my beach, Greve de Lecq

They talk about the simple things in life. Well, I must say at this point, I agree with them.

Things we take for granted in life, 101

• health
• family
• relationships
• breathing

Wait on a second, I am with you on the first three, but breathing?

Yes, breathing. Its a simple thing that we do literally thousands of times a day, but how often do you take the time to just pay attention for even more than a couple of breaths? Maybe its time to take a little moment and pay attention to a function that is absolutely critical in your life.

Go find a quiet place, preferably somewhere out doors, at least with the window open if you cant manage outdoors yet.

Give me three minutes. Thats all, no special mood or environment other than that is necessary.

Take whatever air is in your lungs right now, and breathe it out, until the air is pretty much all gone out of your lungs. Now, lets take in that first breath. Close your eyes and pay attention to your how that breath feels, coming into your body, bringing life, nutrients and energy to your body, filling up your lungs.

Don’t hold it, just let it naturally dissolve and flow back out of your body.

Do that lets say three to five times.

How are you? Stressed? Calm? Relaxed? Tired? Whatever today is for you, just let that dissolve out on your outbreath, and breath back in energy. Lets do another 3- 5 cycles.

The reason why we choose a clean air environment, is because this air that you breathe, this sacreed life giver, can only really be appreciated in its natural state. Air conditioners and rooms with closed windows really miss the point.

You probably found that in the process of doing this simple cycle, you relaxed a little. Great.

Ok, you are busy, hey we all are these days, thats why I have said lets keep it to three minutes. But if you can, try to do this one as soon as you awake, and maybe one more time before you go to sleep at night, just before is fine.

Just connect with you for a little bit each day, three minutes is long enough. If you can really be with ‘you’ for that long, I guarantee it wil make you feel very much in the moment with what you are doing right now in your lives.

Things really tough at work? Having a stressful day? About to go blow a fuse at your boss? Take a minute to go step outside of that little stress paradigm you are living in, find somewhere quiet, and check in with yourself. I dont really care where you do it, just find some kind of private space, and check in.

Hey, how are I doing today?

Acknowledging whatever is going on is the first step in improving it.

So, take a few breaths for you today. Then get back out there and into this game we call life.

And enjoy the journey. Yes, its tough sometimes, but everything changes.

Enjoy that fact.

Cheers,

Mark