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- Everything feels urgent. I’ve forgotten how to pause.
Everything feels urgent. I’ve forgotten how to pause.
When urgency becomes a reflex, we lose the space that helps us breathe. Here’s how gratitude slowly reopens it.
Gavin Kemp
June 29, 2025
Welcome to Week Three of Gratitude in an Age of Burnout
Last week, we simplified the journaling process down to 30 seconds.
This week, we’re going one level deeper—beneath the writing, beneath the habit—into the feeling state we’ve all started to lose: The ability to pause.
Because urgency doesn’t just fill your calendar, it colonises your body.
This email serves as a way back.
Week-by-Week Progress Tracker
Week 1: Energy Leak Audit
Week 2: 30-Second Loop
Week 3: One-Minute Anchor (You are here)
Week 4: Micro-Contrast Method
Week 5: Neutral Lens Practice
Week 6: Rhythm Reset
TL;DR
Urgency is addictive.
Even after the pressure lifts, your nervous system stays wired for threat.
This week’s practice isn’t about slowing your life down.
It’s about showing your body that it’s safe to stop, even for a moment.
When everything starts to feel like now
You reply faster. Click quicker. Scroll more.
You try to stay “on top of things,” even though the list keeps growing.
Your body doesn’t know the difference between a real emergency and a Slack notification.
It just learns to expect that everything matters now.
And in that space, pause becomes impossible.
Because stillness feels unsafe.
What you might be asking:
“How do I slow down when I’m still being pulled in 15 directions daily?”
What actually rebuilds the pause
Gratitude doesn’t fix urgency.
But it gives your brain something else to grip.
A sound. A breath. A colour in the room.
Anything present enough to interrupt the loop.
Because most of the time, the pressure you’re feeling?
It’s not even yours anymore.
It’s momentum.
And momentum doesn’t care about your wellbeing.
But you can.
This Week’s Micro-Technique: The One-Minute Anchor
What it is:
A micro-habit to reclaim a sense of pause in overstimulated days.
Step 1:
Choose one anchor moment in your day.
Examples: brushing your teeth, closing your laptop, walking into the kitchen.
Step 2:
At that moment, stop and do nothing for one full minute.
Notice three sensory details.
(Sound. Texture. Light. Warmth. Breath.)
Step 3:
Optional: Write one sentence: “In that minute, I noticed…”
That’s the practice.
Gratitude Gem
“Stillness doesn’t need to be scheduled.
It just needs permission.”
This Week’s Practice (CTA)
Pick one anchor point that already happens every day.
This week, let that moment become a ritual:
One minute
Three sensory details
One sentence (optional)
You’re not forcing slowness.
You’re offering it a doorway.
Until next week…
The urgency won’t stop on its own.
But you can.
See you next week for Micro-Contrast.
Gavin
Daily Prompts and Affirmations
Would you like to start your day with calm and clarity?
Each day, we send a short email to help you begin with intention: one gratitude prompt, one affirmation, and one mindful challenge.
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We’ll take care of the rest.
Optional Companion
If you want something beside you while this shift continues, the Morning Gratitude Reset Kit is now open.
It’s not a journal.
It’s a structure.
A way to support the kind of person you already are.
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