ANOTHER FORM OF VIRTUAL REALITY
Take just a minute or two to do something different: Look at the above image of the woodland waterfall. Imagine yourself standing or sitting on the nearest point in the picture. Let go and permit yourself to “walk into” the beautiful scene. What do you hear? Water falling? Birds in nearby trees? Something else you didn’t expect that pleases you?
What do you feel? A light breeze? Warmth? Sun? Spray from the waterfall?
What do you see as your eyes slowly take in the scene?
Take in a slow, deep breath. What do you smell? Flowers growing nearby? The earthy scent of moss and grass?
Reach down and touch the earth at your feet. Is it soft moss, green grass or damp rich earth?
As you imagine yourself standing or sitting in this beautiful place untouched by the cares and concerns of your life, how do you feel? If you have given yourself over to imagining, it’s likely that a sense of relaxation is taking over and the tension is draining away. This is the first essential step toward peace.
Peace cannot come to a tense body and over stimulated mind. These qualities must be released to make room for the strength of healing peace.
When we remove ourselves, mentally or physically, from places where tension and anxiety have been part of life, we break the hold of the negative thoughts and influences that have added up like disgusting trash in our minds.
Often, we say that we’ll relax by watching TV. There we find ourselves watching the horrific news details from the far corners of the world. Politics, disasters, predictions of doom and gloom flood into our home and into our minds like muddy water. Flip channels and we find an engrossing murder mystery or true crime drama- more muddy water to clog the peace passages of our brains. Computers and phones offer more entertainment and demands on our time and energy. Peace of mind seems nowhere to be found.
This is when we must tell ourselves to “step away”. If a place of quiet beauty is nearby, it helps to go there on a regular basis to take in what is really true at that very moment.
Remember, no matter how compassionate and loving your concerns are for the world, what you experience at this very moment is your only reality. This is your truth. Knowing this, create a place of peace to go to no matter what is going on around you or beyond you. Create a place of peace within as well as a place of peace without.
Many people pay vast amounts of money to experience virtual reality. They strap on weighty goggles to feel as though they are taking part in another world. It looks exciting and compelling. Yet, we don’t need expensive technological tools to give us this experience. When we need to relax and “get away” to reboot, we can follow the ideas given above and take the first important steps toward the peace we crave.
Blessings, Sandra
SANCTUARY 