Hello! STOP!

Hello! STOP!

Well, I guess you didn’t expect that! 😛 So, how are your new years resolutions going? Given up already or still going strong? How many things have you already checked off your to-do list? Any? Some? None? How’s the weather where you are? Cold? Snowy? Dull? Rainy? Breezy? Bright and sunny? Too hot?

Maybe you’re feeling on top of the world? Everything is going perfectly for you? Or maybe, just maybe, life is all too stressy, you have a million and one things to do and you’ve no idea how you’ll get through the rest of today let alone the week, the month, the year!?

Well! I want you to just stop. Yes, right now. Stop! and breathe! No excuses! If you didn’t have time, you wouldn’t be reading this! 😛 Just take a minute, to pause, breathe, concentrate on your breathing and forget everything else, just for a minute. Shut your eyes if you can, and block out everything except the sound of your breath. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe longer. Breathe deeper. Exaggerate your breathing. Concentrate on your breathing. Relax your shoulders. Try to slow your breathing down. Focus and breathe. Do it now. Not in five minutes, or when you get home. Now. Stop and breathe now! and  B r e a t h e . . .

If you’re reading this sentence you should have done your minutes breathing! If not, are you really so busy that you can’t take care of yourself? Of course, there’s a lot of things we can do to be more mindful and they’re probably on that bucket list somewhere but… That is for later! This is for now!  We run around all day trying to squeeze everything in to our waking hours and we feel guilty because we didn’t have time to go to the school assembly, to meet up for coffee, to send a text, to call back, to eat as a family, to read a bedtime story, not even time to say goodnight!

If you’re in the UK, next week is school half term holiday for a week. Will you go to work and send the kids to activity days, palm them off on your parents or your neighbours, or leave them to sort themselves out? Or will you take time to ensure you spend some quality time together and create some magical memories? Next week is also Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday), Galentines Day (yes, a new one on me too) and of course Valentines Day. Will you be celebrating? Will you be avoiding? Will you be too busy? Will you make time? Maybe you don’t agree with all the commerciality surrounding such events but maybe, your partner, friends, family do? Will you think of that before you decide not to make pancakes for breakfast? Will you consider how your girlfriends will feel if you don’t tell them how important they are to you on Galentines? Will your other half, or even your kids ‘really’ feel okay when you completely dismiss the day of love that everyone is celebrating…

and breathe…