As I caught myself scrolling this morning, considering buying just a couple more gifts and beating myself up because I should be making meatballs instead of staring at a screen, I remembered to pause.

I’ve been preaching this to my yoga students lately, as part of our breath practice. We breathe in slowly and deeply for about 5 seconds, then pause – not holding the breath exactly, but just being still – before exhaling for about 5 seconds. At the end of the exhale, we pause again.

The beauty of this breath is that, after that pause, you find you are able to take an even deeper breath in, or an even longer exhale out. A simple, tiny pause makes this possible.

So, I had to remind myself this morning by taking a pause. Do my daughters really need another sweater or pair of pajamas? (If they’re reading this they would probably say yes;) Do I need to jump into rolling meatballs right at this second?

Of course, after taking a pause, the answer was no.

My to-do list for today isn’t really all that long. Part of it is that I’ve planned my week pretty well and done a little bit every day, so I’m actually feeling quite calm. (It’s the gift-wrapping that usually gets me, but I finished that a couple of nights ago thankfully).

But the real reason is because of an idea I’ve really come to embrace this year: that “good enough” is, well, good enough.

For example, I have company coming for Christmas Eve and was thinking I should vacuum the basement because the kids might be playing down there. Then I thought, why bother? The kids won’t notice. It’s good enough.

Or realizing that while I actually love filling stockings for my adult children, I don’t love wrapping the stocking stuffers. It’s always the last thing I do and it makes me crazy! So this year I’ll just stuff everything in unwrapped. Good enough. And besides, they’re lucky they still get stockings at their age, right?!

Or yesterday, as I was grocery shopping and considering buying one more hot appetizer. I paused and recalled a Christmas Eve a few years ago when I had so many hot appies going in and out of the oven (of course they all cooked at different temperatures for different lengths of time) that I was a wreck. Did I enjoy myself? Nope. So, into the cart went a couple of frozen shrimp rings instead.

It's good enough.

But I WILL drag the singing, dancing snowman Jeff insisted on buying many years ago up from the basement to place at the front door for the kids to see tomorrow. I’ll have to drag it out of the closet, dust it off, and try to wrestle it into its proper shape after being stuffed into a box for the last year. But I’ll do it, because the little ones will love it (or he might scare the heck out of them – it’s always a toss-up), and the grown-ups will enjoy seeing their little faces watching “Frosty” do his thing.

Isn’t that what Christmas is all about? Being together. Seeing the joy on a little one’s face. Eating good food. Playing with your cousins.

It’s been a busy fall. I’ve been teaching up to seven yoga classes a week pretty consistently since September and I’m ready for a break. In fact, earlier in the week I was kicking myself for continuing to teach the last week before Christmas. Why didn’t I take this week off so I had more time to get ready?

But as I taught my final classes this week, and people kept showing up, I realized how much I needed this.

I often say that teaching yoga has brought balance to my life. Not just the practice itself, but the act of having to step away from whatever I’m doing and showing up for my students.

It forces me to take that pause from whatever else is going on, and turn inward. And observing my students as they come to their mats has taught me as much, if not more, than I’ve taught them.

I’ve learned that even if you’re busy, or it’s bitterly cold outside, or you’ve had knee replacement surgery, or if you’re just tired, you still show up.

You show up for yourselves, first, because you’ve learned, as I have, that if you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of anyone else.

That sounds trite but it’s true. Making time for self-care, whether that means yoga, a hot bath, a good workout, a walk outside, or a long nap, is NOT going to take away from your to-do list. In fact, it’s the key to getting things done.

Because sometimes, when you take the time to just breathe, and maybe pause for a second or two, you realize that whatever you do – or don’t - get done, the end result will be “good enough”.

And you might just feel a little calmer and enjoy the season a little bit more because you’ve taken that tiny pause.

Whether you’ve come to one of my classes or many, whether you join me in person or on Zoom, or even if I never see you because you like to do recordings, please know that you have enriched my life in ways you can’t imagine.

Watching my students close their eyes, relax their shoulders, and find their breath each week is MY reminder to do the same thing for myself.

So here is my reminder to you: at some point over the next couple of days, take a moment – a minute, or 5 minutes, or an hour – and pause. Go do something for yourself. Make some tea and pick up a book. Gaze at the lights on the tree. Meditate. Take a nap. Your to-do list will still be there when you are done, I promise.

But you might just realize a few of those things don’t need to be checked off, after all. If you don’t get it all done, guess what? What you DO get done will be good enough.

Merry Christmas, everyone.