BALLOON MEDITATION

Find an uninflated balloon. 

Hold it in the palm of your hand. 

Examine its flaccid form. 

The malformed rubber husk. 

The mouth, bent over, the body curled up like a foetus.

Stretch it a bit.

As you do think about your incompleteness. 

Think about your untapped potential.

The places in your being where there’s nothing.

Your insignificance.

Your unfulfilled desires.

Loss and the gaps left behind

Your lack

Now blow up the balloon.

And as you do, blow these thoughts into it.
As the balloon inflates, imagine it’s filling up with all your nothing.
Empty your emptiness into the balloon as it inflates.

With each blow the ballon takes on more and more of your nothing.

Till it’s full.

Now look at the balloon.

The rubber stretched into a tight, bouncy, colourful ball.

What are you going to do with it?

You could curl up and hug it.
You can bounce it up in the air (with your hands or your feet)

You can lie on the ground and throw it up in the air.

You can rub it on your jumper and stick it to the wall.

Or make someone’s hair stand on end.

Have fun with your nothing.

Or just look at it.

It’s yours.

It’s not like anyone else’s.

And it makes you who you are.