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This is a guided relaxation exercise where the speaker encourages the listener to relax and let go of any tension. The listener is asked to imagine themselves on a tropical island, walking through a forest, and eventually finding themselves on a beautiful beach. They are then instructed to let go of their worries and cares as they watch them drift away into a large white cloud. The speaker then suggests that the listener settles into a comfortable position and drifts off to sleep, having a dream about walking down a long corridor and realizing their potential for success. The listener is told that their thoughts and mindset can impact their happiness and that they have the power to change their thoughts and improve their life. The speaker ends by telling a story about a steel ball rolling down a slope towards a magnet. And now it's time to relax. Make yourself comfortable. Rest your head back because now is the time for you to do nothing. You don't have to be anywhere. You don't have to do anything. You can just lie back and relax. And your mind can drift and dream as you hear all the sounds around you. The sounds outside. None of these things need distract or disturb as they comfortably remind you that the world is safely still turning. And you can allow yourself a moment to just rest back, relax and let go. You can let go of any tension in your stomach or across your shoulders. Ease off those muscles in your back and down your spine and along the muscles in your legs. Down through your ankles all the way to your feet, your toes, even your arms and every finger. Loosening and relaxing. Perfectly at ease. Drifting and dreaming with your thoughts as you pay attention to your breathing. That gentle rise and fall. That happens all by itself. And with every breath you take and with every word I speak, you can just let go. In a moment I'm going to ask you to imagine certain things. But it doesn't matter if you find you can't imagine all the things I'm asking you to do. You might even find your mind wandering quite a bit so that my voice just fades into the background. And that doesn't matter either. The sound of my voice is going to continue to relax you. And it really doesn't matter if you don't hear a word I say. Because very soon now you're going to be more relaxed than you've ever known. Imagine yourself standing on the very top of a green hill on a tropical island. You can feel the warmth of the sun on your head and shoulders and can see the long grasses around you moving slightly in the gentleness of breathing. When you look down the hill you can see a narrow winding path that disappears into a small forest. And beyond the forest you can see the ocean with sunlight from the clearest of blue skies glancing off the tops of the waves in the bay so that the whole ocean seems to shimmer and sparkle. You begin to move lazily and easily down the path with the ferns and grasses brushing gently against your legs as you pass. And you just catch the faint smell of salt boiling on the breeze and become aware of the distant sound of the ocean on the shore. Maybe hear seabirds calling faintly from a long way off. You marvel at the deep sense of calmness and tranquillity that sweeps over you as you move on down and down towards the forest. Moving so easily, so effortlessly, you feel almost as though you're floating on air. And in no time at all you find yourself drifting through the trees, their leaves closing overhead to form a canopy, their branches making an irregular pattern against the clear blue of the sky. It's pleasantly cool in the forest with the gentle sound of birds singing echoing faintly. And the scent of the trees and undergrowth relaxes you still further as you move easily into the inviting depths, becoming lazier and lazier with each step you take. You can hear a stream somewhere, its gurgling sound gradually mingling with the sound of the ocean as you follow the winding path down and down towards the beast that you know is in front of you. Weaving through the trees and brushing aside the occasional pieces of foliage until quite suddenly you feel the warmth of the sun on your head and shoulders again and you find yourself on a beautiful deserted beach, a beautiful golden shoreline sweeping away in a gentle curve in front of you to a distant point where the trees seem to come right down to the shoreline so that their branches actually seem to overhang the ocean itself. You can feel the sand warm between your toes as you stroll lazily across the broad beach to the water's edge, the sand becoming a darker golden colour when you get there and you enjoy the change to a moist, firm coolness beneath your feet as you wander along the shore, leaving a lazy trail of footprints in the sand behind you. Every so often a larger than usual wave sends rivulets of water foaming around your feet and as they recede you notice how the sand is washed away from tiny coloured pebbles, glinting like jewels in the sun. The smell of the ocean, the sunlight on the waves, the sound of the water hissing over the sand, all these things seem to create a sense of timelessness for some unknown reason and you find yourself a comfortable position, a grassy hollow maybe, to just sit and gaze out across the rolling depths to the horizon, trickling warm golden sand idly through your fingers. There's a faint haze which makes it difficult for you to see exactly where the sky stops and the ocean starts and as you try to fathom it out you see a small white cloud appear from somewhere near the horizon. It comes towards the island quite quickly, growing larger as it approaches until it's immediately overhead, the largest, fluffiest, whitest cloud you can ever remember. And you somehow know, it's just by instinct that you can let all your worries, all your cares, all your fears, just drift up towards this large white cloud. You can actually see them drifting away from you in a long slow spiral, maybe like smoke from a bonfire, just spiralling away from you towards this large white cloud. The cloud absorbs all your worries into itself, swallowing up all your fears and anxiety and becoming steadily darker all the time, until just as it reaches its darkest, just as the last part of that spiral of your worries and cares disappears inside it, the sun bursts through, dispelling every one of your worries, every one of your fears and anxieties to the edges of the universe, leaving you totally relaxed and perfectly at ease with yourself, without a single care in the world. And now all your troubles and cares have floated away from you, you settle yourself down into a comfortable position and just drift off into a deep and relaxing sleep. And while you sleep you have a dream. You dream you're walking down a long corridor, stretching away in front of you in a long gentle curve, so long that you can't actually see the end of it, but you know that this corridor is in the very depths of your subconscious mind, in the part of your mind that knows just what to do and just how to do it. And as you begin to move along this beautiful corridor, becoming even more relaxed, even more lazy, you realise that time and space are beginning to lose their meaning, and slowly the walls of the corridor seem to dissolve, leaving you in a large room. The room is full of gentle golden light that relaxes you still further, and you suddenly realise, with a surge of inspiration and pleasure, that what you once saw as limits are merely stepping stones to greater success. It suddenly dawns on you, with a surge of joy and anticipation, that what once seemed to you to be the limits of your personality, of your skills and abilities, are nothing more than stepping stones to even greater success. One wall of this room is like a huge television screen, with words and images flashing across it, too fast for you to see. And you realise that this is information being transmitted to different parts of your mind and body. And you use your mind to will it to stop, and as you do so, the screen clears, and the word, READY, appears in large flashing letters. And now your mind is prepared and receptive to everything I'm going to say to you, and everything I say will be accepted and acted upon by your subconscious. It will have a steadily increasing effect on the way you think, the way you feel, and the way you behave over the coming days and weeks and months. Starting now, more and more you will realise that happiness and unhappiness are due to your own thoughts, the way you think about situations. You will be able to shift your thoughts the way you think about situations. You will be able to shift your thoughts to the positive aspects, and look at the positive aspects of living in joy every day. You will become more and more aware that if life's situations are not the way you always want them, you will work to change them, without frustration, without anger, without being bothered. You will work to change things that are not the way you want them, but you will do it with a calm, peaceful mind, being at ease and at peace with the universe. You will become more and more aware that everyone has problems in living, but you will also be aware that as you become more mature, you can face problems with a calm mind, with strength and determination, to work to improve them. When you cannot change things, you will accept them calmly. You will be aware that anger and frustration do not help. You will realise that life is too precious and too wonderful to waste it in being bothered over little things, little alliances. Starting today, you will work to change anything that is changeable, that you can change with peace of mind, without being bothered, without frustration, without anger. You will be less and less worried about the future, problems of the future, dangers of the future, which will never occur anyway. Most of the things you worry about won't happen anyway. You will let the worries go, you will enjoy the day, you will let yourself go, you will enjoy yourself, as worries drop out of your life. Now, while you are pondering these thoughts, I want to tell you a story. While you are resting in this very pleasant way, I want you to imagine something. I want you to imagine that you are looking at a steel ball, resting at the top of a gentle slope. Just imagine that now. You are looking at a steel ball, resting at the top of a gentle slope. And as you lift it, so the ball begins to roll slowly down that slope. It moves slowly, and follows a very straight course as it moves. But now, I want you to imagine that a little way ahead of the steel ball, and off to one side of the track, you can see a strong magnet. And as the ball is rolling towards the magnet, so it enters the magnetic field, and the magnet pulls on the steel ball. Not enough to make it stick to it, but enough to make it change its course. The steel ball is now rolling in a completely different direction from its original path. Now there is a reason for imagining this, because your pathway through life is like the path taken by that steel ball. In the beginning, your pathway through life was set. You were following a course that was right for you. It was comfortable. It was right for you. It felt right. But you soon found that you were being influenced by other people, acting like magnets, trying to pull you off course, trying to make you turn and change direction. In short, they made you feel that your way was wrong. They wanted you to conform to their ways, and follow their course of action. By trying to please them, you changed your course, and have been following a way that is not what you originally set for yourself. The result has been that you have felt uncomfortable. It has not felt right. And you have consequently felt that you have lost your individuality through trying to please other people. And this has been the problem. So let's see what can be done about it. Let's return to our picture of the steel ball, and make a few changes. Once again, imagine that steel ball at the top of the slope. But this time as you look at it, see it grow to double its size, and weigh twice as much. Now see it rolling, and see what happens. It approaches a magnet, and the magnet tries to pull it. But this time, the ball is too heavy, and too big, and does not deviate from its course. It keeps on rolling in the same direction. The influence of the magnet has not been strong enough to affect the ball. It just rolls straight past. These simple changes were enough to overcome the problem. For you to overcome the problem, it's not necessary to grow in size, or put on weight. But you can grow in strength and in power. And you can do this easily. As you rest there now, I want you to realise something. And realise it well. Understand it. And acknowledge it. It is not your purpose in life to become a carbon copy of someone else. You are an individual in your own right. You have your own opinions. You have your own personality. These things are right for you. No other person has the right to try to take these things away from you. To make you conform to their ways. You are a person in your own right. A complete person. And they must either accept this fact, or go on their way. Human duality is precious. It must be protected. And you can protect this with your own strength. Your strength has been weakened by the influences of other people. But that strength is still there. It is within you now. So now is the time to rediscover it, and let it grow. So as you rest there now, just imagine yourself as being strong. Strong enough to withstand the influences of other people. Strong enough to stand on your own feet. Imagine you are that strong now. And as you imagine it, feel that strength. It is there. You can feel it. Feel the confidence that goes along with it. Feel yourself able to speak out. Able to defend your own individuality. Feel these things now. Because as you can feel them now, you know that they are there. You already have that strength. It's there. You can feel it. So you know it's there. Acknowledge it. Welcome it. It's yours. Now that you experience these things, you can recognise them and use them. Now that you know they are there, you can become more aware of them. Because of this, you already feel stronger and more able in yourself. And this feeling is going to remain with you, and become stronger as each day goes by. No longer are you influenced into a wrong course by other people. No longer do you allow your individuality to be taken away from you. It is precious. It is yours. I want to remind you that your life can be fun. Every phase of your life can be a joy. And of course, it all now depends on you. Because you, and only you, can allow thoughts to live in your mind. And how you think determines how you feel. And how you feel influences the world around you. And you can learn to choose your thoughts with awareness of their power. You can see beneficial thoughts in your mind. And day by day, you'll find more and more how important it is to choose your every thought with care. Because the thoughts you seed in your mind, the concepts and beliefs you accept with feeling, inevitably become your own living reality. How you choose to think today influences all your tomorrows. And your life is too valuable, too miraculous to be left to chance. For this planet is a game player's planet. And the big game in life is a kind of treasure hunt with the real you as the hidden treasure. And the real you is a treasure worth finding. For you, there's no greater treasure on earth. And it's an easy game. Because life is meant to be easy. In fact, you can find your way to the treasure house within while you're relaxed. Now, while you're pondering on these thoughts... Now, each and everything you do, you do better than you've ever done before. You approach each new task with complete ease of mind, knowing that you are relaxed and in a perfect frame of mind. Calm, relaxed and confident. Every day your confidence grows. That means that tomorrow your confidence grows and the day after it grows stronger than before. As you practice being more and more confident, so your confidence grows and becomes stronger as more and more your feelings of self-worth become strong and powerful. Each day, with each new situation, whenever you need to, you take control, calm your mind, disregard troubles and you are calm, relaxed, poised, competent and confident. You are your own person. As you leave here today, you go forth into the world looking forward with a new and determined optimism. For you're armed now with new knowledge and understanding of that person you are. Unique and special. Your real self. Confident in your own ability to be true to those values that really are important and to recognise what is false and inappropriate. Now, you love and respect yourself for the person that you are and you will be happy with all that you do have. Yesterday is gone and with it is gone all the influences that could make it different. Tomorrow is but a myth that we colour with imagination but today, this very moment, all is real and for this moment we live and then that too is gone, either seized upon and enjoyed or wasted. You can choose which reality is yours and you will, will you not?