Remember to breathe.
There was a rumor when I was young about
an old man that would travel the world giving lectures. A guru of some sort
from the East. He claimed that he was over 200 years old. When asked the secret
of his longevity, he simply replied “Inner Quiet.”
This story has stayed with me throughout
my life. (It turns out the story had truth to it, as this monk’s remains were found in February, 2015) But it’s one I have to keep reminding myself of. (As
with so many life lessons.)
Those moments of inner peace and
tranquility are important. Stress leads to a host of physical ailments. Heart
issues, stomach problems, migraines. Sometimes it’s just necessary to take a
moment and step away from the issue. Just breathe.
If you have the opportunity to study yoga
or learn meditation techniques, by all means do so. They are a wonderful tool
for mental and emotional health.
If not? Just breathe. Sometimes just
taking ten deep, slow breaths can lower your heart rate and reduce stress
levels. This will help you focus on the situation at hand with renewed clarity.
This will help from making impulse decisions or knee jerk reactions.
Workload and traffic at work getting
immensely stressful? Remember to breathe.
Events unfolding in unpredictable
ways? Remember to breathe.
Someone just being completely unreasonable? Remember
to breathe.
It won’t make the situation go away. But
it will limit the situation’s ability to cause you harm; to stress you out; to
put all that negative energy on you.
Remember to breathe.
