Why Does the Day Feel Over at Four O'Clock - 10 Minute Guided Meditation

You come out of the door in the afternoon and the light is fading already gone. And something in you drops, not dramatically, just a small quiet sinking somewhere under the ribs. And it's a hard thing to explain to anybody, because on the face of it nothing has happened. You've got the same evening ahead that you had last week, the same jobs, the same house.

But it feels like the day is over, and that you haven't done enough with it. The clocks are going back, the nights are drawing in. Welcome. This is calming anxiety.

I'm your host Martin, clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic, and I'm so glad that you're here with me. And just before we start, if anxiety or panic sometimes catches you when you least expect it, download the app Ancored Now while you're feeling okay. The big blue instant car button is completely free. It works offline and it needs no signing up.

So when you need me, I'm already there in your pocket. Just search for Ancored, Panic and Anxiety on iPhone or Android. Now find. Or quiet place today.

Somewhere calm and relaxing where you won't be disturbed for a while. Somewhere comfy to sit or lie down, whichever you prefer. And let's breathe together. Today, one of my favourites, 426, we breathe in through the nose for a count of 4.

Be rest and be aware of the time for 2 at the top and then breathing out through the mouth for 6. That short rest of 2 in the middle, I want you to feel your body with your mind and just love all that you are. So ready? Breathe in 2 3 4 4 4 5 6 and then relax completely as these.

Feel the surface beneath you supporting you and just let your body relax and unwind.

Drifting deeply and safely with every out breath, with every word I say.

Let's do that again and this time as you breathe out, allow the muscles in your jaw, in your shoulders to loosen even further. Ready?

3 4 4 4 5 6 and now just let your breathing go back to your body. Remember whatever it would like to be. You've done the work but here's what I'd like you to sit with. You haven't run out of the day, you haven't run out of the light.

These are two different things and only one of them is actually finished. That 4 or 5 o'clock moment is not a verdict. The dark coming. It isn't a judgement on what you've done, it isn't a deadline, it has no view about you, whatsoever.

It's the planet, doing the thing it does every year, with no reference at all to your list. And the evening you've just been handed isn't a shortened day, it's simply more of the day happening after dark. I know it doesn't feel like it yet, feeling unsettled when the clock's change at this time of the year can take a while. But when you open your mind, your eyes, to viewing the world differently, gently, with love, with intrigue, you see so much more.

So feel your breathing again. And then in the beauty of your mind's eye, imagine these words whispered in softly after me if you wish, "I have not lost anything."

The light not being here is only information. I am allowed a slow and calm evening.

Being anxious when it gets dark so early doesn't mean anything is wrong with me.

I do not have to prove my worth this evening.

And still deeper and more at peace you allow your thoughts to drift. Further and further into this natural, translike state, growing stronger, more focused, more capable with every passing day. Relax. Once more, imagine and repeat, "I have not lost anything."

The light not being here is only information. I am allowed a slow and calm evening.

Being anxious when it gets dark so early doesn't mean anything is wrong with me.

I do not have to prove my worth this evening.

And now within the sanctuary of your consciousness take with you to build towards more peaceful way of thinking and feeling. Here are your three daily caring tips. One, when the light goes today, notice the small drop and let it be about the light.

You don't have to agree with it. You don't have to argue with it either. Just watch it arrive and let it go through you. Two, put one lamp on early.

All you need is while it is still only going. Not to be organised, just so that when the change arrives gradually, rather than all at once when the curtains are drawn. Three, take one thing you actually like and move it into a dark part of the evening on purpose. Not a job, but something you would choose.

The evenings are long now. It's a piece of one belonged to you. Now time to come back. So start to wiggle your fingers and then your toes.

Feel the chair or the bed or the floor underneath you, solid, always there holding you up. Now take a deep breath in, hold and as you exhale stretch out the arms and roller shoulders. And then when you are ready, softly open your eyes and back to where you started. Now before we part, if this stretch of the air is one that you really find hard, I've put together something free that might be worth having.

It's called Martin's Five Things to Try when anxiety hits. It's five simple things and the point that isn't to give you more to do is so that when your feeling turns up, you already know what to reach for. You'll find it at calminganxiety.org/calm. That's calminganxiety.org/calm.

Take what you need and leave the rest. So take care of yourself my friend. I'll be right here with you again tomorrow. So in everything, as always, be kind.

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