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Do you ever notice how fast we react when something feels wrong?

Mhm. Like the emotion speaks before we do. Sometimes that's when small troubles start to grow.

And maybe that's what leads us into the very first habit. It sounds simple, but it's powerful. Name the emotion before you react.

When something happens, we often react too fast. We get angry. We want to quit. We feel frustrated. But what if we paused for just 5 seconds and asked, "What am I really feeling right now?"

Well, there was a time I thought I was lazy and kept avoiding English practice. I told myself, "You're just lazy. You're not serious." But one morning, I sat down quietly and asked myself, "Leo, what are you really feeling?" And the answer wasn't lazy. I was afraid of making mistakes and sounding silly.

That's so honest.

And naming that fear helped me stop judging myself. It helped me return to English with more kindness.

I remember getting a work email once. I felt so irritated. But when I named the emotion, I realized it wasn't anger. It was anxiety. I was scared of disappointing people.

When we name our feelings, we understand them. And when we understand them, we stop reacting and start responding.

This habit can change the way we talk to others and the way we talk to ourselves. Even when we know what we're feeling, starting something new can still feel hard

especially when we think we have to get it all right from the beginning.

Yeah. There's a voice in our head saying, "Be perfect or don't do it at all." Well, I had a similar experience actually

with speaking.

Back in my first job, I had to talk to international clients. I would plan every sentence in my head before the meeting. I wanted my English to be perfect.

And then during the meeting, I spoke very carefully. Too carefully. I didn't sound like myself.

That's so common. We try to be correct and lose our natural tone.

Exactly. One day, my manager said, "It's okay to make mistakes. Just speak like yourself."

That's great advice.

It changed the way I saw myself. From then on, I'd tell myself, "Let it be easy." As a result, I made small mistakes, but I felt more relaxed. People understood me better, too. Not just my words, but my tone.

Because you sounded human.

Yes. Real, not rehearsed. Now, I use that sentence for almost everything. Let it be easy. It's like giving yourself permission to breathe.

Let it be easy. And sometimes that's all we need to begin again, gently.

And that's more than enough.

It's funny how just a few words can shift how we feel. That sentence helped me so much, but sometimes even words aren't enough.

Yeah. There are days when the mind is so noisy, no sentence can get through.

Exactly. Like when your thoughts keep looping again and again and again.

Like you're in a room with no windows.

Wow. I love that image. And the only way out is to open a window.

Or at least look up and remember there's a sky.

That sounds poetic.

It's actually something I do literally. When my head feels too full, I stop and just look up.

Where do you look?

The ceiling. Or if I'm outside the sky. Even light coming in from the window can help. There was a time that I was tired, sad, and I didn't even know why. I sat by my desk with my laptop open, pretending to work. Then I heard something.

What was it?

A bird singing outside my window. I looked up, saw the light coming through the curtain, and something in me just melted.

That sounds so simple, but powerful.

It was.that little moment brought me back.

Yeah, sometimes we forget we're allowed to stop. We're so used to pushing forward, thinking, solving, planning.

But sometimes the most healing thing we can do is look up. Or even just the way the light hits the wall.

It's free. It's fast.

And it brings us back, back to the real world, not the one in our heads. I love thinking of it as a mini reset, like a tiny vacation for your brain

right? And we all have access to it. No Wi-Fi needed.

So, if you're listening to this and your thoughts feel heavy

Try this. Stop for just 10 seconds. Look up. Even if it's just the ceiling

and let that moment hold you even for a breath. And maybe when you feel a bit more present, that's the moment to plant something kind.

I love how you said that. Plant something kind. Actually, there's one habit that feels like that for me every morning.

Oh, tell me.