When we were kids we naturally knew how to breathe.  This breath let us truly experience patience, release, calm and joy.  As we get older, life happens, fears come and our brain and body tries to cope.  We often begin to live with a breath that is in our chest and collar bones.  It is a short and shallow breath.  Living this way and breathing this way allows us to be very close to anxiety and panic, because this is our survival breath.

To come into calm like we did as children and experience peace and more joy, try diaphragm breathing exercises.  Reclined and comfortable place one hand on your belly and one hand of your chest.  Inspire the chest hand to be still, it may take a lot of reminding at first and see where the air goes.  It must go somewhere, and down it will go.  Breathing low allows your belly to inflate with your inhale and deflate with you exhale.

Try this for just 2 minutes at a time anytime you feel the need to relax – practice this breath into habit and then lifestyle.  We once lived this way, we just need to remember.

Typically, someone who is ranting doesn’t bring a positive association to mind.  However, going on a rant with words that are chosen to feel good and to practice ease within yourself, can brighten the atmosphere you inhabit and lift your feelings.  If you find yourself in a slump or you are faced with a situation that pulls you down,  the direction of feeling can change.  Allow a positive speech pattern to permeate your environment and see so many benefits.

Example:

Where I am is exactly where I’m meant to be.  There’s so much that is right about this moment.  I am thankful for everything it takes to make this moment what it is.  I am thankful for the breath in my body, the fingers on my hand, my eyesight, all the working parts of my body that bring me the experience of being alive.  I am so thankful for this and for my emotions that make me human.  I welcome all of the emotions I experience and I allow myself to feel everything that passes.  I’d like to forgive easily, myself included, and to be an uplifting presence for all who know me.  If I’m not always uplifting, that’s okay, too.  I am happy to be helpful to others and I want to focus more attention and time on how to be in service to others.  I am so glad to have this day before me and for the place I find myself now.  I am thankful for my many blessings and incredibly grateful for those to come.

Choosing an intention for your day can be helpful in finding and maintaining balance.  Try taking a few moments before your day begins to set an intention such as clarity, heart centeredness, trust, kindness, or any other theme that you feel would be useful in creating the kind of day you would like to experience.  You can declare your intention before meditation, with morning stretch, while you drink your cup of tea or coffee, or simply say your intention to yourself as you get out of bed.  However you work this into your morning, it can be beneficial in forming a focus and in maintaining a goal for the day.  If you feel distracted or that your day is not unfolding as you would like, reminding yourself of your intention helps to refocus and get back on track.

Example with Clarity:

I set clarity as my intention.  Today I welcome clear seeing, hearing, and knowing.  I offer presence to life, and I breathe clarity into the space around me.

Post by Nora, age 8

’tis the goat funny

’tis the goat silly

’tis the goat crazy

’tis the goat hilarious

that ate itself and ’twas satisfied

 

(giggling – I’ve just learned about ’tis and ’twas and wanted to use these funny words in a poem! I hope you write a silly poem soon too!)

There is a practice in positive, joyful living to seek out and soak in the new life growing up and pushing through.  Whether this is vegetation, animal, ideas or human connection, take the time today to notice new beginnings.  These fragile states or existence long to be seen, admired and cherished.  In this present day there are young, joyful events determined to thrive – acknowledge them, study them and support their growth.

 

 

 

   

Photo by Kin Lye.  Maine

 

 

At any point in the day, in repeating cycles, in this ever pressing and turning reality we know as life, you may find yourself carrying weight in various forms.

If we can pinpoint the areas where we feel stuck or held back by habits or by forces outside of our control, we can begin the process of letting them go.

When you know thoughts, actions, or beliefs are holding you back or keeping you tied to a certain way of being that you may have outgrown, you also know it’s time for change.  To change, we have to let go of what was.  This can be difficult. Depending on the requirements of your situation, it may only be a matter of time and patience,or you may have to go through steps associated with grieving before letting go.

Hold presence with yourself this week to recognize the ways in which you can help yourself to let go.

 

There is happiness and joy all around us.  Our day becomes what we look at, focus on and worry about.  That day becomes our month which becomes our years and so our life.  We chose to see, focus and ruminate on specific aspects of life.  10,000 versions are offered, and we choose 10.  Make this choice very carefully.  Not only does this choice become your life, it becomes you.  We are what we think, do, say and choose.  Every little glance, breath and smile.

 

“We do not really see through our eyes or hear through our ears, but through our beliefs.”  – Lisa Delpit

Our culture defines us. It may dictate how we communicate, the customs we include in our life, and the way we view the world.  To make an effort to see ourselves apart from our culture and to look at others apart from theirs may be a challenge.  It is well worth the effort to see another human for their core essence and not for what has coerced their current circumstance.  Integration of various cultures can be a beautiful part of our lives or it can be a limiting barrier, depending on your interpretation of “different”.

Some friends never know your name or hold your hand.

They might never compliment a new shirt or see your many talents.

They can’t play ball with you or laugh at your jokes and yet they are a part of your favorite days.

They are the reason you can withstand difficult weather and offer protection from danger.

These giant friends are constant companions; giving gifts, listening, offering advise of patience and strength.  

They are quietly essential to the best summer day.

They are quiet, still…

Take notice and thank them anyway.

 

 

Alex Honnold, 31, climbed El Capitan in Yosemite National Park June 3 with not one piece of supporting equipment.  Free Solo Climbing: no ropes, no protection, no fear?

I have watched and spoken with Free Solo climbers in the past and they are an interesting type of person.  They plan, the study, they prepare and train….in short, they beautifully obsess over a piece of nature and then climb it putting enough fear aside to typically make it to the top with ‘ease’.  This man made incredible, astounding history flying up El Cap’s 7,569 feet in just under 4 hours!  This climb takes most amazingly skilled climbers days to accomplish with protection, if not at least 24 hours!

Protection.  This is something to think about.  I never have wanted to free solo climb, not ever.  It has to be in your blood.

Protection is something we use in every aspect of life.  From defensive personalities to weapons.  Honnold is saying that although this life long goal was scary, fear does him no favors in his performance and so he says, ‘I set it aside and leave it be.”  He is so incredibly good at this skill that scientist/neurologists are studying his brain to see how he differs from the average Joe.

Does this take Training?  Faith?  A missing Amygdala?  I believe these answers are worth looking at, thinking about and sitting with for each individual person.  Fear separates, exhausts, ruins, kills, breeds hate and disease…. What are you afraid of, I mean truly afraid of and what Protection are you using in your daily life to run and hide from fear?

“All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running to and from and why.”  James Thurber