Hi,
This is Hayley,
And I'm happy that you're here making space for yourself.
This visualization uses imagery of the golden summer sun to bring about a deep sense of joy and it offers a way of bringing that joy into your everyday life.
So close your eyes and let's begin.
So we'll start with some grounding.
So focus your awareness on your breath descending from the mind into the body and just notice how it feels to breathe noticing where in the body you can feel the breath You might feel it in your throat.
You might feel your chest moving up and down.
Your shoulders might be moving And just really be with your body.
This is something we often don't do.
So being as present as you can.
And now start to breathe more deeply into your belly into the sides of the ribs.
And into the chest.
So that your whole body is expanding.
As you inhale.
And you are letting go fully as you exhale.
Being with this never-ending cycle of breathing.
And now notice how it feels to breathe.
Have the sense of touch,
So noticing your feet on the floor or your bum on the chair or whatever it is,
Whatever your points of contact are.
And see if you can feel a little bit more grounded letting gravity do its thing.
Relaxing into your seat Breathing gently.
And you may still have stuff going on in your head,
That's absolutely fine.
Just keep bringing your awareness back to your body and your breath but know that everything is allowed here,
Whatever comes up for you.
Is allowed.
I invite you now to imagine that you're standing on a narrow,
Stony path.
In a beautiful wild meadow.
And this path is stretching out ahead of you.
Gently sloping uphill until it meets the horizon.
Way out ahead of you.
And you can't see what's beyond the hill,
But you have a feeling that it's something that's beautiful.
The meadow is blooming with wildflowers.
All shades of green,
Violet,
Blue bright pinks,
Golden yellows.
And there's a beautiful scent.
You can smell jasmine.
Complex layers of grass.
Lavender.
The woody smell of bark the dampness of a nearby riverbank.
And you're feeling really content,
At peace So really take a moment to smell this beautiful meadow,
To take in the colours.
Now you're tuning into the sound of the birds.
Sparrows busying themselves making nests a red kite diving overhead.
Perhaps a buzzing of bees.
And you're breathing it all in.
Taking in this beautiful symphony of sight and sound and you're in awe of the beauty of nature around you.
You start to walk along the path feeling your feet on the stony ground slowly crunching on the pebbles and with every step you feel calmer,
More content and more connected with the abundance of nature.
And as you walk up the hill along the path the birds continue to fly overhead and the bees carry on moving from flower to flower And you're wondering where this path is leading you and you're feeling excited about seeing where it takes you.
As you reach the summit of the hill.
The huge golden sun reveals itself in front of you.
Almost as though it's being slowly lifted above the hill on a golden thread.
And you marvel at the brightness and beautiful orange.
So bright that you can barely look at it.
This incredible ball of fire.
And you finally get to the top of the hill,
Breathless and smiling,
As you realize that you're at the edge of a cliff.
And you're looking at the expansive view of the ocean.
Sea and sky in all directions The sun is now in full view.
Hanging in the sky and beaming down on your skin.
And you feel joy,
You're literally glowing with joy and your body is glowing all the way from your toes up to the crown of your head So.
.
.
Here you are.
Standing on a hill.
At the edge of a cliff.
The sea is glistening for as far as you can see.
You're warm and brimming with joy.
And you feel at one with the sun.
So.
.
.
Take a seat on the grass and absorb this moment,
Really feel into it using all of your senses A bird flies overhead and an envelope gently falls and lands on the ground in front of you.
You lean forwards to pick it up.
And inside is a folded piece of paper and a gold pen.
You unfold the piece of paper.
And read what's on there.
And it reads J-O-Y in capital letters.
Joy.
You repeat the word to yourself.
Moving your tongue around it,
This rounded word in your mouth.
How does it feel to say the word joy?
You look at the paper again and beneath the word joy is a question.
That question reads,
Where is the joy in your life?
You ponder this question,
Repeating it to yourself Now think about the tiny sparks of joy in your life.
They don't have to be extravagant.
The smaller moments are often the most powerful if we give ourselves the space to notice them.
You might feel a spark of joy when you hug someone.
Or a spark of joy when you taste your favourite food.
Or when you hear a beautiful song.
Or maybe it's when the sun.
.
.
Shines and warms up your skin.
Or when the sun streams in through the window and creates beautiful patterns on the wall.
Now imagine yourself taking the gold pen from the envelope and writing down on the same piece of paper beneath the question,
Three things that bring you joy.
And take your time as you imagine yourself doing this.
And promise to yourself that you'll make an effort to notice these sparks of joy in your life as often as you can.
You place the pen on the ground and you hold the piece of paper up towards the sun in the palm of your hand.
And you watch the paper disintegrate into tiny gold sparks.
And you blow the gold sparks towards the Sun and watch them disappear into the atmosphere.
And as you do that you feel joy And before you arrive back into your external space,
Remember that those sparks of joy are always within you.
Some days they might be easy to come by,
Other days you might have to dig a little bit deeper.
But they're always there.
And as you notice these sparks of joy you may notice even more because as you bring awareness to a particular feeling you're priming your brain to notice more of the same you're building new neural pathways.
So you can think of them as neural pathways to joy.
So every time you look at the sun remember to notice your sparks of joy to recognize where the joy is in your life,
Even if it might not seem obvious.
And know that you can bring yourself back to this imagery,
This visualisation.
Whenever you need some joy.
So you can allow the image to fade.
And start to move your fingers and your toes,
Maybe wiggle your jaw.
And whenever you're ready,
You can open your eyes
