Breathe

A word that is easier to say than to do, and yet a word that happens without often times our cognition. Breathing is an act that changes us. Fast breathing, slow breathing, shallow or deep. Each type has its own specificities. Each type with their own set of difficulties and challenges yet each with its own glimmer of hope.

Breathing is something I often take for granted. Just think when you are sick and your nose stops up and you can’t breathe, your very wish is to take a deep breath without being stopped up or getting choked up. These moments are cherished. Today I heard stories of being able to breathe because stress has been lifted and not feeling like you were able to breathe because new stress was added yet in the midst of it all the air is the same. May we carry each other’s burden’s together.

Breathing is hard. How do we in the midst of trails, and joys pay attention to our breathing. To be honest we don’t. It changes without us noticing it. It ebbs and flows without many times our attempts to calm it down or speed it up. Breathing is different.

Many things in life we look at, or hold like we do breathing. We take for granted that we have the ability to have our jobs, or health, our security, or comfort. We don’t focus on it consistently yet when it is changed, when something moves, us or is taken from us we realized how much a crutch it became before. There are things that mold and change and shake us and we don’t even think about it. People do this to us as well situations out of our control. We need relationships to hold us together to keep us strong, to pick us up when we are down and to be there when we celebrate. 

These relationships make a difference and make us better. The relationships at times may drive us crazy but they are what keeps us in community and connected to something that is greater than ourselves.

So take time to breathe. Breathe by yourself, breathe with others and feel how good it feels to just “be”.