A Breath of Kindness at Work

Mia sat at her desk, rubbing her temples. The deadline was crushing, and her boss’s sharp emails weren’t helping. Across the room, Aaron, her coworker, noticed her struggling. He had seen her like this before—overwhelmed, barely breathing between tasks.

At 12:59 PM, Aaron did something different. Instead of ignoring the tension in the office, he took a deep breath, held the intention of calm, and slowly exhaled.

Mia noticed. Something about his presence seemed steadying. At the top of the hour, without realizing it, she took a breath too.

Aaron looked over and smiled. “You okay?” he asked.

Mia hesitated, then nodded. “I think… I just needed a moment.”

Over the next few weeks, Aaron made it a point to breathe deeply at the top of each hour. Slowly, the energy in their corner of the office shifted. Others noticed. The usual workplace tension softened. Deadlines still came, but the weight of them lifted, replaced by something lighter—a quiet, shared breath that made everything a little more manageable.