When you make just a few seconds of space between stimulus and response, you create an option to respond intentionally. Imagine closing your eyes for as little as 15 to 30 seconds. Questlove calls this a micro-meditation, describing it in his book Creative Quest, “In some way, if they’re done correctly, they won’t seem like meditation at all, but rather a stepping back and a surveying. They work—at least for me—because they engage both parts of my brain, the part that’s right in the moment, pushing against a task, and the part that’s considering the moment from afar.”

Micro-meditations can be extremely flexible. You don’t need much to do one—no guide, no pillow, not even a place to sit. All you need to do is make the decision to close your eyes and have the courage to go inward.