Possibilities

Find a Comfortable Place

Find somewhere comfortable where your body can feel supported. Whether it be sitting in a chair, lying on a bed, or just lying on the floor somewhere, you won't be disturbed. It's important that you don't drive, cook, or use any machinery while practicing these possibilities.

Preparation for Relaxation

Recording. Turn off or disconnect phones and turn your family members or others that you live with that you're going to take time to relax and ask them not to disturb you. Once you're in your quiet place and have this set time aside, get yourself comfortable making sure your arms and legs are uncrossed and supported.

Posture and Breathing

Sitting either erect in your chair with your head supported on your shoulders, or making sure your head is comfortably supported by the chair, bed, or floor. You might choose to close your eyes or simply look slightly downwards and let your eyes become unfocused. Now just notice your breathing. Take several normal slow breaths and notice what that feels like.

Noticing Thoughts and Sounds

As thoughts and sounds enter your awareness, you can just notice them and let them pass without responding to them. Just let them come and let them go. That's okay.

Inner Resources and Relaxation

As you start to notice and enjoy the feelings of relaxation, your mind can begin to seek out your inner resources. Remind you of strategies that have helped you in the past and create new ideas and solutions.

Building a Positive Place

I would like you to bring to mind a place that you have positive feelings about. Somewhere outside, it might be an actual place that you've visited, or somewhere you've seen a picture of, or maybe just a place you can just imagine.

Exploring Your Special Place

This place helps you feel relaxed, comfortable, peaceful, and secure. Just spend some time now developing an image in your mind’s eye. Look around you in this special place and notice what you see.

Engaging Your Senses

What colors do you see? What shapes and outlines are there? What do you notice about light and shadows? Build the image in your mind’s eye, noticing more and more detail as you look around.

Positive Feelings and Cues

And as you focus on that scene in your mind’s eye right now, just notice the positive feelings you're experiencing. Notice where you feel them in your body. Notice the positive emotions of this place.

Consulting Your Wise Mind

There is within us all a wise inner part of us that simply knows. That part of our self, our intuition, our wise mind that knows the absolute truth about us, our lives, and our problems.

Addressing Problems

I would like you to bring your attention back to the difficulties you've been having recently. But today, just focus on one problem. You can choose to think about a different problem each time you play this recording.

Remembering Past Successes

Think now about how this problem has been affecting you—your thoughts, your emotions, your body, your family life, your work or study, and how it affects what you do, or maybe what you don't do because of how you've been feeling.

Imagining Positive Actions

I'd like you to spend just a few minutes now, building an image in your mind’s eye of you doing those things, those things that you've done in the past and things you'd like to be able to do now.

Recognizing Unhelpful Habits

You can start to realise what you can do right now in your present life that will make things better. You can realise what you can start to do or do more of those things that will help.

Perspective Shifting

We can stop, take a breath and pull out. Widen our perspective. See a bigger picture. Perhaps imagining a helicopter taking off and seeing the situation from above.

Choosing Wise Actions

And in these coming days, weeks, and months, you will start to notice that you pause before reacting to thoughts or situations. You will stop, take a breath and pull back your perspective.

Trusting Wise Mind

You will listen and recognize that wise mind. You can take a minute or two each morning, each evening to quiet your mind and listen. Consulting wise mind, you will learn to trust the judgment and advice of wise mind more and more, as wise mind serves you well.

Returning to the Present

And whenever you are ready, you can bring your attention back to the room where you are right now. Noticing the chair or bed supporting you. Notice and become more aware of your surroundings right now. Whenever you are ready, open your eyes and slowly look around the room, seeing what you see. Hear what you hear and notice what you notice.