A short Meditation Monday pause
As the year winds down, there’s often a quiet pressure to figure it all out.
What did this year mean?
What should I take forward?
What do I need to fix before the calendar turns?
This isn’t that.
This is a short, guided pause.
No reflection required. No insight expected.
Just a few minutes to let your body breathe out what it’s been holding.
You don’t need to prepare.
You don’t need to do it well.
Just read slowly, or let the words wash over you.
You don’t need to review the year.
You don’t need to summarize it, judge it, or decide what it meant.
For a few minutes, you don’t need to carry it at all.
If you’re willing, pause where you are.
Nothing ceremonial. No perfect posture.
Just let your body arrive.
Notice where you’re holding tension without trying to fix it.
Jaw. Shoulders. Chest. Belly. Hands.
Now take a slow breath in through your nose.
Not deep. Just honest.
And then let the exhale be longer than the inhale.
As if your body has been waiting for permission to let go.
You might notice fatigue.
Or relief.
Or nothing at all.
All of that is fine.
This year asked things of you.
Some of them you were ready for.
Some of them you were not.
You don’t have to make sense of that right now.
With your next exhale, imagine the year loosening its grip on your body.
Not disappearing.
Just no longer being held so tightly.
If thoughts come, let them pass like background noise.
You don’t need to grab them.
You don’t need to solve anything.
Stay with the rhythm of breathing out.
Breathing out what didn’t get finished.
Breathing out what still hurts.
Breathing out the pressure to carry it cleanly into the next chapter.
You’re not quitting on the year.
You’re setting it down.
Take one more slow breath in.
And a gentle, unforced breath out.
When you’re ready, open your eyes or bring your attention back to the room.
When you’re done
There’s nothing you need to do with this moment.
You don’t have to feel better.
You don’t have to feel different.
You don’t have to take anything forward yet.
Let this be a small pause between what has been and what’s coming.
The next step can wait.
For now, it’s enough to let the year exhale.
