Balance Take a deep breath in,
And let it out.
Take another deep breath in,
And as you let it out,
Release all the events of the past day,
Week,
Month.
Take a few moments to focus on your breath.
As you inhale,
Gather in all the positive energy,
The happiness you have spread during the day.
As you exhale,
Let go of any unnecessary energy you might have picked up today.
Send it back to the universe to be recycled.
Go to your safe place,
A meadow,
A wood,
A house,
Wherever it may be.
Nothing can harm you here,
Or on any journey you take that begins here.
Feel the comfort of this familiar,
Protected place.
Relax,
And feel all of your muscles release a little more deeply.
Continue breathing slowly and deeply.
Now imagine yourself on a wide,
Rocky beach.
The water is calm,
And the waves are gently lapping the shore.
The fresh sea air fills your lungs and awakens your senses as it caresses your skin.
Listen to the sounds of the birds,
And the insects,
And the water,
And the crunch of the rocks under your feet.
Ahead of you on the beach,
You see some pillars sticking out of the sand.
At first,
You think someone has stood pieces of driftwood on end to reach toward the sky in a parody of the forest the logs came from.
But as you get closer,
You realize that the columns are too irregular to be logs.
You walk closer still,
And realize that they are made of rocks from the beach,
Balanced delicately on top of one another.
Some of the stacks are taller than you.
You wander carefully through the forest of rock towers,
In awe of how many rocks are kept upright in a single line.
You come to a clearing in the woods,
A place where there are no pillars of stones.
Waiting for you there is your spirit guide.
Take a moment to greet your guide.
Your spirit guide tells you it is time for you to make the pillar of your life.
Choose from all of these rocks around you on the ground,
And build your stack,
One on top of the other.
Begin with the thing that takes up the most time in your life.
Is it your job?
Is it your family?
Is it entertainment?
What fills your time after that?
Is it your relationship?
Is it your computer?
Is it distraction?
Continue adding rocks,
One for each thing that you focus your energy on.
Before long,
Your pillar begins to tip,
And you cannot add another rock,
Even though there are things that remain in your life to be added.
You look to your guide.
Why can I not stack my tower as high as some of these others?
Surely some of the people who made them were busier than I am.
Look at all the stones.
Your guide smiles.
It is a question of balance.
To build your pillar high requires a strong foundation.
Have you been taking time for yourself lately?
Have you focused enough energy on you?
Start your structure again,
But this time,
Put the most important stone first.
The one that represents you.
Your spirit.
Your essence.
After that,
You can decide what is most important.
What is really most important to you.
As you place your stones in order of importance,
Instead of what is taking your focus away from what is essential,
The balance will come.
Soon your stack is high,
And the stones get smaller as you place them higher on the stack,
But it does not tip.
Your spirit guide nods in approval.
Whenever you feel unbalanced and overstressed,
You may return to this place to rebuild your tower.
When you start looking after yourself,
The rest will follow.
Take this stone as a reminder.
Take a moment to thank your spirit guide and say farewell.
You wend your way carefully back out through the maze of precarious stone towers.
You feel the wave-washed rock in your hand as a reminder to take care of yourself.
As you walk along the shore towards home,
You feel re-energized.
You are ready to handle the next hour.
The next day.
You are balanced,
And you know how to stay that way.
Or at least,
How to regain that place when things begin to get out of control.
Take a deep breath in,
And let it out.
You feel calm and completely refreshed.
Take another deep breath in,
And when you are ready,
Open your eyes and return to the room.
