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When you feel yourself leaving the room — spiraling, bracing, or disappearing into a story — and you need a fast way back.
Trickster does not want you to return. It wants you to stay in the story, solving, rehearsing, defending. It calls leaving the present "being responsible."
You are allowed to come back. The world will still be here. Three breaths is not avoidance — it is how you meet what is actually here instead of what your mind is building.
- Breath one: Notice you have left. That is the return.
- Breath two: Feel something solid — your seat, your feet, the table.
- Breath three: Ask, "What is actually here, right now?"
- Open your eyes a little wider. Look at one thing in the room.
Set a small reminder — a sticky note, a phone wallpaper — that says "three breaths." When you see it, do them. No story. Just return.
If three breaths is not enough, do not force it. Sometimes you need more ground first — walk, eat, rest. Come back to the practice when the weather eases.
Want to go deeper?
This free practice is one small place to stand.
If you want to learn the Friends' stories, practise with them across real-life hard weather, and build a return path you can keep close, visit The Four Friends Practice Companion.
Frog. Tree. Eagle. Buffalo.
Tales from the Trail, guided practices, reflection tools, and a 30-Day Return Path.
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If this practice gave you a little more ground beneath your feet, you may want to keep a few more nearby.
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Use the Whole Buffalo is still taking shape as a book, but the practices are already here for ordinary hard weather. If this language is useful to you, you can join a small early community and receive occasional field notes: new practices, sample material, and first word when the book's ready. No pressure. No performance. Just something steady to return to when the mind starts making the weather worse.
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