5 Minutes

Today has been abnormally stressful. I'll start with that.

My head has decided to throb nonstop since I woke up this morning, due to an injury I suffered yesterday during an ordeal that I'd rather pretend never happened. On top of this, we've had a few projects mounting up over the past couple weeks at work, and we haven't been able to knock them out as quickly as they keep coming. This leaves me under what feels like a mountain of tasks to finish, the completion of which will require a constant fight to find pockets of time between customer service, daily routine tasks and almost-insignificant-yet-apparently-important problem resolutions. All that, and Outlook decided to change its password, so I no longer have access to e-mails, the to-to list, or the calendar, which are right now the essential tools to what I'm trying to accomplish. I found out that it will take at least an hour of doing nothing but sitting on the phone while I wait for some overpaid and undertrained IT "specialist" to fix it.

But I'm not writing to complain.

We all have our bad days, and everyone who's anyone has had it worse.

It took my attitude from 9:30 this morning to about 3:00 this evening to get from bad to worse. I wanted nothing but to just go home and sleep. I was almost to the point of snapping at customers who were bringing me problems and issues that were easily solvable if they just read what they were supposed to read. One co-worker in particular with whom I will usually banter back and forth noticed how foul my mood was, and deemed it best to stay out of my way.

So I left.

I told the staff in the office, "I'll be back in five minutes," and then I walked outside.

The only place I could find where I could sit was on a stone bench placed next to a sign that read "Smoking Area." It had to do. I sat with my legs crossed, my hands folded in my lap, and my eyes closed.

And I breathed.

I inhaled and exhaled slowly, controlled. I cleared my head. I followed all the steps I've been learning about. I let my imagination take me away. I found myself atop Big Ben, looking down on London, about 1000 years ago, on a starry night with a full moon. I saw top hats and flame-lit street lamps and horse-drawn carriages. I felt peace. The hot Texas air transformed into a cool, clear breeze.

I sat on my bench for about 5 minutes, then opened my eyes and came back to reality. But something strange happened. I felt the A/C. I noticed three push-pins stuck in the ceiling. I had become more alert, more aware. And I was still peaceful.

I continued where I left off, the workload was the same. But I didn't care - I just did what I had to do. The situation hadn't changed a bit - but I had.

It only took 5 minutes of intensely focused attention on a peaceful scene to unravel over 5 hours of misery. Granted, not everyone has a place they can sit or 5 minutes they can spare. All I will say is this:

Whenever and wherever you get the chance, practice this, and practice it often. It will make your life a great deal easier to live.