Procrastination: There's Nothing We Have To Do Right Now

This guided meditation is a great way to procrastinate from the stress, worry and so called responsibilities that may be overwhelming you right now. We often think something is so important that we can't take time for ourselves to breathe, reduce stress and just be here in the moment but leave your to do list for now, be a little 'irresponsible' with me, and enjoy some structured procrastination with this meditation right now.

Transcript

There's nothing to do right now.

There's nothing we have to do right now.

Just taking a moment to breathe right now.

Breathe deeply.

Breathe deeply in and out.

There's nothing we have to be doing.

There's nothing we have to think about that we haven't done.

If those things come to mind right now,

Just notice them.

Don't get caught up with doing them or thinking about doing them.

Just notice them and let them pass.

Let them fade.

Procrastination is a big challenge for a lot of us.

And a lot of times the bigger challenge is just sitting here for this moment and not doing anything to give ourselves the freedom from the stress and the anxiety that comes with procrastination.

So as we breathe in and breathe out right now,

There's nothing else to do.

There's nothing we haven't done.

We're just here in this moment right now.

We can pick up all those things later if we want to.

My suggestion is not to do that.

So just taking another deep breath in right now.

Hold it for a little bit and then breathing out slowly.

If you notice any tension in the body somewhere,

Feel free to just wiggle that out or just notice that and let it drop just a little bit more.

When we're tense about the things that we think we have to do or the things that we're so worried about,

Oftentimes the body gets very tense and tight.

So if we just notice that and we can release it just a little bit,

Maybe feel some tension in the face,

Let your eyes maybe soften just a little bit.

Your forehead when you're stressed sometimes can be very tight.

So just breathing in and out as we breathe in and out,

We notice the tightness in the face and we let that just release.

Let that just relax.

You might notice the tension in the shoulders or the neck.

See if you can just loosen those areas.

Wiggle your shoulders around a little bit if you need to just to let them fall a little bit more towards the ground.

Sitting down,

Sinking down into your posture,

But not losing your upright spine.

Just sitting,

Relaxing.

With each in-breath,

You maybe feel almost like a string at the top of the head lifting your spine.

And on the out-breath,

Feel everything else dropping down,

Sinking into the ground.

All the things falling off of you,

All the worries and anxiety just dropping to the ground as well.

Now taking another deep breath in if you've already gotten distracted,

Just come back to the breath.

Notice where it's coming into the body.

And then a nice deep breath out,

Letting it all go again.

There's something very interesting about worry and anxiety.

Obviously there's different levels and types.

But a lot of times what we're worried about is the mind.

Is it just causing the suffering?

It's our story about the things that are happening,

The work we need to do,

The things we didn't do.

And if we can just let go of those stories for this moment,

That we don't really know what any of this means in this moment.

So just taking a deep breath in and enjoying this moment.

When this moment is over,

We can resume any kind of stories that we think are important or necessary.

But just taking another deep breath in,

And another deep breath out.

We release the stories,

Release the procrastination and the worry that we should have done this.

As Tony Robbins says,

Shoulding all over ourselves.

So if we can stop for this moment even,

Just for this few minutes of meditation,

Stop shoulding all over ourselves.

We should have done that and should have done this.

What we can do,

What we should do,

What we could do,

We're doing it right now.

We're sitting here in this moment meditating,

Taking time for ourselves.

Taking time to release the worry and anxiety and fears.

And just taking a nice deep breath again.

One of my own favorite meditations says,

You know,

There's nothing to go back to right now.

There's just this moment here right now.

And I feel that is that's so releasing for me when I hear that.

There's nothing to go back to right now.

There's no world waiting for you.

Your mind might even want to disagree with that statement,

But this is the reality.

I mean,

There's many things we do,

Not just meditation,

Where we don't really think about the world that's waiting for us.

So why wouldn't when we're doing meditation,

Do we get so caught up on,

You know,

Oh,

Is this over yet?

Oh,

I got to get back to something.

You can maybe watch an hour on Netflix or two hours or three hours and just let the time pass.

But when we're sitting doing meditation,

Ten minutes just feels like,

Oh,

My gosh,

You know,

It's taking so long.

I need to get back to something.

So just feel free to let go of all that.

Get back to something.

There's so many things you think you need to do and just breathe again.

Just be here in this moment breathing.

The next minute or so,

Let's just sit here quietly together,

Breathing in and breathing out.

If you get distracted,

If your mind wanders,

That's OK.

That's part of life.

If it gets wandering into work and those kinds of things,

Just notice if you want to let it wander into work and things.

Think gently about those things,

Not judgmentally or not anger or feeling like resentment or anxiety.

Just notice those things and navigate them a little bit with your thoughts if you want to.

Or you can just notice them as clouds and sky passing and you don't have to engage with them at all.

So just taking some deep breaths here right now.

Let us do this quietly together.

Keeping your eyes closed,

We'll just continue with the breath.

Maybe that time went a little faster than you thought,

You know,

With being quiet by yourself.

Or maybe it was seeming like it was really long.

Just notice that few moments.

Notice how you feel right now in this moment after taking that time.

Maybe you feel a little bit more relaxed,

A little bit less stress.

Maybe you can notice even a part of the body that feels much more relaxed and much more calm and peaceful.

Maybe the chest is feeling much more open.

You feel more open to life right now.

Now just taking a minute,

Maybe putting your hand on your heart or both hands on your heart.

Just thanking yourself for doing this today,

For being here in this moment,

Sitting,

Letting go.

And since there's still nothing to go back to,

Why don't we just take a minute here to just thank ourselves.

Do a little bit of loving kindness,

Meda meditation here.

So taking a deep breath in.

And then saying to ourselves,

May I be well.

You can just say it inside.

You don't have to say it out loud.

Taking a deep breath in,

May I be well.

May I be happy.

May I be at peace.

And since we're talking about procrastination,

Let's just maybe add something here.

May I be at peace while I'm busy with my work.

May I find balance with those things that sometimes stress me out.

May I be well,

Even when it feels like my to-do list is never ending or something.

And may I be okay if none of that feels true for me right now in this moment.

I can still be okay,

Even when I have a lot on my plate,

Even when I feel like I'm not getting things done.

I can take a moment like this to take a breath,

To take a peaceful moment,

Get away from it all.

And I can also sit down with this mindful attitude and get some work done.

I can do those things that have been holding on,

Been stuck on my mind,

That I can sit down and mindfully approach them for just a minute,

Just two,

Just three.

Maybe even just taking a minute right now,

Taking a deep breath in.

And then mindfully thinking about one thing that was on your mind when you started this meditation.

How could I in a healthy way move that thing forward?

How could I in a mindful way approach the problem?

Maybe you don't even want to think about how,

But just think about why it's important to breathe and take a healthy approach to getting it done.

And now coming back to the world,

Coming back to life,

Maybe there are some things you need to get done.

But maybe there's also some things that were on that list when we started that we recognize aren't so important,

Aren't so urgent as we felt they were.

And we can focus on taking a few moments to eat a healthy meal or to spend some time with someone we care about before we get back into that.

Maybe a walk in the park or down the street,

Something that gets some fresh air.

Just remember today,

While you're going through your day or while you're going to sleep,

Whatever you're doing,

That these things will handle themselves at some point.

And that it's OK to take time out for ourselves from these things and procrastinate in a positive way by sitting down,

Breathing,

Recognizing that it's not all always as important as the mind feels.

The mind causes some suffering,

But we can also step back and take a moment away from the mind to breathe,

To be here in this moment and realize that those things are also important,

That these are also things that we often procrastinate on as well.

Taking time for ourselves,

Breathing,

Being here.

Let's take one more deep breath together.

Reach the top,

Just breathing slowly out,

But maybe deeply and exhaling through the mouth.

Just letting go of all those things that have built up,

All those things we've recognized are not as important as we thought they were.

Let's just let them go again with another long,

Deep breath in.

Hold it at the top for a minute and then just letting go of all that.

Now you can flicker your eyes open or if you want you can stay this way for a little while longer and sit here,

Whatever feels right to you.

If you're flickering your eyes open,

Maybe just recognizing that the color of the world is slightly different than it was when you left.

The nature of how you feel is slightly different maybe than how you was when you left.

Think about whether you'd like to do more of this again soon.

Thank you for joining me.

Reviews

That was perfect. My mind went from 100% wandering, to a little bit less wandering at the end. I’ll keep working on it.

Best. Meditation. Ever.
I love how real you are.
Thank you, thank you ❤️❤️

very calming and love the quote

Beautiful, succinct, easy. Highly recommend.

Thanks 🙏

Great meditation, stop searching and give this one a go 😌

Thank you for that. Been having a tough time today and that practice gave me enough space to pause and take a few breaths. It meant a lot and I appreciate it.

Super peaceful. Thank you.

Just right and very helpful. Rather than forcing with strategies on how to get things done, allows for time out to relax and just breathe. Thank you. 🙏🏻🌷

Thank you for helping to manager the mind

I loved this! Thank you so much! Namaste 🙏🏻❤️☮️

This is EXACTLY what I needed to hear this evening! Excellent meditation, thank you! Will be bookmarking for sure!!! 🙏