I was up late last night, trying to tie up loose ends from the weekend, plan for the week, and cram 5,489,274 things into the empty realm of space-time between the kids’ last visit to the living room telling us they have to pee and the time by which my body and mind agree is ideal to get to sleep so I’m not a bitchy zombie the next day.

And of course, I got a second wind. That moment when you’ve surpassed your exhaustion and the clock is telling you to go to bed but the voices in your head are refusing.

I finally crawled into bed with my iPhone, headphones, and the mp3 I’d been working on of a Love Meditation I like to practice when I’m feeling angry and irritated (which is most of my waking time when I’m surrounded by whining and tantrums). I got over the creepiness of my own voice invading my brain from the ear buds once I realized how thankful I was to be able to use this to block out my husband’s fitful snoring.

I let myself surrender to the memories of lovelier times.

The memory that I meditated on was a moment I had with my little Mason, a 4-year-old container of sappy sweet maple syrup and roses combined with sriracha sauce. In this moment, he was quiet, snuggling on my lap, and my nose was in his hair, my arms around him. It was a moment I had had earlier that day amid the chaos, and the simple snuggle had completely calmed me. So I brought it back for the 15 minutes I was meditating.

And it’s a good thing I did.

Fast forward to this morning. I was in a brisk, chipper mood since I was driving both kids back to the first day of school after a long spring break. After dropping off my older son, I pulled into the parking lot at Mason’s school. It was empty. Not a car in sight. Ugh. I do this allllll the time. Why can’t I read the emails the teachers send? So I stopped in the middle of the parking lot and pulled out my phone. Juuuuuust to double check, because there could possibly be a slim chance {hoping, hoping} that school actually was open and everyone was just sleeping in because they couldn’t get their shit together on the first Monday after spring break.

Nope, it was just me who couldn’t get my shit together. School was closed.

So off we went to work. Which was fine. Again. And Mason even napped for 2 very odd hours from 10:30-12:30, giving me time to get some things done.

Of course, that nap wasn’t just the universe making things easy on me. Mason woke up completely lethargic and with a fever. This turns him into one of those stuffed monkeys with the super long arms that have velcro on the hands. You know, the ones you can wrap around your body, arms and legs intertwined, so they hang on your belly and never let go? That was him.

All. Day. Long.

It’s not that I don’t love my kid. In fact, I kind of think it’s the sweetest when they’re too tired to run laps around me, fart in my face, make me smell their stinky feet, or yell at the top of their lungs for hours. But it’s hard. It’s hard to have a spider monkey on you while you’re trying to work.

HOWEVER.

Today it was ok. You know why? Because I did the Love Meditation last night. And how weird was that—I manifested all the love surrounding this very thing—my kiddo’s body snuggled against me, my nose in his hair. So when it happened today, even under frustrating and irritating circumstances, you know what I felt? A rush of calming, overflowing love.

I’m pretty sure that was the universe making things easy on me.

I want to share this love meditation with you so you can try it. Because in those times of total and utter frustration, if you can feel the love, things turn around and the universe goes easy on you.

Listen to the Love Meditation by clicking “play” below.

Know someone who could use this Love Meditation? Share using the buttons below.

Love Meditation guided