The River, a guided reflection for a new year

Kevin Gilbert:
And I’m Kevin Gilbert. Creating space for reflection is one of the most powerful ways to spark healthy change in our lives. When we become aware of what’s working and what’s not, we can set an intention to show up in those areas wholeheartedly. Yet, it can be hard to make the time and space for true reflection, so this year we wanted to give you a gift to help you do exactly that.

Veronica Collins:
As one year closes and a new one arrives, we want to invite you to step forward with a clear vision. Consider this our homemade carefully crafted holiday present to you, perhaps a sort of virtual snow globe. Together, we’ll give our current reality a gentle shake and watch both what falls into place and what emerges as the pieces settle.

Kevin Gilbert:
You will need approximately 20 minutes to complete this guided experience from beginning to end. You may choose to find an outdoor space for this reflection, a favorite park or quiet walking path. You can also do it at your home, your office, or in a coffee shop. Wherever you are, we encourage you to create a small pocket of time and space to allow yourself to enjoy this experience without being disturbed.

Veronica Collins:
We’ll be offering some prompts and questions as we go along, and if you would like to take the opportunity to note down any insights arising from this experience, there will be space at the close of the reflection for you to spend as needed.

Kevin Gilbert:
One more thing. If this experience resonates with you, consider sharing it with others by passing it along. Ready? Let’s begin.

Veronica Collins:
I’m going to invite you to imagine yourself in a familiar, everyday environment, a place you spend a lot of time and encounter daily, a place where you experience the mundane highs and lows. This might be your place of work, perhaps it’s the office, or it could be home at a particular time of day, or your commute. Wherever you experience the daily rhythm of life, just picture yourself in that place, that familiar, even repetitive moment.

Veronica Collins:
What does it sound like? What does it feel like? How does your body react to this environment? What is your breathing like? Just notice these things without labeling them good or bad. Take a moment to be with your everyday experience.

Kevin Gilbert:
So what is it that you noticed? What caught your attention? In a moment, we’ll invite you to imagine a new scene, but before we do that, we invite you to choose one word to take with you. From your common everyday reality that we just experienced, what word stands out that would answer this question? What are you bringing with you? Imagine you’ve brought with you a smooth stone and a marker. Get ready to write that single word on your stone. Again, this word describes what you’re bringing with you from your familiar environment. When you’re ready, imagine writing that word on that stone and then imagine placing it in your pocket.

Veronica Collins:
Now we’re going to imagine stepping out of this environment into a new one. We’re going to invite you to release any pent-up breath and take a fresh, deep one. There’s a door that leads out of the familiar place we’ve been exploring. You’ve stepped through this door many times before, but this time when you open it, you find yourself in a new space.

Kevin Gilbert:
Imagine you are standing outside. You notice first the feeling of earth under your feet and you start to hear the sound of flowing water. You begin to see that you are standing beside a river. What does it look like? What color is the water? How wide is it? What is the surrounding landscape like, and the banks of the river?

Veronica Collins:
Like rivers, our experience of time is also fluid and connected. Much as rivers have their beginnings in hidden springs, mountain streams, tributaries joining and creating larger waterways, this past year had its beginnings in earlier seasons of your life and work. The water of all those previous years has flowed into this one. Imagine that your year is flowing past you as you stand here.

Kevin Gilbert:
If your year was a river, what would it be looking like? How did the experience of the past year feel for you? Is it a rush of rapids where you could barely keep up to the challenges and demands in that pitch of the spray of whitewater, the danger of sharp rocks requiring constant alertness. Did you experience the powerful, purposeful force of a clear direction pushing forward with might?

Veronica Collins:
Where there pools of beautiful calm? Was there a slow, gentle meandering? Or perhaps the fast flow of a mountain stream, adventurous and tumbling as it finds its way. Just reflect on the year and how the months flowed, where the stream diverged or came back together. Places of rush, places of quiet, roughness and stillness, bringing you to this point.

Kevin Gilbert:
As you drink in the view, this moment, feel the rock that you imagined bringing with you.

Veronica Collins:
You can make a choice here about what to do with that rock.

Kevin Gilbert:
Perhaps you’re ready to let it fly and toss it into the water.

Veronica Collins:
Perhaps you want to carry it with you as you walk onwards.

Kevin Gilbert:
You can take some time now to decide, whether to hold onto that stone with that word on it or let it go.

Kevin Gilbert:
Imagine walking ahead now. You can see the river continuing on, around the next bend perhaps, or into a wide open horizon. This represents your year ahead. The one yet to come. When you look ahead, did the waters change? Does the landscape change? Can you see where it goes? Does it turn out of sight?

Veronica Collins:
What thoughts arise as you look ahead? Are there hopes or dreams that emerge as you continue to walk? Are they clearly defined or just beginning to take shape? Are you sensing some uncertainty, some questions? Does that bring up a sense of openness or resistance? That’s okay, let’s keep exploring. Let it be part of the experience, let it flow alongside. Let’s welcome the emerging year and any responses arising with it.

Veronica Collins:
Now take a moment to look down. You’re searching for a new rock to write on. When you think about the river ahead, what’s a word you can choose for an intention you want to set? When you think of what’s yet to come, is there a word that describes the way you want to show up? When you have your intention, your word or phrase, visualize writing it down on the new rock you chose.

Kevin Gilbert:
Now slip your stone somewhere safe and turn your gaze back to the river. Imagine that you begin to rise upwards. Your feet are leaving the ground, you’re floating, and below you, you can see the river from a new perspective. You’re rising higher now. You can see another river has been near you this whole time. Like yours, it has been flowing for a long time, following its own unique path, and like yours, it doesn’t stop here. Eventually, you can see both rivers are reaching the ocean.

Kevin Gilbert:
You can see their colors changed as the waters blend with the ocean’s waves. As your viewpoint lifts higher, you noticed light reflecting on the surface of another river, and another, lit up across this coastline. Up and down this continent, river after river is flowing. You turn your eyes to the ocean where they are all meeting, and see the waters blending as one as you rise higher. All you can see now is ocean and landmass as all of these continents are emptying their streams and rivers into this massive blue orb upon which you are looking down.

Kevin Gilbert:
And down through the clouds you descend. Eventually, gently, you come back to your place on the banks of your river.

Veronica Collins:
You’re here, feet on the earth. Upstream is the river of your year, downstream is the river of your year ahead, and as you turn around you can see the door that you came through to get here is waiting for you. In just a moment, it will be time to go back through that door. But remember, this place is always here for you. You can come back anytime you need to gain perspective on where you’ve come from, and to set intentions for where you may be headed. When you’re ready, let’s walk back through. Reach towards the handle now, and get ready to open it.

Kevin Gilbert:
We’re here, back in the place we started, that familiar environment.

Veronica Collins:
In this space, you will have times where you will feel stretched in many directions, and feeling the pull of competing demands. Remember, as you feel the needs of others alongside yours, that the moment you are in is continually changing and that you can release your grip to flow with what emerges, and welcome others to partner with you.

Kevin Gilbert:
When you find yourself back in these familiar moments, remember the word on your stone, and remember that you are not alone.

Veronica Collins:
We’re going to step back now, and give you some space here to reflect without any prompting. The music will continue to play and you can use the time however you wish. You can take notes to capture any insights or just use this time to rest and reflect. Thank you for journeying with us.