0:00 Let your shoulders drop down toward the earth, right where you're sitting.0:08 Feel the solid floor underneath your feet and the cool morning air resting against your skin.0:18 Good morning, baby.0:21 Last time we sat together on this porch, we talked about setting down the rush, reminding ourselves that nobody has to carry the whole day before breakfast.0:38 Well, today the sun is just barely touching the rail, and there's a little sparrow out there, singing her heart out without worrying if her song is tidy.0:55 Take a slow breath in through your nose, filling up your chest like a sweet, steady hum.1:05 And then let it go, soft and easy out through your mouth.1:12 That's it.1:13 There's nowhere you need to hurry off to right this second.1:20 Draw that morning air in again, nice and deep down into your belly.1:27 Hold it there for a quiet moment.1:31 Now release it into the yard, letting every bit of hurry drift right off the steps.1:40 Mm-hm.1:41 Your breath knows just what to do when you stop trying to manage it.1:49 In and out, like water lapping against the riverbank.1:55 Bring your attention now to your forehead and that tight little space right between your eyebrows.2:06 Let that skin smooth out.2:09 We spend so much energy trying to look like we have every single corner of life figured out.2:19 Unclench your jaw and let your tongue rest soft away from the roof of your mouth.2:28 So often, honey, we treat our own lives like an audition where one sour note ruins the whole anthem.2:39 But in thirty years of directing that choir on Sunday mornings, I never once heard a choir that didn't stumble on a rehearsal Thursday.2:55 That stumble is how the harmony learns where to settle.3:01 Feel the weight in your collarbones and let your chest open wide.3:08 Soften your belly.3:10 Release the grip in your hands, uncurling those fingers one by one upon your lap.3:19 Every crooked turn and clumsy step you took brought you to this very chair, and not one piece of that road was wasted.3:33 Now, sink down into the quiet beneath all that striving.3:39 Beneath the plans, beneath the worry, there is a still pool of peace that nobody can take from you.3:50 You don't have to earn this stillness.3:55 You don't have to perform for it, and you surely don't have to be perfect to deserve it.4:05 Mmm-mm.4:05 Sit with that a minute, baby.4:09 Just resting.4:10 Just being here, exactly as you are right now, unfinished and precious.4:18 Nothing to fix.4:20 Nothing to prove.4:22 Gently begin to feel the weight of your hands resting in your lap once more.4:30 Notice the sound of the morning waking up around you, soft and patient.4:38 Here's the thing to keep close to your chest as you go on out that door today.4:47 When things don't go according to your clean little plan, don't you turn hard on yourself.4:57 Look at your own heart with gentle eyes.5:02 Give yourself the same grace you'd offer a dear friend.5:08 Mm-hm.5:09 Go on, now, and let the day meet you kind.
