You didn't find this by accident,
Not tonight,
Not with everything that's going on.
So settle in,
Not to fix anything,
But to feel it.
Let the world go quiet around you and let the breath come back to you slowly.
We'll begin with one deep inhale through the nose and one long exhale through the mouth of the side.
Now allow your body to just settle.
Feel your jaw soften,
Feel the back of your shoulders drop.
Close your eyes if you haven't already.
Let them close like curtains on everything that no longer needs to be watched.
Now,
Inhale through the nose,
Long,
Slow,
And exhale through the mouth with a sigh.
One more time.
Inhale through the nose,
Long and slow,
And exhale through the mouth with a sigh.
There's something about tonight,
Something,
Something ancient,
Maybe even forgotten.
Feel the air around you,
Still,
Cool,
Like a whisper that never needed words.
Not everything is revealed in reflection.
Some truths arrive as a lantern in the dark.
You are now holding one.
The moon placed it in your hands,
Steady,
Glowing.
You notice now you're standing at the edge of still water,
Its surface calm,
Waiting for the light.
When you lower it,
The light rests gently on the surface of the water.
Ripples shimmer outwards,
Catching silver from the moon above.
With each breath,
The lantern brightens,
Not forcing anything,
Just showing the way.
The water begins to reveal what's beneath.
What part of you has been waiting for this light?
What truth has been moving like an undercurrent,
Ready at last to be seen?
What weight have you been carrying that wants to sink and dissolve?
Inhale gently through the nose,
And exhale through the mouth with a sigh.
See the lantern's glow spreading across the tide.
Watch the ripples soften,
As if your body is giving the water permission.
The lantern shows you promises you once made to yourself and are ready to keep again.
It shows you the stories that no longer need to be carried across the current.
Some revelations are not loud,
They come as a glow on the water's surface,
A memory rising like a ripple when the tide is calm enough to feel it.
A younger version of you who only needed to know they would not drown.
You do not need to fix them,
You just need to guide them forward with this light you carry.
Inhale,
Feel the lantern expand.
Exhale,
Let it settle into your body like water becoming still after the wave.
You are not lost.
You are not behind.
You are not late.
You are simply walking with the lantern,
The moon placed in your hands,
While the water shows you where to go.
There's something you've been holding,
Not because it's true,
But because it's familiar.
Sometimes,
The hardest part of letting go is admitting it's already left.
Inhale gently through your nose and exhale through the mouth of the sigh.
The next one,
Breathe not with the lungs,
But with the heart.
Inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth.
Imagine you're holding it now,
The memory,
The belief,
The story,
The thing you no longer want it to carry.
Feel the shape of it in your hand,
The texture of it,
Where do you feel it in your body.
You don't need to name it,
Just know it knows you.
And now it's ready to return to something bigger.
There's a river beneath this moment,
The one that's always been flowing.
Step to the edge.
Take what you've been carrying and place it in.
No ceremony,
No words,
Just breath.
Inhale deeply,
Hold it,
Now exhale slowly as if you're releasing it all into the current.
Feel it leave you like a weight sliding off your shoulders,
A gentle shedding,
A release that asks nothing more of you.
The current doesn't hold it,
It doesn't pass it on,
It simply dissolves,
Returning to the vastness it came from.
There's nothing you need to prove,
To let go.
Let this be enough.
As the current carries away what you've released,
Notice the lantern still glowing beside you.
It's light hasn't wavered,
It stays steady,
Reminding you that you are safe and that you are never without guidance.
The lantern doesn't need to lead you forward anymore because the light it carries has already begun to live inside you.
Stay here a moment,
Feel what's lighter,
Feel what's quieter.
The space you've made,
That belongs to you now.
Inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth.
Let yourself come back,
Not all the way but just enough.
Feel the weight of your body again.
The edge of your skin,
The curve of your spine,
The rhythm of your breath,
Slower now,
Wider,
Quieter.
There's no rush,
You left nothing behind.
What if you didn't need to explain what changed tonight?
What if the way you walk tomorrow is already enough?
Breathe in through the nose and exhale through the mouth.
Just feel yourself alive and still becoming.
You don't know the world of performance,
You're allowed to just be.
Somewhere inside you,
A tide has shifted and you don't need to know where it leads,
Only that it moved and you stayed.
Let that be the miracle,
Let that be the medicine,
Let that be enough.
The moon saw it all and stayed and so can you.
Let your breath carry you back,
Let your body remember the rhythm.
This night didn't change you,
It revealed you and you are still here.
Here with your breath,
Here with your body,
Here with your life.
