Just Breathe

Breathing is so important to the human species. Our bodies need it, our minds need it, and our psche needs it. During exercise it is important to breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. This takes concentration but with practice you will get it. I have been a runner for years and only recently discovered that if I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth vs. in AND out through my mouth, I can run longer and my time is better. Why is that? Because by breathing through your nose you get MORE oxygen to your cells which in turn produce more "go juice". There are medical terms for this but since I am not in the medical profession I couldn't tell you what that is. If you want more scientific info, google breathing and exercise.

This rule applies any time you are exerting yourself physically or mentally. If you are lifting weights, breathe in when it's the easiest and out when it's the hardest. When you are in labor having a baby, breathe in and out rythmatically. When you are stressed, breathe in through your nose and let it out slowly through your mouth. When someone makes you angry a good rule to follow before you open your mouth to speak is to breathe in through your nose and let it out slowly through your mouth at least three times before you react. Again, during all of these exercising, it takes concentration but the rewards are worth the practice.

Life seems like it is in fast forward. We rush around all week getting children to and from school and outside activities such as dance, baseball, etc. We rush around to and from our jobs. We rush around taking care of all of the errands that have to be run during the week, grocery store, cleaners, post office, taking care of the car, doctors appointments, etc. We rush home and rush to cook supper and get homework fininshed before we rush to get kids bathed and put to bed. We rush to get ourselves to bed at a decent time so we can rush to sleep so we can wake up the next day to rush again. On the weekends we are rushing to cram "fun things" in with family and friends and rushing around to get all of our chores done so we can start rushing around again on Monday morning. With all of that rushing, when do we breathe? We need time for ourselves, our family and our jobs. How do we get all of that crammed in, spend quality time with the ones most important to us, have some time for ourselves and still get it all done? It helps to be organized. Write down what you have to do every day and every week. Then write down how you are going to accomplish those tasks. Life sometimes gets in the way and things come up that aren't on the to do list but for the most part YOU can control what goes on in your life. Don't let life dictate to you when and how to do things because then you are in reactive mode and not proactive mode. By being organized you free up more time to play and will find that you have more "down" time than you had before when you were just scurrying around without a plan. You will also feel more in control of things around you and not so much a "victim" of circumstance. When you feel more in control, you have more confidence, are a happier person and you sleep better because you aren't stressing over unknowns. And those are the times you will be able to breathe.