I'm Ruth.
This is a visualization,
So if you can find somewhere comfortable where you can close your eyes.
If you're driving,
You might want to save this one for later.
And when you're ready.
Let's begin!
Let your body settle wherever you are.
Feel the support beneath you.
And if you feel comfortable,
You could close your eyes.
Or just soften your gaze.
Take a breath in through your nose.
And slowly out through your mouth.
And again in.
.
.
And out.
One more time in.
I'm out.
I want you to imagine that it's a quiet morning.
Early enough that the world hasn't fully woken up yet.
The air is cool Sun is starting to lighten in the sky.
When you look outside.
You can see something green just now.
You can get that out.
You're in a garden.
Your garden.
It doesn't have to look like anything real.
Just let it be whatever feels right.
Maybe it's familiar?
Maybe it's somewhere you've never been,
But somehow recognize.
You're kneeling on the ground.
The soil is soft under your hands.
Dark and rich and a little cool to the touch.
And you can smell the earth.
As you shift it.
And you notice something just beneath the surface.
A hint of something that doesn't quite belong to the Earth around it.
And slowly without rushing.
You begin to clear away what's on top.
You brush away the leaves that have settled there over time.
The ones that fell last autumn.
And the autumn before that.
Layer after layer of seasons that just accumulated without anyone meaning for them to.
You move the soil aside with your hands.
Judd Lee.
There's no urgency here.
This isn't something you dig for.
It's something you uncover.
And as you clear the surface.
You start to see it more clearly.
Notice what it is.
Let your mind show you without forcing it.
It might surprise you.
Or it might be exactly what you expected.
Just let it be.
Whatever it is.
And notice how it feels to see it there.
This thing that has been underneath everything.
Quiet and patient.
And completely untouched.
It wasn't lost.
It was just covered.
Let's take a breath in.
I'm out.
I want you to just sit with it for a minute.
Whatever you uncovered.
Whatever your mind showed you.
Place your hands around it gently.
Feel the weight of it.
The realness of it.
This is yours.
It was always yours.
The seasons that covered it over the busyness,
The running,
The years of doing what was inspected instead of what was true.
None of that changed what was underneath.
Touch this.
Take a breath in.
I'm out.
I want you to think for a moment about what has been covering you lately.
But in a happy way.
Just honestly.
Maybe it's being a hard stretch.
Maybe it's been too much for too long.
Maybe life just did what life does and you ended up further from yourself than you meant to get.
Whatever it was.
You don't have to fix it right now.
You just have to know that underneath it,
You are still there.
Huh?
And quiet.
And waiting to be found again.
Just like this.
Take a breath in.
I'm out.
When you feel ready,
Gently set down what you uncovered.
And let it stay in the earth for now.
Safe.
And seen.
You know where it is.
You can come back to it.
To bring your awareness back to the room that you're in.
Feel the weight of your body,
The ground beneath you.
Wiggle your fingers.
And take one more slow breath in.
And all the way out.
Before you move on,
Just take one moment to notice how you feel right now.
Compared to when we started.
At shift,
However small.
That is what coming back to yourself feels like.
Thank you for being here today.
I've been thinking a lot lately about how we treat coming back to ourselves.
Like it's something we have to earn.
Like we need to have it all figured out first.
Or be feeling better first or have the to-do list cleared first.
But what if coming back is just something you do?
Quietly.
Them perfectly.
As many times as you need to.
What is the fact that you are here,
That you pressed play?
That you gave yourself this time?
What if that already counts?
I think it does.
I really do.
And whatever you're carrying right now,
I hope this gave you a small moment of putting it down.
And I hope you know that what is underneath.
The truest,
Most grounded version of you.
It's not going anywhere.
Just waiting for you to find it again.
And fuel.
Stay Crowded.
