Let's start by getting into a relaxed,
Comfortable position,
Upright with your heart area open,
Receptive.
And you can begin with two or three cleansing breaths.
Just release any tension you might be carrying from this day.
Nice,
Deep inhalations and long,
Slow exhalations,
Releasing any old stale air from your lungs and filling yourself back up.
We're going to scan through our lives,
Beginning with the present and working backwards.
So to begin with,
Just settle into wherever you are right now in this period of your life,
However you define this period.
That might mean this week or this year or these several years,
Whatever feels right to you.
See yourself in the context of this current phase of your life.
And see if an image comes to mind that somehow represents this period,
What this period in your life feels like symbolically.
It could be an image or a color or a feeling.
It could even be a sound.
Just notice yourself within this current period in your life.
Notice how you've been moving through it,
The energy you've been carrying,
Your connections to other people,
In pets,
In nature,
Noticing how this period in your life has manifested.
Just offer yourself tender awareness.
See yourself as if from above moving through this period in your life,
Looking at yourself with supportive,
Tender,
Intimate awareness,
Wishing yourself well.
Then moving back in time.
It could be a decade,
Whatever feels right to you.
Picturing yourself in the period before this one.
Seeing yourself as a somewhat younger self,
Everything that you were negotiating then,
Who you were with,
Your challenges,
Your joys.
Evoking an image from that period,
Something very specific that comes to mind,
Whatever it is,
Is fine.
It might be pleasant,
It might be unpleasant,
Whatever it is.
Just see yourself there as you navigated that moment in your life.
And greet yourself there with tenderness and support.
And if it was a difficult moment with reassurance that you will get through,
As you know you have,
Because you're here now.
And now moving back in time again.
You're younger still.
Whatever age,
Whatever moment comes to mind is fine.
See yourself there.
Perhaps a very particular memory will come to mind.
Everything moment or an enjoyable moment doesn't matter.
Just look down upon yourself there as you navigated through that moment in your life.
And reaching back through time,
Offer yourself your own guidance,
Your own kindness,
Your own reassurance.
Enveloping that younger self in love.
You might picture putting your arm around that younger self with tender kindness.
And now reaching back still further.
Perhaps now you're seeing yourself as a young adult or an adolescent.
And again,
Visiting yourself at a particular moment in time,
In a particular place.
Wherever it is,
Is fine.
There may be others with you,
You may be alone.
Just see yourself there.
Remember what you were feeling,
That young self finding her way,
Finding his way.
And enveloping that young self in the compassion and wisdom of your deep heart.
Reassuring,
Encouraging.
Letting that young self know they are loved.
They are not alone.
And now moving back into childhood.
Perhaps a very early memory from childhood.
When the world was very fresh.
Seeing yourself there,
A little child,
And seeing now the whole context around you.
The people,
The place,
The energy.
Any attention or inattention around you.
Noticing it all in a way that perhaps you were not able to take in then.
Seeing yourself,
This young child,
Taking in the world that was new to you.
And reaching down to take that child into your arms.
To hug that child.
To whisper in their ear,
They are safe.
They are loved.
They will live many years.
And that whatever is happening now for that child that may be beyond their understanding,
So reassuring them that all will be well.
Because your love is there.
Your love has been there always.
Your love reaches back through time.
And finally imagining yourself now before you were born.
Before you had a gender,
A face,
An identity.
Seeing yourself as pure being.
A being coming into the world.
Breathing through space and time to enter the lives of your parents,
Your family,
Your friends,
A miracle coming into the world.
And as confusing and terrifying as birth is,
Reassuring yourself you are coming into a beautiful world.
Not always an easy world,
But a world of love.
And seeing now how all of these moments in your life,
These phases have connected the river of your life,
The life force that has streamed through you all these years,
Bringing you to this moment here.
Feeling gratitude for all the ways that love has touched your life.
And letting yourself see all the ways your love has touched the world,
Has touched your loved ones.
How it touches us here now.
And so we pray with great joy in our hearts for all of the loved ones we call to mind right now.
Wishing them well.
Wishing them a deep appreciation for their own lives,
The depth and breadth,
The scope of their lives.
May all beings be safe and protected and free from inner and outer harm.
May they be happy and contented.
May they be healthy and whole to whatever degree possible.
May they experience ease of well-being.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be at peace.
May all beings be free.
May all beings be free.
