Stop now.
Stop and come back to yourself.
As you prepare to do nothing,
Be comfortable.
Make sure you're cozy.
Notice the position of your neck and head.
Do you need to adjust for it to feel just right?
Are you prepared to unplug?
Be still.
To run well in this world,
You must know how to stop and when.
The time for you to stop is right now.
There is no more important thing that you can do right now than to stop.
Stopping is different than taking a pause in the action.
When you stop,
You aren't just taking a break from doing.
You are giving yourself permission to drop the thoughts,
Even drop the feelings.
And certainly,
All doing must cease.
Be conscious of what arises from within as you observe from a higher place.
Do you remember who you are beyond thinking,
Feeling,
And doing?
What lies beyond your human habits and physical form?
Or rather,
Who?
Who are you without that?
There is so much more to who you are.
Notice that when you stop,
There is still you.
In fact,
Your essence becomes more apparent,
More present.
You may want to greet your resilient,
Brilliant soul.
That loving part of you that's been with you through it all.
Your witness,
Your rider-die.
With your sweet eyes closed,
See yourself as though you're an eagle soaring by above.
Notice the shape you are making,
The clothing you're wearing,
The image of you as seen from high above.
See yourself stopping.
Love yourself stopping.
Creatures in the wild stop.
They use stopping as a survival strategy.
And now,
So are you.
And notice as you are stopped,
What remains.
Who remains.
Even as you set the intention to stop,
Let's face it,
There's a lot going on.
Your thoughts don't stop,
Really,
But they may soften.
Perhaps they fade into the background.
They come and go,
But they don't invade.
They don't carry you away.
You are solid in your stopping,
But you are doing this right.
When you observe the thoughts coming and going and just let them go,
You are stopping.
You are not attaching to concerns.
You are not taken by every little problem that makes a bid for your attention.
No,
Because right now,
You are stopping.
Your mind is like air.
When you're going,
It can be like a great gusting windstorm blowing you here and there.
When the windstorm settles,
There is still air.
When your mind settles,
There are still thoughts.
Yet they have no power to take you.
They cannot blow you down.
Somewhere,
Deep within you,
Beyond your thoughts,
You surrender to sweet stillness.
Breathe into it.
Let it be sacred.
It's been a lot.
And you care enough about your soul to stop now.
When the thoughts recede into the background and quiet down,
Feelings may arise.
It is a gift to feel them.
They finally have space.
And yet,
When you stop,
You don't really need to entertain the feelings for very long.
Just observe.
There is no striving when you stop.
Feelings,
Like thoughts,
Can come and go freely if you don't attach to them.
When you think something or feel something,
No problem.
Greet the thought or the feeling and let it go.
Let it pass.
Feelings are quite content to exist for only a minute or two,
To convey an important message.
No need to build a story about why it's there.
Just notice it.
Honor it with your present attention,
Lightly.
Thank it for coming forward and let it go.
Because now,
Now is the time to stop.
Stop efforting.
Stop letting autopilot run the show.
Thoughts and feelings may also urge you to act.
Well,
You can let that go too.
There is no need to do anything.
The only need is to stop.
Give yourself full permission,
Knowing that that is what you need,
And that this stopping is so very good for you.
So healing.
It's funny how you might think you have to earn the right to stop.
Your soul knows different,
Because your soul knows you've done quite enough.
You have done the doing and you have done it well.
There will always be more to do.
And just as there will always be more thoughts and feelings popping up,
Your to-do list will never be done.
Can you stop?
Just stop.
Trust that when you're done stopping,
You will know what to do.
You will still think thoughts,
Feel feelings,
And into it right action.
If you think that stopping will make you forget how to do these things,
Try it.
Because really,
Paradoxically,
Stopping will have you doing the thinking,
Feeling,
And actions so much better.
Now efforting ceases.
Trust that the world will spin,
Even as you take the stop you need.
It is your turn to stop.
You must stop.
Stop worrying.
Stop planning.
Stop analyzing.
Stop judging.
Stop comparing.
Stop being busy.
Stop being dutiful.
Stop compulsively connecting.
Stop striving.
Stop lamenting.
Stop anticipating.
Stop dramatizing.
Stop fearing.
Stop optimizing.
Stop trying.
Just stop.
Take all the time you need to stop.
You are doing it right.
You are stopping well.
Know that you are loved.
You are loved dearly.
And take all the time you need.
