This is a transcript of a YouTube conversation and guided meditation between Keira Poulsen and Terry Thompson about bringing Terry's forthcoming book into being. The chunk includes a grounding/clearing meditation (singing bowl, breath, calling in light and angels), vivid imagery the book evokes (surfboard on a large wave; playful park structures called the 'Orange Monster'), and key metaphors: 'words are a playground' and collaborative storytelling (multiple authors sharing short, witness stories). Terry reports having multiple books in progress and one book he believes 'belongs to the world' that has not yet been started; the pair discuss shaping that book around play, empowerment, and shared stories.
Chapters
First of all, are you just excited to bring your book through?
I am, I'm excited. And man, I can't wait.
I know. I can feel it. I can feel the excitement. It's really, really beautiful. So we're going to start with the bowl. We're going to take a deep breath in and we're just going to let the sound clean the space around us. Holding us in, this magic, this magical energy that's.
Ah.
Really creating a space of safety and a space of light. There we go, There we go. All right, let's use our oil here. We're gonna drop in to our hearts. Dropping in. Oh my gosh, it just makes such a difference for my body. Ah, there we go. There we go. All right, so now I want you to visualize right above the crown of your head is this brilliant divine light. We're going to breathe the light in. And first, the first round, we're going to let the light be like a cleansing agent. So breathe the light in and we're going to let it just move through the body, cleaning out anything that's not ours. We pick things up because we're humans. We're just going to clear anything out that's not ours, all the way down to the toes. Then we're going to breathe the light in again and this time we're going to let it wake up our gifts. So we're going to wake up our intuition, our inspiration, our ability to see, to hear, to feel, to know all of our divinely gifted gifts. We're going to wake them up. And on this third breath, I want you to just breathe in and it's going to create this beautiful, like, coating inside of us. Like it's going to coat everything inside of you with love. And then it's going to shield you in this beautiful shield of light protecting you. It's going to infuse you with light. So just really feel how, how safe and delicious that is. And then we're going to just call in our angels. So we're going to call in all of our angels, those who are here to guide us, those who are here to lead us, to support us, those who love us, those who specifically are here for you, Terri, in your message and your work and this book. We're going to call them in and through the divine light to come and sit with us, to help us receive the book with ease and with flow. And then we're going to prep our bodies. We're going to ask that light will touch our ears, that we will spiritually Hear what needs to be heard. The light will touch our third eyes. We'll have access to all of our spiritual gifts. The light will cleanse our lips, that we speak only what needs to be spoken. I'm seeing. We're going to clear our throats so that everything that we speak can change those who are listening. And we're gonna also have light touch our hearts, that our hearts will be softened and opened. Take a deep breath in. All right. How does that feel?
Oh, man. I'm ready.
I know. I can feel it. I love it. I love your energy. Let's be friends. Okay, Terri, this feels like a good friendship here. Okay, let's bring this book in. So I'm gonna invite your book in and through the divine light to come in and sit with us. I love it. I love it. I was feeling water at the very beginning, and your book literally came in. This is so fun. And I've never seen this. And I love this. On a surfboard, riding the biggest curled wave. So it's just like this beautiful, like, the most glorious wave ever. The sea sun is, like, pouring down, and we're going to bring it right here in between our hearts. So just with that entrance, what does that. Does that mean anything to you?
It truly does. And here's exactly what that means. You know, a lot of times the world can feel like it's crashing down just like that wave right there. But, man, when you learn to ride that wave, it's a beautiful journey that you can take people on. And that's what I want to do, is I want to take people on a journey, but I also want to empower people to be a part of that journey as well, too.
Yeah. Oh, that's so beautiful. That's. And it's like I could feel the. Like, it was so delicious. Like, that moment of ecstasy of catching the wave and the sun pouring down. And I love that you showed the other side, which is that wave could actually feel super scary. Right? But that's not what the book is showing. The book is like. No. This is so delightful. Right? I love that. Oh, my gosh. It's so beautiful. Okay, so we're going to invite our book, your book, to come and sit between my heart and your heart. So we have kind of like this little table, this altar between us. So we're going to invite your book to show us the. Whatever. First message. Whatever. Well, I guess that was the first message. So what's the second message? What does this book want to guide and lead us? I love. I love Your energy, Terry. So. So there was this. Okay, so I'm gonna tell you what I'm seeing. Okay, so there was this park because I have five kids, so I spent, like most of my life at parks for like a full decade, Right. And there was this one park that we called the. The Orange Monster. And it had these huge, epic, like, rainbow type shaped things. Yeah. And, like, you would swing under them, and then, like, there'd be, like these really cool things you climb on. So all this in your book is showing me. It's showing me the play. It's showing me the play, like the swinging under, the climbing up, and that all of it is just so much play. So does that, like, what does that bring. What shows up for you when I say that?
So I always look at words as a playground. Words are a play. It's really how we use them and how we can affect others and how we can change others. Because oftentimes people on the. Looking into our lives, on how we play, on how we experience things, we are able to share that with the world, with our words, with. With our wisdom, with our knowledge, skills, experience. And that's the power of a book as well, too. And when we allow that to go out there, to live, to breathe out within the world, we allow others to play with us as well, too.
Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Playground is very loud. That's a very loud word with your book. Right? So remember that there's something about using that word playground that feels really important. So my question is, is where are you at with the book? Have you started writing it?
I've written a few books already, and I have. I have three books that are in the works, and I have one that I really believe belongs to the world, and I have not started it yet. The idea is there. So I have a partner with that book as well, too. So my partner is Bon with Unbreakable at Unbreakable Stories. So we want to write this book and we want to deliver this book in a way to where we allow other people to shine, to share their story, to share their journey. Kind of like chicken Soup for the Soul, so to speak. I love Chicken Soup for the Soul. And the stories, the ideas, the thoughts, the things within that book right there were so powerful that it's inspiration for the book that we want to share with the world. Because people have those stories, they have those struggles, the roadblocks, the hardships, the things with life that can hold the average person back. But you know what? When those stories are shared, when those short stories are out there within the world for people to consume, to play with, so to speak. It can empower others that if it's possible for you, it's possible for them. And that book must live. It's. It's a work in progress.
Oh, my gosh. I love it. I. I feel that. So we do some, you know, collaboration books at Freedom House. And what I. What I always see with the collaboration books is one story. Like, if I were tell my story, it's gonna. It's gonna land for people, but they're gonna be like, but Kira. Just like, that's just Kira's story. Like, I don't have what Kira has. Whatever, all those things, right? You have 15 people sharing around a topic in a book. Now the reader's like, okay, like, this is actually possible for me. There are 15 witnesses that. And I've watched it happen in all the different ways. That's the power of a collaboration book.
Yeah.
That's beautiful. So I love it. So let's bring that one that feels like the one that's here. So, like, how do we get. We need to breathe some oxygen into this book. Okay, so that's like. That's what it's. It's like calling forward. Like, it wants to be brought through onto paper. So let's ask, like, how do we. How does this begin? Well, I mean, it's just showing me very clearly it has to be through play. This book can't come through any other way.
