Article by Stefanie Johnson

There are magical places that exist within each one of us, inside our minds, hearts, and souls. By visiting these places, we can tap into the infinite and bring peace and abundance into our lives.

Each journey will be unique, as we are unique, so you may want to have a notebook and pen nearby to record your experience afterward. You may choose to have another person read the meditation to you so you may experience it more fully.      

Find a comfortable place, close your eyes, open your mind, and prepare yourself to travel within.

Today, let’s take a quiet walk together through a peaceful park on a rainy day. After a quiet walk in the rain, you’ll feel refreshed and peaceful, as though all your stress has just been rinsed away.

The day is overcast, with clear drops of rain falling from the sky and making little silvery puddles at your feet.  The sound of the rain hitting the trees and your umbrella is so very soothing.  Your umbrella is clear, and when you look straight up you can see the pewter sky, the clouds, and little droplets of rain making intricate patterns that run down the sides of your umbrella.

You’re walking through a beautiful manicured little park, and you are alone.  The rain has kept everyone else away, yet you find it peaceful.  Though everything around you seems gray and dreary, the trees are so fiercely green and vivid that looking at them brings you great, quiet pleasure.

Everything around you is quietly, gratefully, drinking up the life-sustaining liquid, growing stronger and more beautiful while the rest of the world slows down.

You take a deep breath of the clean, pure air, and hold it in your lungs for a moment.  When you exhale, it seems all your stresses and troubles are exhaled too.

There are statues in this park, maidens with urns and children hiding behind their mother’s skirts. Roses grow around them, and their petals seem to form little cups to catch the raindrops.

The rain gives everything a lovely shine, even the thin asphalt path you are walking on shimmers like diamonds.

A small lake stretches out before you, with a charming stone bridge across it.  You step onto the bridge and walk out into the middle, gazing down into the rain-dappled water.  There are pretty patches of cattails and water lilies all over the lake, and little green frogs cling to the lily pads and dive under the clear water, their delicate bodies flashing jade and citrine.

You see sleek, shiny little minnows darting between the raindrops in the water of the lake.  There is so much life and movement in this seemingly tranquil place that it makes you realize how many tiny, wonderful things are going on around you on a constant basis … how many small dramas, and tiny love stories, all beneath the spreading ripple caused by one tiny rain drop.

Suddenly the sun comes out, and arching above your head is a vibrant rainbow, stretching all the way to the distant hills.  The colors lift your spirit and make you smile.

You look at the sky and feel the subtle, natural shifting of world around you … the cycles and rhythms within nature and within yourself … and you are at peace. 

“Walk in the rain, jump in mud puddles, collect rocks, rainbows and roses, smell flowers, blow bubbles, stop along the way, build sandcastles, say hello to everyone, go barefoot, go on adventures, act silly, fly kites, have a merry heart, talk with animals, sing in the shower, read children’s’ books, take bubble baths, get new sneakers, hold hands and hug and kiss, dance, laugh and cry for the health of it, wonder and wander around, feel happy and precious and innocent, feel scared, feel sad, feel mad, give up worry and guilt and shame, say yes, say no, say the magic words, ask lots of questions, ride bicycles, draw and paint, see things differently, fall down and get up again, look at the sky, watch the sun rise and sun set, watch clouds and name their shapes, watch the moon and stars come out, trust the universe, stay up late, climb trees, daydream, do nothing and do it very well, learn new stuff, be excited about everything, be a clown, enjoy having a body, listen to music, find out how things work, make up new rules, tell stories, save the world, make friends with the other kids on the block, and do anything else that brings more happiness, celebration, health, love, joy, creativity, pleasure, abundance, grace, self-esteem, courage, balance, spontaneity, passion, beauty, peace, relaxation, communication and life energy to … all living beings on this planet.”
-Bruce Williamson

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