Permission to Breathe

STOP. Stop the running and the doing and the hustling and the child rearing and the thinking and the planning and the freaking out and the worrying and the everything.

Just STOP, close your eyes and breathe.

The world we see when we open our eyes is not the same world we were taking in just moments ago. For a split second, as the voices in our head are silenced, we see and hear and feel life’s beauty.

The humming of an engine. The warmth of the sun on your face. The rain drops falling on the sill. The gorgeous color palate of a sunrise and sunset. The coordinated aerial dance of a flock of birds against a crisp blue sky. A breeze brushing your cheek. The faint echo of children laughing. The sound of your exhale. Beauty really is all around us.

So why do the majority of us not see it as readily as we should? We often get so wrapped up in the “stuff” we fail to take time to revel in the wonders. We don’t make the necessary time to take in the blessings and too often life flies right by us and we take too much for granted.

I know life is busy and sometimes we’re hit with really, really tough challenges. But we’re not unique. Life happens to all of us. Like Jack Canfield says, everyone has a story. In the grand scheme of things each of our individual challenges are the “so what’s” of life. The real question is what will we do now? How will we own our lives and take our power back?

Growing up my Mom never stopped. She always had something to do, someone to take care of. If you’d asked her to sit down she’d have said she wasn’t offered the benefit of it. In actuality she never allowed herself to stop. I’m not sure what she thought would happen if she did?

I inherited many great things from my Mom but unfortunately I also adopted this habit of going, going, going till the wheels fell off.  My “To-Do List” was always a mile long incorporating family, work, home, self and I never felt caught up.

When my body finally forced me to stop and reflect, I had to find a way to turn my brain off. As I meditated for the first time in a long time, that very first deep breath I took was inexplicable. I realized at that point I hadn’t taken a deep breath in MONTHS. My lungs were so grateful! The millions of shallow breaths I’d taken this past year represented my shallow way of living. I’d placed my focus on the “stuff” versus what was truly meaningful. I thought if I stopped all of the doing, somehow everything would fall apart. How dare I give myself so much credit right?

Many months of reflection, reading, meditation, soul searching, challenged me on what our real purpose in life is. To find joy. What we all really want is to be happy, and we deserve to be. What’s extra amazing is each of us has our unique definition of happiness and that just adds to the rich diversity of our world.

My husband recently visited a country where people had far less than we have. And ironically, the thing that struck him the most, was not the lack, but the abundance of life and energy all around.

Though people had very little material wealth, they were willing to share it all in a second to serve another. The sense of community was strong and smiles were big. There was music and dance everywhere you turned. People understood their financial situations but they also understood a far more profound truth. Wealth is not defined by currency but by connection. Maybe it’s the connection to a higher being or connection to each other, but that seemed to be the secret sauce. I want to pour that sauce over everything!

So what can we do to move the needle toward fullness and joy? Maybe taking just one minute every morning to stop and breathe will help us see life with fresh eyes and in turn enrich the remaining minutes of our day.

Maybe it starts with simply saying “Thank you”. The shifting of our focus from what we feel we’re lacking to the blessings we have may be the key to opening the door for more.

It’s been a long road of self-discovery for me. One I expect to be on for the rest of my days. Though some may think taking time for myself is selfish, I’ve committed to stick with it. I will fall, but I will also bounce back.  I trust my inner voice will guide me, because I’ve now seen what’s on the other side.

I have learned when I take the time to Stop. Close my eyes. And give myself permission to breathe, I become a better me. A softer me. A more loving me. A more appreciative me. An at peace me. And at the end of the day, it’s the better me that will have the best impact on those I interact with, on those I love.

Just like the endlessness of a night sky or a rolling river, abundance abounds all around us. Maybe it’s time to re-engineer our thinking. What kind of world would we create for ourselves if we all agreed to take one step forward in our own light?

I know what you may be thinking. This chick is off her rocker! And I know this may not be the answer for everyone. But up to this point I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t seeking happiness.

So I hope you’ll join me in putting “Stop and Breathe” at the top of your “To-Do” Lists this year. What’s the worst that could happen? Of all the risks we take each day…isn’t taking this one breath worth a shot?

Peace. Love.