Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today, I'd like to talk about the gift of unexpected downtime. I'd like to share a personal story about this. One morning, I found myself waiting for a coworker to arrive at a meeting, and this is at a time in my life where I had become quite busy. I was often pushed for time, quickly having to race from meeting to meeting.

And so as my teammate ran late that morning, I was feeling quite tense for a moment. And then I made a decision to savour this unexpected pause in my day. So I tuned into the present moment. I allowed myself to really enjoy this rare pause, just to breathe and center myself. And just from an intuitive way, I decided to use that moment to ask a question to myself, which was, what is my highest intention for this next meeting? And, you know, the answer came to me that instead of being impatient or irritated about the lateness, I wanted to be really kind and curious.

I wanted my coworker to know that I really cared for them. I felt so clear and connected and present by the time this person arrived for the meeting that I smiled when they walked in and said very sincerely, thank you for being late. So we live in a world today that is really fast paced and demanding. It's full of distractions. And we tend to fill up all of our quiet moments with more things and more doing.

But every now and then we have these moments of unexpected pause where we're waiting, maybe in a line or in traffic, or we're just left alone for a moment. And we can use those moments to recharge and reflect on what matters most at the deepest level. So today and in the week ahead, when you're waiting for a meeting to start, for a friend to arrive or a taxi to come, try to really revel in those moments of pause, those moments where you get some downtime. Instead of becoming impatient or scrolling mindlessly, just kind of filling in the gaps, there's an opportunity here to welcome the gift of a moment to yourself and tuning into the present moment. You can use that moment to really reset your own inner compass to what matters most.

So I thought I'd share this story with you and see if it offers some value for you in your own life. As always, thank you for your practice and your presence here. And let's settle in for meditation now.