Take a slow breath in and let it melt all the way out.
We grow up thinking connection is copying.
We read the room.
We mimic the mood.
We match energy almost instantly because long before language,
The body learned to belong first.
That old saying,
Monkey see,
Monkey do,
Was never really about monkeys.
It was about us.
How quickly we echo tension before truth arrives,
But here,
Now,
It doesn't have to be monkey see,
Monkey do,
Because the mindful monkey in you knows when to pause and what to choose.
And it starts now.
Bring to mind a recent moment when something inside you reacted quickly,
A tone,
A silence that stung.
Notice how your body read that room,
How meaning formed in that moment before truth arrived.
No need to analyze,
Just sense the imprint of it now.
Feel your feet connect with the earth,
Pressing them down.
The steadiness beneath you is unchanging and dependable.
Gently press down and let the exhale sink through your legs and into the soles of your feet.
When the world pulls you upward into urgency,
Return here and let the ground absorb what the body doesn't need to carry.
Stability before story,
Before worry.
Soften your eyes,
Unclench your jaw and lift your gaze just slightly above where it usually rests.
Feel how your breath and your chest respond.
Reactivity narrows the world.
Lifting expands possibility in your heart and in your mind.
So as you lift your gaze,
Widen your sight and the story begins to loosen.
Bring awareness to your hands.
Are they gripping?
Guarding?
Folded tight?
Then let your fingers uncurl.
Let your palms rest upward.
Notice the quiet ripple of release.
Shoulders soften.
Breath deepens.
Openness isn't agreement.
Openness is spacious.
Invite awareness into your mouth.
Let your tongue gently fall from the roof and behind your lower teeth.
Notice how your jaw eases.
Your throat widens.
Your face remembers what calmness feels like.
You see when you soften your tongue,
The words no longer rush into the moment.
And in that moment,
Clarity begins to arise.
And before I leave you to practice on your own,
Return quietly to that earlier moment.
Not to relive it,
But to rewrite it through sensation.
And let all four anchors merge.
Feet grounded.
Feet grounded.
Gaze lifted.
Palms open.
Softened.
And as you do,
Feel how your body meets that moment.
Spacious.
Steady.
Responsive.
You see,
My friend,
This is how reactivity evolves into regulation.
And should it become overwhelming,
Silently whisper this mantra to it.
I respond through my body before my mind reacts.
I respond through my body before my mind reacts.
Take one more steady breath in.
Your body now remembers another way.
You can sense the moment without inheriting it.
You can feel the room without becoming it.
And you can respond without repeating.
In daily life,
When chaos stirs and tempers brew,
Pause before your body moves.
Ground.
Lift.
Open.
Open.
See what's true.
Monkey,
See.
But mindful you.
May your mind,
Your body,
Your spirit be abundant with peace.
To choose.
Today and every day.
