Turning Waiting into Wonder

Last week I stood in a pharmacy line that wrapped through the aisles. Everyone around me looked the same. Phones out. Shoulders tight. Eyes glazed over. The unspoken rule of waiting is clear: This time does not count.

But what if it does? With activities like waiting in a line, our attention is up for grabs. Irritation, scrolling, or presence. We decide what wins.

Micro Mindfulness

Neuroscience says even short moments of awareness matter. Emerging evidence suggests that very brief mindful breathing pauses can shift mood, attention, and markers of stress. In a 2023 study led by Melis Yilmaz Balban at Stanford, participants who practiced just five minutes per day of structured breathwork (especially 'cyclic sighing') for a month reported less anxiety and improved mood. Translation: Even the most mundane activities can reduce stress if layered with a simple mindfulness practice. It shifts how our brains and bodies feel.

One of my mindfulness coaching clients tried this in the school pickup line, a time where she used to feel restless. Instead of her habitual pattern of running through the thousand things waiting for her at home, she instead chose one detail to notice.

• The way the light hit the trees.
• The sound of kids laughing as they spilled out of the building.
• The sound of her own breath.

Pickup did not move faster. But she told me it was the first time she left that line without feeling like she had just survived the mom version of the Hunger Games.

Try This: The Waiting Reset

The next time you are stuck waiting, choose presence.

• Press your feet into the floor and feel steady.
• Pick one color around you and let your eyes rest there.
• Think of one person and send them a silent wish of peace.
• Take one breath with it.

​​​​​​​The wait becomes a reset instead of a drain.

Closing Thought

Waiting does not need to shrink us. It can hold wonder if we let it. Our work this month is to stop wishing the gaps away and start using them as reminders to come back to ourselves.

“Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson