Creating Change- A Gentle Meditation Story

Welcome.

I'd like to invite you just to settle down and join me in this peaceful practice of meditation and of storytelling.

Just finding that comfortable position now as you let your body and your mind just arrive here.

And let us start by drawing your awareness to your breath.

To notice how your chest just rises and falls with each gentle breath.

An automatic process we rarely consider.

But here we are just paying attention to it now.

And noticing the balance and the stability it offers.

Drawing in life giving fuel now.

And that outward breath pushing away all that you're done with.

And with every cycle of your breath,

Every cycle of conscious inhalation followed by conscious exhalation,

Your body softens.

And just settles into its own peaceful and organic rhythm.

And with every cycle of breath and softening of the body,

The mind just begins to welcome.

Both a wandering and a focusing.

And as you lie there now,

Just listening to the sound of my voice,

I wonder if you can allow yourself to deepen as my voice just drifts along with you.

Your body welcoming a comfortable feeling of heaviness throughout your arms and legs.

Skin softening.

Nuggets of tension easing.

Areas of tightness loosening.

And all of this will continue as I proceed to talk to you.

And you comfortably listen to me.

And I'd like today to share with you a story.

A young woman who moved to a scenic village alone.

And she'd been so looking forward to the move for so very long.

Life had been challenging for her.

And her old town was now littered with memories and people she hoped to leave behind.

She had enjoyed planning her move.

Anticipating a new life full of new memories and new people.

And she had felt a sense of hope when she had packed and boxed all of her possessions into the removal van.

That sense of hope and excitement was only intensified when she arrived at her beautiful new home on a warm sunny day.

But the task of unpacking and cleaning and arranging her things took much longer than she expected.

After many days and many weeks,

The summer had turned to autumn.

And the promise of winter was just around the corner.

She lit her first fire in the pretty cottage and watched the flames crackle and dance.

Whilst noticing the leaves on the tree outside of her cottage had turned to russet and copper.

But she'd been so busy and so preoccupied to notice.

And it was in that moment,

It occurred to her that a season had passed by and she had met no one.

No neighbours had come to call.

No postman had visited.

No guests had called on her.

And she realized that she felt lonely and alone.

Indeed,

That feeling had been there all along.

Since she first entered the cottage.

But she had simply brushed it aside by busying herself with building her nest.

But being a strong woman,

The solution seemed clear to her.

And she committed to taking a daily walk around her new village.

Surely,

She would meet new people.

And then she would not feel so alone.

So every morning at 9.

30,

She would finish her breakfast in her cottage kitchen.

She would sweep out the ashes from the fire from the night before.

And she would pull on a warm wool coat to step out for an autumnal stroll.

Now,

The route she took was very pleasant.

She would walk right along the village green.

She would pass the duck pond and a shiny red letterbox.

She would follow a footpath by a canal before taking a scenic route through ancient woodland.

And then arriving in huge open fields where the sky would meet the horizon.

Along to the end of the field,

She would look back around a pretty cobblestone church on her right.

Before joining a narrow footpath that meandered to the gate at the back of her little garden.

The walk was so pleasant.

So much so,

That she would not stop.

So much so,

That she chose to take it every day.

But sadly,

The woman's loneliness grew.

She never saw anyone.

Never passing a person.

No one to say hello to.

And she felt desperate and alone.

But this was all she felt she could do.

Day in,

Day out,

Week in,

Week out,

Always the same.

Right along the village green.

Past the small duck pond.

The shiny red letterbox.

Along a footpath by a canal.

Before taking the route through ancient woodland.

And then arriving in huge open fields where the sky would meet the horizon.

Along to the end of the fields before looping back beside the cobblestone church.

And then joining that narrow footpath that meandered to the back of her little garden.

And the more she walked this route,

The more it began to remind her of her loneliness.

But then one day,

As she headed out for her 9.

30 walk,

She noticed a broken down lorry blocking the route past the village green.

She couldn't get round the lorry as it had totally blocked the narrow road and the footpath.

And there was no lorry driver anywhere to be seen.

She wondered what she could do.

What else could she do at half nine in the morning?

She could head home perhaps and leave her walk until tomorrow.

And so she began to head home.

And when she arrived at her cottage,

She remembered the gate at the back of the garden.

She could take a walk there.

She could start it there after all.

She just needed to do her walk in reverse,

So off she went.

Along the narrow footpath,

Past the stone church.

Ha!

She'd never noticed the elegant pear tree radiating its branches beside the north wall of the church.

She'd never seen that before.

Over the field she went,

Seeing today a glorious view of the neighbouring village in the distance.

Through the woodland she walked,

Spotting the dens made out of branches and twigs up ahead.

Ha!

She'd never spotted those before either.

Down by the canal path she sauntered,

Ha!

With a quaint little cafe in view in the distance.

Past the duck pond,

With a bench beneath a willow tree that she spotted then for the first time.

Past the shiny red post box,

And along the village green,

Which was now cleared.

Where she spotted a village notice board,

Slightly tucked away behind a bus stop.

Easy to miss,

If walking the opposite direction.

And there,

On the notice board,

A bright and glossy sign catching her eye.

Village coffee morning,

9.

30 every day in the canal cafe.

Come along and enjoy a chat and a slice of cake.

All welcome,

It said.

So that is where everyone is today,

She thought.

That is where they've always been.

And as she detoured her walk back to the canal cafe,

To join the rest of the villagers there.

Today,

Tomorrow,

And in those days ahead.

And so,

You see,

Change isn't always those big things we do.

More often than not,

It's those little tweaks and adjustments we make to our everyday ordinary.

That just may uncover opportunity where we didn't expect it.

And so I wonder,

I wonder what tweaks and adjustments you might like to make.

And I wonder,

I wonder where they may take you,

Friend.