This is a practice for key transition points in our lives. 

The responding wisely practice can be extended to transitions in our lives by small, the start and end of a day, and large, leaving home, career changes, retirement, relationship starting and ending, and so on. Transitions provide a chance to be and know these moments more fully and from a variety of perspectives. Are you moving through these transitions guided true north by your values? Or are you moving through them with a sense of habit and rote?

Maybe this is a chance to reset either your values or what you're doing. Begin by steadying yourself and feeling grounded. Relax any areas of tension in your mind and body, and anchor yourself in your breathing and in your body. Is there some transition that you're going through in your life just now that you're navigating? Bring this to mind with a sense of lightness and a sense of curiosity.

And we're gonna start by taking a breathing space. Ask yourself what body sensations are here right now. What moods and feelings come up? Are there any impulses or calls to action right now? What thoughts are going through my mind and what imagery?

Now let's shift to step 2 in gathering and anchoring. Bring your awareness to the physical sensations of breathing, noticing the breath wherever you feel it most vividly in this moment. Paying attention to the full duration of the in breath and the full duration of the out breath. And in your awareness of breathing, having a sense as best you can of interest, kindness and care. And now in step 3 of the breathing space, expanding your awareness from the breathing to include your whole body, floodlighting the whole body with awareness.

So with this sense of being anchored, really inhabiting the body with an attitude of friendly interest and care. Ask yourself, what would be a helpful way through this transition? What would support my well-being? What would support the well-being of others? What would enlarge me?

What would enlarge others? What does my wisest, most compassionate, most courageous, and friendliest voice have to say just now? If I were my own best friend, mentor, kindly parent, what would I suggest? What is the best outcome I can imagine? What feels true and authentic?

And trust what emerges. Trust what emerges not just in the mind but also in the body. And if nothing much emerges, that's fine too. It's okay just to rest in the mind, rest in the body, lightly holding these questions, trusting that something will come up in time. What you're learning is to notice body sensations, emotions, impulses, and thoughts in real time in the middle of change.

The 3 step breathing space helps you to first note then anchor and shift between these different ways of knowing and being in the world, thinking and experiencing, drawing on them as sources of help, sources of guidance, as something that you can learn from. This can open up creative, flexible, and resilient responses.