Can you hear me? Are you breathing?
I stopped breathing for almost 907,200 minutes. I believe you can be claimed clinically dead after 15 minutes, but the studies I’ve read share different timetables. Brain damage and death can occur as early as 6 minutes without breathing…
So, am I a miracle of science? Hardly. In fact, I bet you are not breathing either. When is the last time you consciously took a big, strong, deliberate breath of air into your body? Try it now. Take a big, long, slow breath… inhale… exhale… repeat…
How often do we forget to breathe? Well, thankfully it is an involuntary response, so we are not required to remember to do this, we don’t even have to add it to our lengthy To Do List. Our bodies have magnificently handled this task for us and placed it on auto-pilot.
I was recently blessed with a working “vacation” in Lake Tahoe. Although, I was attending an event, I “felt” like I was on vacation because I was getting away from the office and traveling to one of my favorite places on earth. I was driving to Harrah’s Resort in South Lake Tahoe with visions of past visits in my head… the lake, the people, the nightlife, the pampering, the food, the air!
Northern California Fires
With the recent fires in Northern California, ravaging our beautiful state and leaving families homeless and devastated, my heart goes out and I don’t ever consider taking a breath. I grew up in the Sonoma Valley and many of our landmarks are now gone. The valley is barren, and our friends and families have become homeless, lost loved ones, and many pets and livestock are gone. Then the smoke from these fires settles into the neighboring valleys and suffocates us all… and breathing becomes a conscious thought.
So, while I’m driving to Tahoe and I have my stereo turned up and my windows down, I no longer think about the obvious. I very slowly begin to breathe. I listen to an old favorite mixed CD I made probably 12 years ago that just happens to be in my CD player and as I am crossing into the magical land of Tahoe – Michelle Branch starts singing Breathe in my ears. Wow, is she driving with me? How does she know???!!
“Just Breathe” she sings in an innocent, sweet but strong breath. “If I just breathe” everything will be alright. It’s at this moment, that I realize, I haven’t taken an intentional breath in probably 3 months!!!!
Do you feel this way too? When is the last time you took a break? A real break? A breath? Stepped away from your work, your business, or maybe even your family and friends and just took a deep, deliberate breath of life’s air?
My point in sharing this is to say, that we all need a break. Every day “tasks” can often mask our life’s essential duties of living, breathing and experiencing the joys of why we are truly here.
We do not have to remember to breathe in order to live, but we MUST purposefully breathe in order to fully LIVE!
Take at least ONE moment out of your busy day to just breathe and remember why you are working so hard. Why are you here? What are your heart’s goals?
Coincidentally, I heard the same song on my way home from Tahoe, so I will admit it has been stuck in my head for a couple days now. But I think the most incredible sign to me was today, when I opened a book, A Year Without Fear by my one of my most fabulous mentors, Tama Kieves. This is a book filled with 365 days of “Magnificence” where you can look at today’s month and day (a perpetual calendar) and see what she has to share with you. Well, today I opened it and she shared the importance of BREATHING! That’s right. Amongst today’s “5-Minute Mind-Set Shifts” she writes, “…breathe in everything I am meant to be.”
I highly recommend Tama’s books and please check out her website here!
Also, check out Michelle Branch’s song Breathe for some fun!