareness back to this present moment.
Remember this feeling of liberation,
Of allowing the past to go away,
To be in the past because you've already learned,
Processed and integrated,
And really catching yourself if you are fearfully projecting into the future.
And remember that you dropped that suitcase consciously and willingly and just let it go.
I hope you take this sense of liberation with you out into everything you do this week.
And as always,
Take care of you.
