When was the last time you just paused?
No scrolling,
No planning,
No fixing.
Just ten quiet minutes for you to breathe and to be.
We live in a world of go,
Go,
Go.
Mornings often start with alarms,
Notifications,
And maybe even that tiny jolt of stress that comes with checking your email before your feet hit the floor.
It's so easy to tumble headfirst into the day,
But right now let's try to do something different.
Let's press pause.
So wherever you are,
Just let yourself arrive.
Let your shoulders soften.
Take a deep breath in and let it out.
Let your jaw unclench.
Breathe in and out.
And if you'd like,
You can let your eyes close or gently gaze downward.
Take a slow breath in.
This is your moment.
There's nothing to solve.
There is nowhere else that you need to be.
As you breathe,
Just notice what it feels like to give yourself this space.
No pressure,
No expectation,
Just a little bit of room between stimulus and response.
Feel in your breath as it moves through you the rise and the fall.
That quiet repetition.
You're not trying to achieve some mystical state,
You're just allowing yourself to be,
Before the day rushes in.
And as thoughts arise,
And believe me they will,
You don't need to chase them.
You don't have to follow a to-do list in your head.
Just notice and then gently return to your breath.
And you might be tempted to think,
Well this is such a small thing.
Does it really matter?
But it does,
Because how we begin matters.
It's like setting the tone before a song starts playing.
Do we begin rushed and reactive or do we begin grounded,
Calm and intentional?
Right now you're choosing the second one.
You're giving yourself the gift of presence.
So let's stay with it.
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
Letting your attention rest on this rhythm.
And when the mind drifts,
No big deal.
That's just what minds do.
Every time you notice you've already come back.
Maybe take a moment to scan your body.
See if there are any areas holding on to tension.
Your neck,
Your shoulders,
Your hands and wrists.
These are common spots.
Just keep breathing through it.
With every exhale you can soften a little bit more.
We're not trying to perfect this moment.
We're just letting it be what it is and being with it.
This is your pause.
Now here's something to consider.
What if you brought this feeling into the rest of your day?
What if before sending the email or making that phone call or rushing out the door you took just one breath to ground,
To reset,
To choose how you want to respond?
As Viktor Frankl reminds us,
Between stimulus and response there is space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
Well this my friend is your space.
This is your power.
So as we near the end of our time here,
Just take one more deep breath in.
Slow,
Intentional and let it out with a soft sigh.
Can you feel what's shifted even slightly?
You pressed pause,
You reset your tone and now you get to carry that with you.
So as you move throughout your day,
Remember you can press pause anytime.
One single breath is all it takes and it's always right here when you need it.
May you be happy,
May you be healthy and may you be at peace.
Thank you so much for joining me.
