You’re sitting at work with what feels like 10 million things to do before the day is over and you’re starting to feel the stress build… sound familiar? You need to relax, but at the same time, if you stop to relax, that means less time you’ll have to work on everything—it’s truly a dilemma. What if the solution to your problem was sitting right beside you? What if your phone could give you that short stress-relieving break you need without wasting too much of your time?
That’s exactly what the inventors of Pause have created for us all. Pause is an innovative app aimed at calming the user down in just a matter of just a few minutes, yes minutes. The goal of the app is to encourage the user to put 100% of their focus on the phone, and away from all of their worries.
Here’s how Pause works… it all starts with a flowing and ever-changing bubble. You place your finger on the phone’s screen and slowly but steadily move it around—simple right? As you move your finger you’re guided to either slow down if you’re moving too quickly, or keep going if you become distracted and stop entirely. The slow mindful and continuous motions combined with calming sounds and colors makes for a relaxing experience.
As you move the blob-like ball around the screen it gratifyingly grows in size until it engulfs your screen in darkness, at which point you’re asked to close your eyes and experience calmness. When you’re finished (you set the amount of time you’d like to spend) a bell will chime to let you know you’re done.
It’s amazing how a device that, at times, can bombard us with notifications and add to our stress, can also be the key to finding relaxation. Wearable technology, like Spire can help notify us when we’re feeling stressed (maybe before we even consciously notice ourselves), and our phones can guide us back into a calm and relaxed state of mind and help us feel a calm streak.
Learn more about the story of Pause and the research that went into its creation.