A mindful pause timer
A soft chime at a random moment. Stop, soften, breathe.
Pick how many chimes you want and when. Each one arrives unannounced, plays a gentle bell, and shows a short prompt. Take one slow breath or three, then go back to what you were doing.
Chime timer
Not running. Choose your settings and press Start.
Keep this tab open. Settings are saved in this browser only, and the timer keeps working offline once the page has loaded. Not medical advice; not affiliated with X Corp.
What to do when the chime sounds
Stop
Let your hands rest. Look up from the screen. You don't need to finish the sentence you were typing.
Soften
Notice where you're holding tension: often the shoulders, the jaw, the forehead or the hands. Let it go a little.
Breathe
One slow breath, or three. Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath. Then carry on.
The whole pause takes ten to thirty seconds. The mindful pause guide explains it in more detail, and the one-minute breathing practice is there for when you have a little longer.
Guides
- What a mindful pause is and how to take oneA short stop to notice your body and breath. Here's how to do one.
- A one-minute breathing practiceSix slow breaths with a longer out-breath, and what to do when the mind wanders.
- Using social media and X more mindfullyNotification filters, muted words, app limits and a pause before posting.
- Setting up a chime routine at workWindow, number, sound and etiquette for chimes during a working day.
- What research says about brief mindfulness practicesWhat studies of meditation, breathing and micro-breaks found, and their limits.
Where the idea comes from
In 2007, early in Twitter's life, someone set up an account that posted a single chime at random times. People who followed it used each message as a cue to stop, let the tension drain away and breathe. This site keeps that idea and drops the social network: the chime comes from your own browser, on your own schedule. More about Inner Twitter.
Questions
Does the chime timer work in a background tab?
Yes, as long as the tab stays open and the computer is awake. Browsers slow down timers in background tabs, so a chime can arrive up to a minute late, which doesn't matter for a random pause. If your device sleeps, chimes that were missed by more than a couple of minutes are skipped rather than played all at once.
Do I need to install anything or create an account?
No. The timer runs in your browser. Your settings are saved only in your own browser's storage, and nothing is sent to a server. After the page has loaded it keeps working without an internet connection.
Why random times instead of a fixed interval?
A chime on the hour becomes background noise quickly, because you start expecting it. A chime at an unpredictable moment interrupts autopilot more reliably, which is the point of the pause. The timer spreads chimes out so they don't bunch together.
Is this connected to Twitter or X?
No. The name comes from a 2007 idea that used a Twitter account to send random chime reminders. This site is an independent tool and is not affiliated with X Corp.