After an argument

After an argument. This track is for the hour after a fight. With a partner, a parent, a friend, a colleague. The words have stopped, and the body has not. The heart is still going, and the mind is already replaying it. This is not for deciding who was right. It is for settling the body first. If you can, go to a different room, or outside. Sit or stand. Eyes open or closed.

Feet on the floor.

Breathe out, long and slow. No big breath in.

Again.

And again.

Now find where the fight is sitting in the body. The chest, the throat, the stomach, the hands. Let your attention rest there.

Breathe around that place. Not into it. Around it, making a little room.

The mind is going to replay the argument. A line they said. A line you said. Each time it starts, notice it, and come back to the breath and the feet. The replay only keeps the body hot.

Feet. Long breath out.

Drink some water if there is some.

Now, when the body has come down a little, one small question. Not who was right, and not what happens now. Only: what is one thing I can do in the next hour? It might be to say nothing more tonight. It might be to send a short message, one line, with no argument in it. It might be to eat something.

The whole thing does not have to be decided today. Most arguments look different the next morning. Some still need work then, and that is all right. Tonight the job is the body, and one small thing.

Open your eyes if they were closed. Look around the room. Go slowly for the rest of the evening.

If you are in danger or feel you cannot keep yourself safe, call your Weave clinician, or Tele-MANAS on one four four one six, any time.