It was late in the day and I had just given myself permission not to do an evening meditation when Three knocked at my door.

She asked if we could do a meditation together. I can’t remember the last time she asked for this. It had been a tough evening for everyone. She had gone on a walk to cool off from the negative vibes she was feeling, but had come back with some residual stress.

I asked how long she had in mind for the meditation (5 minutes), if she wanted a guided meditation (she did), and what type she was looking for: relaxation, stress reduction, help falling asleep. She picked stress reduction.

We looked on one of my apps, called Insight Timer, for something that met her criteria. She picked two, one called “She Let Go,” and a four minute stress reduction exercise.

We started with “She Let Go,” which was a reading of the poem by Safire Rose by the same name. It was so beautiful that I cried through the entire poem and felt the words deeply.

We moved on to stress reduction. For me, the job was already done, but I didn’t mind doing the breathing exercise the woman on the recording described. She had us place heavy books on our bellies and practice counting through our inhales and exhales. Some gas was passed and we spent the first half of the meditation laughing hysterically, which achieved the goal in spite of the fact that we were belly laughing instead of belly breathing.

I was reminded of how little time it can take to make a connection with one of your kids. Also, how little time you can take to meditate and still get the benefits. I will be coming back to the poem as an brief centering exercise for during the day or to help with stuck stress at the end of the day.

If you haven’t tried meditation, would you be willing to try something like what we did? If you don’t have the app or don’t want it, maybe you could record yourself reading the poem and then listen to it with your eyes closed. It doesn’t take long to get your body quieted if you are willing to be still for a moment.

The flower above is one of the zinnias Five grew from seed this summer. They are still blooming.