Take A Moment

Is there somewhere you can go, right now, away from all this? It doesn’t even need to be a real place, but somewhere where you can simply disengage and stop concentrating, just for a moment.

Somewhere you can look at things more than 12 inches from your face? Somewhere you can stop feeding off data and news and information? Somewhere you can release the tension around your eyes and your face and neck, where you can let go of the important things racing through your head and just take a big, deep breath?

It’s ok to look away for a minute. To unplug and step away. In fact it’s needed. Move away from the screen. Stop thinking about the thing. Relax your jaw and your shoulders. And just listen. And just be.

Can you go into the woods and feel the ground crunch under your feet, the breeze against your face, and hear the trees swaying above you as the birds call to each other from their branches? Can you breathe in that woodland smell, and let it release the stress in your muscles, and the hubbub in your mind?

Can you go up on the roof and watch as the swallows weave in and out of the buildings, playing among the tower blocks and the high rises while the world carries on below them? Can you close your eyes and imagine what it must be like to swoop and weave through the air? Light and fresh and alive.

Can you feel the wind passing through your feathers, cleansing you of all the day’s accumulated worries and stresses and strains?

Can you dive below the surface of the water, and listen to it swirl around you, muffled but revitalising? Can you watch as the light moves across the coral, dappled by the waves above?

Is there a place you can go to disconnect from all of this stuff that’s demanding your attention right now? All the things that want you to believe they are so important that you must give them you undivided focus. All the things that will still be there when you return.

It’s ok. You won’t miss anything important. But just for a moment stop what you’re doing and go away somewhere. For a minute. For an hour. For a breathe. Take that time to pause. Take that space as your own. It’s safe there.