Photo by frank mckenna on Unsplash
Wouldn’t it be great to have a calming machine that goes with you wherever you are? It wouldn’t guarantee that you’ll always be calm. But this machine would work relatively quickly to help you calm down whenever you are in an agitated state.
You could have two versions of this machine. One would be just a voice recorder, and one a picture viewer.
Whenever you need to listen to a calming message, you just push a button to hear the type of calming message you would like to hear right now. You could use the one-minute calming message. You could listen to the five-minute calming message. The fifteen-calming message. The thirty-minute calming message. And whenever you have enough time and you really need a long calming message, you could even listen to an hour-long calming message
Then, if you wish, you could have a special machine that also has calming pictures. You could view calming scenes that you’ve already seen in real life. Or you could view calming scenes that you’ve only seen in pictures. Or you could view calming scenes that are specially made for you. You choose the pictures that you will see, even if there isn’t an actual place that looks that way. The calming scene will still help you become calmer.
The good news is that you already own this two-in-one calming machine. You carry it with you wherever you go. It’s very light and it’s no bother to take it along. You can’t forget to take the machine. That would be impossible. You might forget to use it, or you might remember to use it. It’s all up to you.
Your calming machine exists in your brain. Yes, your magnificent brain, which has over 100 billion neurons, can give you calming messages and images any time you want.
For instance, let’s say you want to hear a one-minute calming message. Your inner mind can say to you, “Hello. This is your mind speaking to you now. Welcome to the one-minute calming experience. Right now you are breathing. So choose to breathe calmly and deeply. And with each breath you take, you can allow yourself to become calmer and more relaxed; calmer and more relaxed with each and every breath. Recall how you felt when you felt very calm. Or imagine being totally calm and relaxed because that is the way that you have decided to be right now. Enjoy the process of becoming calmer and more relaxed each and every moment. You are still breathing, so you can still become even more calmer and more relaxed with each and every breath you take. Calmer and calmer. More and more relaxed.”
You can choose a longer version of the calming message, too. You can say to yourself statements such as, “Right now, I’m going to give myself a five-minute calming message. I will talk to myself calmly for the next five minutes. And if I feel like giving myself only four minutes of calming messages, I’ll only do this for four minutes. And if I feel like giving myself six or seven minutes of calming messages, that’s what I’ll do. I only need to be calm at this moment to be calm. And then I’ll choose to breathe calmly and become even calmer for as long as I choose to experience greater calm. Each breath is enabling me to be even calmer and more deeply relaxed. Deeper and deeper, more and more relaxed with each and every breath.”
Reproduced from Conversations with Yourself: A Practical Guide to Greater Happiness, Self-Development and Self-Empowerment with permission of the copyright holders, ArtScroll / Mesorah Publications, Ltd.