Welcome.
Let's begin by arriving.
Not by effort,
But by allowing.
Let yourself pause just for now.
No need to do anything,
Fix anything,
Or get anywhere.
Simply notice that you're here.
You might gently become aware of your body.
The way it's being supported by the surface it's on.
There's no need to hold yourself up right now.
Let yourself settle.
Let go.
Notice your breath.
Noticing not controlling.
Just letting yourself be breathed in and out.
A perfect rhythm that requires no effort.
And if the mind is still busy,
That's okay.
You don't have to quiet the mind for this to work.
We're not aiming for silence.
Just noticing.
Noticing what's already here.
And now,
If it feels right,
Bring to mind a recent moment of stress.
It might have been a conversation,
A deadline,
A decision,
Or just that old familiar rising feeling of tightness in the chest or stomach.
See if you can revisit it gently,
Without analyzing it.
Not as a problem to solve,
But as something to become curious about.
In that moment,
Where did the feeling really come from?
It's common to believe that our stress comes from what's happening around us.
The to-do list,
The noise,
The unknowns.
But in this quiet space,
See if you can look a little deeper.
Could it be that the stress didn't come from the situation itself,
But from a thought you were believing in that moment?
Maybe a thought like,
I have to get this right,
There's too much to do,
I can't handle this,
I'm failing.
The body reacts immediately to thoughts like that.
It contracts,
Tightens,
Races.
It feels very real.
And yet the moment the thought passes,
So does the feeling.
What if stress isn't telling you about your life,
But only about your current thinking?
What if it's not a flaw,
But simply a signal that you're caught up in the mind's story?
Take a breath here.
Feel the air coming in and going out.
And allow that to settle.
You don't have to fix the thought.
You don't have to replace it with a better one.
You don't even have to understand it.
It's just a cloud,
A wave,
A moment of thinking passing through.
And you,
You are the space it moves through.
Not the thought itself,
Not the feeling it brings.
Let yourself rest there.
You don't need to manage this.
You don't need a strategy.
You can just be here,
Present,
Aware,
Held.
Notice what softens when you simply stop trying to get rid of the stress and simply recognize what it really is.
Just thought,
Believed for a moment,
And now moving on.
Let's sit together here for a little while longer.
Let yourself feel the support beneath you again.
Let the breath remind you that nothing needs forcing.
You're not broken.
You never were.
And you don't need to get calm.
You are calm beneath the noise.
It may have felt far away,
But it was only ever hidden by thought.
And thought always moves.
So stay here as long as you like.
Or gently begin to come back again.
Let your breath deepen.
Wiggle your fingers and toes,
And when you feel ready,
Open your eyes.
But take this truth with you.
Stress is not proof of failure.
It's a momentary misunderstanding.
And the moment you see that,
You return to what never left.
Your presence.
Your peace.
Your clarity.
That's the truth of who you really are.
