A moment of grace.

I had plans yesterday to write some things about the inner critic, and how it gets a bad rap because often when we're thinking of our inner critics, we're thinking of an unhealthy version that's mean or vicious or thinks that shaming us is useful. The one that tells us we're bad or wrong and nothing we create is worthwhile or will ever be good enough.

But, this isn't all an inner critic can be.

There is such a thing as a healthy inner critic, who can grow to be one of our greatest supports.

And I will write more about that next week.

Because yesterday had other plans for me - I ended up in bed with a migraine for most of the day and didn't write anything at all. Part of me felt bad about this. It was Tuesday! Tuesday is thinking and writing day! You can't not think or write on Tuesday! It's hard to give myself grace.

But sometimes it's necessary to stop.

To rest.

To let go, as best we're able, of to-do lists.

To let go, as best we're able, of rigid expectations around what we should get done, regardless of how our bodies feel, of the softness they might be craving.

To let go, as best we're able, of guilt for stepping off the hamster wheel. Putting down the plates we keep spinning, the balls we juggle, endlessly.

To instead listen to the birds as they squabble and play.

To instead watch the play of light on the walls as the branches outside dance in the wind.

To instead let ourselves be held by something other than our determination to keep going at all costs. The mattress, the bed, the floor, the bones of the earth itself.

To instead take a breath, a moment of grace.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it - step off the hamster wheel for a moment or for the rest of your life. Make yourself a cup of tea, drink it while watching the clouds make shapes across the sky.

Take a breath, a moment of grace.

And another.

And another.

And another.

Do it first.

Not as a reward or a treat.

Do it first.