intervention of some sort depending on the issues at hand. No two sessions are alike so try to observe the underlying patterns rather than regarding the text as a script.( My comments and reflections are in brackets).
" Now.... Imagine yourself arriving into the future, where you find yourself standing on a beach, looking out over the ocean, and you are over 100 years old, maybe even 117- according to the Bible 120 years is fully possible for us to become already over 2000 years ago- imagine... if you have kids they are retired already... and you may feel the warm sand under the soles of your feet( kinesthetic), hearing the waves( auditive) and maybe smelling that special characteristic of a beach( olfactory) as the sun shines in a beautiful way, like a sunset or a sunrise( visual) and as in a dream a wonderful spaceship can be coming to take you to the next stage of existence... whatever that can be...
( My sessions are packed with metaphors and humor, and I find that framing our last moment as being picked up by a spaceship takes the edge of dying for most, and 117 years usually widens their perspectives. As an observation very few people have decided on a specific age they would like to reach, except in Sweden, where the song " Happy Birthday " repeats the line " may you live until 100 years of age " which I find depressing in many making all birthdays after 50 a downhill count. At least for me, singing 150 improves the mood of any birthday.)
As you imagine standing there on the beach you may realize what life was truly all about, and that so many things you thought were important at the time are completely irrelevant now, in the future, as you are summing it up.... and the only way you will know for sure that you did the right things, made the right decisions, are content with your long life, is by the smile you can find on your face, as you think of everything, what kind of smile you want to have on your face, summing up a lifetime of good and bad, ups and downs, grief, joy, disease, love, disaster, work, darkness, light and ecstatic moments... the kind of smile you would like to have when everything is over...
( Here, that exact smile usually appears on the clients face) yes, that ' s it, your body knows, because if you remember, before you