Let's begin in quiet.
Feeling the weight of our bodies and the busyness of a good or difficult day recede.
Becoming untethered to any worries or fantasies you indulged in throughout the day.
Normal and natural as it is,
We can let go of stray thoughts,
Distant aspirations,
Regrets,
And just come into stillness and quiet,
Slowing down,
Taking it easy with yourself.
There's no goal in this meditation.
You don't have to fall asleep.
You might want to relax.
You might like to let go,
But there's no objective.
There's nothing to achieve.
Meditation isn't doing.
It's just being,
Even being bored.
Sometimes in this meditation you might want to breathe deeply or even yawn and then exhale with the ancient word of SELA.
SELA.
Breathing cue from the ancient world.
Feel your body where it might be stiff or sore,
Loose or floating.
Just turn your radar around your body.
What do you notice?
What comes up on the screen?
What's pertinent?
Calling out for a little extra attention or love.
Be kind to your body.
Wiggle and stretch and scratch.
Fidget.
This meditation might be for rest.
It might be the last thing you do before sleep.
Maybe you're doing it because you're having trouble sleeping.
Let yourself be comfortable.
Get everything just right or as close to ideal as you can without stress.
Sink into gravity.
Nothing left to do.
Nowhere to go.
Let all your muscles reduce and relax.
Just pull into your bed or your couch or your chair.
And throughout our time you will get distracted.
That's the nature of an active and alive brain.
Neurons discharging.
Chemicals moving across synapses all to the good.
So don't fight it.
Just come into it.
Let yourself get bored.
Let yourself get annoyed with my voice as it lulls you into a sense of safety and security and sleepiness.
You are safe.
You are whole.
Maybe you want to smile or giggle at something that happened during the day and let it go.
Be amused by the absurdity of it all.
And forgive.
Inevitably something went wrong today.
Someone hurt your feelings.
Someone called you a name.
Someone bumped into you.
Cut you off.
We all make mistakes.
Most of it's not with any malice.
Just clumsiness.
Irritability.
Offer a small effort at forgiveness so that you can sleep.
And then if you know that other people have harmed you,
You can guess that you've harmed people.
So tentatively ask to be forgiven.
Ask to be fixed and renewed.
Not perfect,
Just improving.
May this all be acceptable.
And the light starts to fade.
Your eyes grow dim and heavy.
And you wish for sweet dreams,
Easy and gentle dreams of delight and humor.
And before you pass in dream worlds,
Take stock of this world,
That it is whole and unique and gathered up into a continuity and a oneness that is unfathomable and transcends categories.
Maybe when you think about how cool this universe is,
It just fills you up with love and a regular sense of appreciation,
Moment to moment,
Day by day.
Fella,
You're protected,
Rescued,
Sheltered behind a shield,
Great wings,
Lifted up,
Carried,
Great forces always around you to guard you in all your ways.
And when you call,
You will be answered.
The universe hears you and loves you.
And you'll have your fill.
And feel all the worry of the day just let go.
Sela.
Just drifting off.
Anxiety and fantasy,
Regret.
They don't need to have a place with you now.
You can put them aside and pick them up tomorrow if you want.
And you're lying down peacefully in wholeness,
Complete,
Sheltered,
Given wisdom,
Shielded,
Separated and protected,
Even rescued all through the night.
And you can go out of the day in peace so that you can come into a new day with peace.
A day and night blessed and given peace and comfort.
And there are great and good forces that surround you that look over those who came before us.
Great and good forces visiting you.
And great and good forces that will sustain those who come next.
The universe blesses you and safeguards you.
You are protected.
The universe looks on you with grace and compassion.
May that be so.
The universe turns toward you expectantly to offer you peace.
May you receive it.
Drifting in your body,
In and out of a sea of consciousness and unconsciousness,
Dreams and reality starting to blur.
And great and good forces gather by you in your sleep.
In the daytime,
You have so many questions,
So many doubts.
And while you sleep,
You can deposit all of those questions and doubts at your right side with a great and good force who will attend to them.
Breathing,
Just settling in.
During the waking hours,
You grapple and wrestle and expend effort and work.
And at night,
You can leave all of that struggle and vigor at your left side with a great good force responsible for vigor and heroism.
And before you,
A great and good force holds a light up to shine its way through dreams.
And behind you,
A great and good force to heal you while you sleep.
Using the excellent power of sleep to bring restoration to your body and spirit.
And above you,
Transcendent mystery.
All of it.
All of the wonders of the world.
Take some time to stretch,
To wiggle,
To adjust,
To make yourself so comfortable.
You're worth it.
Breathing in and then out with a selah.
Selah.
It goes on and on without your help.
There is nothing for you to do.
The universe is complete with you.
No beginning,
No end.
Again and again.
Awesome and eternal.
Carried along with it in the hand of a loving universe with nothing to fear.
Blessings.
