Take Five
I celebrated my 62nd birthday on Wednesday, which marked five years of taking every Sunday offline. I started this practice on my birthday in 2020—during the peak of COVID fears and isolation—motivated by my desperation for a break from all the alarming news for just one day. Now, I’m always eager for Sunday to arrive. It’s the one day when I consciously choose the tone and pace of my life, refusing to be mesmerized and bounced around by so much information rushing towards me from my devices. Sundays not only feel like a necessary reset, they give me an exhilarating sense of freedom and agency.
But these days, I feel like I need to take even more conscious breaks from my screens. My devices feel like sirens, relentlessly luring my attention away from the real world, leaving me uprooted and living too much in my head.
New research is painting a troubling picture of how deeply our mobile technology is impacting us. On average, people are spending more than four hours a day on their phones, and checking them over 100 times. Neurologically, so many tiny interruptions are forcing our brains to constantly reorient. Over time, this pattern fragments our attention so thoroughly that our focus weakens and many of us struggle to stay fully present even when we want to. Simultaneously, so much stimulating input causes our nervous system to stay far more activated than is healthy long-term.
The good news is that a growing body of evidence shows that even brief meditation practices can counter these effects by strengthening our ability to stay focused and settle our nervous system. This is why I’m especially pleased to share our newest Quest for Eternal Sunshine free healing resource with you today—our “Take Five” meditations, each only about five minutes long. It’s amazing how quickly we can renew our energy, transform our perspective, and lift our mood when we pause to reconnect with ourselves.
These five new meditations were created in partnership with therapist and mindfulness teacher Katie Dutcher, who says, “So many of us rush through our lives so busy and distracted, we’re not conscious of how we’re really feeling until we take the time to pause and look inward. It’s only then that we notice our tense shoulders, how tired we are, or the big feelings we haven’t yet taken the time to acknowledge and process.”
Katie has noticed that many of her clients continually try to fit more into their days instead of asking themselves what she views as a radical question in our culture: “What would be the kindest thing to do for myself right now?” What Katie loves about these short meditations is that instead of fighting against how busy people feel, we’re catering to it. Five minutes is such a small amount of time to pause for self-care, no one has to feel like it’s out of reach.
Today, to kick off this new series, we’re happy to share one of our favorites—“Safe and Settled.” Both Katie and I have marveled at how wonderful it makes us feel in just 5 ½ minutes—an invitation to come home to ourselves and experience deep peace.
Katie begins this meditation with “letting-go breaths”—slow inhales through the nose followed by long, slightly pressured exhales through pursed lips. It’s a simple practice she personally relies on the most, and one she gives as homework to many clients because of how reliably it shifts the nervous system from activation into calm. From there, “Safe and Settled” guides us through a gradual softening of our entire body—inviting spaciousness and release in our jaw, forehead, shoulders, and all the places we unconsciously hold tension.
This lovely meditation offers a clear and gentle pathway back to steadiness, peace, and groundedness. Katie and I hope you find it as pleasant and beneficial as we do!
