Excerpted from Free Yourselfby Carolyn Hobbs.
I lie on the living room couch exhausted, two weeks before Christmas. Luckily, after years of coming back into the present, I know how to switch channels. I shift focus—away from racing thoughts about cards and packages I need to mail, toward my trustworthy anchor: my breath. As I watch my inhalation and exhalation, my breath deepens, body relaxes, pulse slows. I reconnect with my heart, trusting what is.