Letting Go Of The Story

Welcome to meditation for letting go of the story.

Stories are important things.

They help us to express ourselves,

To build connection with our listeners.

They help us to spread messages,

And they help us to preserve our history.

But stories are just stories.

So what informs the way our stories are written then becomes the next question.

I believe that we need to let go of all the stories,

Even temporarily,

Before we can find the space and the wherewithal to write a new narrative.

To construct that new narrative we need to let go of all the stories we're telling.

I'd like for you to participate in this meditation with an open mind and heart as we take a journey through the forest and let go gradually of all the stories we're telling.

Thereafter being able to start from a blank slate,

If you like,

To be able to write our next new story in the voice that speaks to us deep inside our true voice,

Our true narrator.

I'd like to invite you now into a beautiful guided meditation through the forest and into a place of letting go of any stories that you might be telling yourself right now.

Please find yourself a comfortable place to sit or lie down,

Whether that's on your bed,

On the floor,

On a mat,

Whatever feels right for you.

Please do this meditation in a place of minimal distractions and at a time where you could relax after the meditation,

Preferably in the evening before bed or on a day off.

Whenever you're ready and you found yourself in a comfortable place to lie down or sit down,

Whatever that may be,

You can begin by closing your eyes.

And as you close your eyes we're going to take three deep breaths and in the breath at the end of the inhalation we will hold our breath just for a moment before exhaling fully.

So we'll begin now by taking a deep breath in,

Hold,

Exhale fully when you're ready and pushing all of the air out of your body.

Take a deep breath in,

Fully inflating your body with air,

Hold,

Exhale,

Expelling all of the air by compressing your belly and pushing everything out.

Inhale,

Deep breath in,

Hold,

And exhale fully,

Releasing now any remnants of any ideas of what should and shouldn't happen,

Just washing away with your last exhalation.

Just become aware now of your body,

Where you're sat or lying down,

Just noticing as it's in contact with the surface that you're on.

Just noticing if there's any tension lurking anywhere in the body,

Any knots,

Any areas of tightness,

Wherever that might be,

Just feel that tension or pain or discomfort wherever it might be lurking in the body.

Just feel it dissipating now as you fall deeper and deeper into relaxation.

Now I want you to just cast your mind into the forest.

Imagine yourself deep into a rich,

Green,

Life-burgeoning forest full of birds and nature.

Under your shoes you can hear the squelching of ferns,

Dead leaves,

Twigs,

Small undergrowth of the forest,

Just cushioning each step as you begin to move.

You move in any direction in the forest that suits your choice,

And you feel a nice,

Gentle warmth from the sun as the sunrays shoot through the leaves of the trees.

As you move through,

You feel a gentle breeze just caressing you gently on the surface of your skin,

On your face,

Your hands just gently running around the areas and through your hair.

You can hear the birds singing,

You can hear the rustling of leaves and squirrels scurrying up the trees.

And as you continue to walk in your chosen direction,

You feel more and more relaxed.

You notice that the air is crystal clear and so clean that it washes you from the inside and clears your mind each step you take.

Each breath in is so revitalizing,

You begin to let go more and more as you go deeper into this forest.

As you make your way through,

You notice there's a path which you then join,

A clear path for you to follow.

And as you walk along this path,

You begin to hear the gentle murmurations of the forest.

The forest is alive.

The leaves blow as you walk past.

The branches sway.

The birds chirp.

Everything is happening in a symphony,

An orchestra,

A harmony of nature.

You feel the crisp,

Small,

Crunching steps under your feet on this path.

And you begin to hear the forest speaking,

Words emanating from leaves of the trees,

From the wood itself.

And they begin to talk to you.

They start to tell you the story of your life.

The forest knows everything that's happened in your life.

The forest knows even those things you've never shared with anyone.

The forest starts to talk to you and tell you everything that has happened in your life until this point.

All the stories of your childhood,

The events of your adolescence,

Your relationships,

Your challenges,

Your triumphs,

Your indifference,

Any successes,

Any failures,

Whatever it is that's taken place in your life,

The forest tells it back to you with a gentle kindness,

With no judgment,

Just telling you your story in a way that you've never heard it before.

As you continue on this path,

The forest continues speaking.

Somewhere in the distance you begin to hear the trickle of water,

Like a stream running downhill.

You begin to move towards the stream.

And as you do so,

A bridge becomes visible in the distance,

Connecting the side of the forest that you are on to another side of the forest,

With this stream flowing beautifully under the bridge.

The forest continues to fill you up with stories,

Happenings of your life.

You continue to listen as you approach this bridge over the stream.

You see this beautiful handcrafted brick bridge upon which you walk,

And you begin to cross the bridge,

The water sounding so beautiful around you,

Caressing your ears,

Harmonizing with the symphony of the forest.

As you get to the middle of the bridge,

You stop.

You stop right in the middle of the bridge,

And you look downstream into the water as this clear,

Crystal,

Brilliant blue spring water washes down the forest floor,

Almost like a river trickling away.

And as you sit there in the center of the bridge,

You cup your hands.

You cup your hands as if collecting and offering or scooping something out of the water,

But actually this gesture is not to receive anything.

You just put your empty hands stretched outwards,

And allow the stories that the forest is telling you to jump straight out of you and into your cupped hands,

Filling your hands up with event after event,

Story after story.

Your cupped hands are like a bowl,

Full to the brim,

Even overflowing with stories until you have a mountain of events piled up in your hands.

And with your hands outstretched now,

Bit by bit you begin to release these stories into the current flow of the stream.

The first one goes,

And you see it fall into the water and dissolve as this current takes it away.

The second one goes,

And the third.

And on and on this goes until you empty the cupped hand with all the stories that you've been told,

Everything the forest has recounted about your life.

The good stories,

The bad stories,

The successes,

The failures,

The feelings of exhilaration,

And the feelings of depression.

Whatever you've been told,

Good or bad,

You release it all into the stream.

Opening your hands you let any remnants fall freely into the flowing water and as it hits it dissolves,

Dissolves and becomes one with the water as the stream carries it away,

Washing any idea of any stories of your life back into nature.

You smile at this newfound freedom,

This sense of release.

Now you feel so empty,

So vibrant,

So light,

So free.

You smile as you watch the stream continue on its mission and you turn and continue on yours across the bridge.

As you get to the other side of the bridge your feet come back into contact with the forest floor and you feel a sense of liveness as you step.

A deeper,

Truer sense of connection with the forest in this state of freeness and inner spaciousness.

You see a tree over in the corner where you decide to go and sit down for a while.

Smiling to yourself you put your back to the tree and you slide gently downwards until you're sat at the base of the tree.

With your back to the tree you tilt your head backwards,

Also resting your head on the tree and you feel completely at one with the forest that you're in.

A sense of peace now permeates your whole being oozing out of every pore.

A lightness,

A sense of freedom,

A sense of oneness with nature has overcome you.

You're hardly able to determine the distinction between your own body and the elements around you.

It's like you melt into one entity,

A fusion of molecules,

A state of supreme oneness with all things.

You bask in this experience now.

You flow in the free state of exhilaration,

Of pure natural bliss.

You feel empty and full at the same time.

You're curious but satisfied.

And as you melt into oneness of nature you enjoy this moment in total silence.

The wind blows and the sunlight twinkles through the trees bringing your awareness back to where you were sat beneath the tree.

You begin to become aware of yourself again sat underneath the tree in the forest,

Completely liberated from all the stories that had weighed you down before.

In that space of emptiness you relinquished everything.

Now as your body starts to become awake,

Alive in its own form,

And sense of self awareness returns,

You begin to wiggle your toes under the tree,

Feeling the forest beneath your feet.

You feel the texture of the tree on your spine and on the back of your head.

You feel the temperature of the earth in the seat of your pants.

You wiggle your fingers.

You start to come back into the forest,

Fully back into your body as you begin to stand up.

You bring yourself to your feet and you walk back onto the path that leads you slowly out of the forest,

Back towards your waking life,

Your ordinary life now freed from the weight of any stories that might have been burdening you.

With each step you feel the forest thanking you for your presence.

You thank the forest for its presence near the mutual sense of gratitude as you make your way towards the exit.

The birds continue chirping.

The wind continues to caress your face.

The sun continues to smile down on you and you feel yourself coming back to your ordinary life now,

Much lighter,

Much more free,

More liberated.

You feel a sense of spaciousness now where you are in your room,

On your bed,

On your floor,

Wherever you might be sat.

You begin to become aware of the temperature of the room.

You become aware of the weight of your body on the surface that you're sat on,

Any smells.

You become aware of any tastes in your mouth.

And as you return to your ordinary life,

You feel free.

You feel loved.

You feel liberated from the stories that have been holding you down.

A new version of yourself now walks into this moment as you return to your waking life.

You may sit and enjoy the meditation in silence and you may end the meditation whenever you are ready.

You you