Activity time: 15 minutes

Invite participants to join you in a guided meditation. Say these or similar words:

Begin by sitting comfortably in your chair with both feet on the floor and uncrossed. Your eyes can be open or closed.

Breathe. Simply breathe. In and out, in and out. Notice the movement of the air as you breathe. Breathe in enough oxygen to feel movement in your body and allow your belly and then your chest to expand.

Exhale. Let go of everything that does not seem vital to your life at this moment.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Allow each in breath to be deeper, every exhale to fully release the breath. Feel energy move and shift in your body as your cells oxygenate. Continue this breathing.

As you continue your relaxed breathing, imagine that today is your unbirthday, six months after your actual birthdate. At your favorite outdoor place, you are hosting a gathering for those people who gave you a difficult time in the past. If the weather is cold, don’t worry. You are in a temporary heated shelter and you can still enjoy the view! Those past troubling people of yours are seated in chairs around a table. You are at the head of the table.

(Pause.) Tell them they have been invited because you want them know that while they were hurtful to you at one time, you healed—and gained in wisdom from the event. Now you are wiser and able to forgive them for their action, because no longer do they have a hold on you. From that negative experience, you learned and grew in wholeness. (Pause.) Meeting with these negative people takes great courage on your part, and you realize that your younger self did as much as possible at the time, in that situation. (Pause.) Look at them a moment longer. Then as you toast them with a glass of wine or sparkling grape juice, tell them good-bye and ask them to leave. They will! (Pause.) Remember, you can always reconnect with your younger self, the one who was hurt but now is safe within you. (Pause.)

Look again at the beautiful view that means so much to you. Beauty restores the soul. Know that you can visit it again. Then turn and come back along the pathway. (Pause.) When you are ready, open your eyes and be in this place and time.

Ask: “How was that for you?” and invite responses.