Just Breathe
Today I am grateful for family meals together. We get at least a few every week and that is so important. I am also grateful for the wisdom others share with me.
Thinking about being awake and being alive as discussed in the last couple of posts, I made a conscious effort to be more fully awake on my run yesterday afternoon. I will sometimes run with my radio and headphones on, or if not, I am still usually deep in thought and not the most aware of my surroundings. I run routes near our house that I have run many, many times.
I listened and paid more attention with all of my sense. Random observations included:
-my footfalls and Oliver's footfalls and the difference in sound between his 4 feet
and my 2
-how every dog's bark sounds a little different, like every human voice
-the sounds of lawn mowers and sprinklers and people making use of a nice fall day
-the way the partly cloudy/partly sunny sky looked
-people arriving home with bags of groceries or out checking their mail
-the sounds of cars passing, planes overhead, and a golf ball being hit, all within seconds of one another reminded me of how interconnected our little world can be
-the sound of my breathing as I ran, and Oliver's breathing as he ran beside me
-the smell of fall as I took a deep breath
-how things look different when leaves are off of trees
I dropped Oliver off and did a couple more miles on my own, pushing my pace more. My breathing pace picked up. I thought about breathing and how very important it is and how very little most of us, me included, pay attention to it.
My friend Jenny is a yoga instructor and has practiced yoga for years. She taught me a yoga breathing technique that I use most mornings. It's cleansing and centering and I appreciate it. But I'm not that good at taking it with me into my day. Progress not perfection.
When I was going through chemo and all things cancer, my friend Jill reminded me to "Just Breathe" and I have a humorous and special memory of her and the song "Just Breathe" by Anna Nalick that was out at that time. Just breathe. Just appreciate that you are here and getting through this. It was helpful then and is helpful now when I remember to use it.
Today I will appreciate breathing, lungs in good working order, and the air out there for me to breathe in.
Thinking about being awake and being alive as discussed in the last couple of posts, I made a conscious effort to be more fully awake on my run yesterday afternoon. I will sometimes run with my radio and headphones on, or if not, I am still usually deep in thought and not the most aware of my surroundings. I run routes near our house that I have run many, many times.
I listened and paid more attention with all of my sense. Random observations included:
-my footfalls and Oliver's footfalls and the difference in sound between his 4 feet
and my 2
-how every dog's bark sounds a little different, like every human voice
-the sounds of lawn mowers and sprinklers and people making use of a nice fall day
-the way the partly cloudy/partly sunny sky looked
-people arriving home with bags of groceries or out checking their mail
-the sounds of cars passing, planes overhead, and a golf ball being hit, all within seconds of one another reminded me of how interconnected our little world can be
-the sound of my breathing as I ran, and Oliver's breathing as he ran beside me
-the smell of fall as I took a deep breath
-how things look different when leaves are off of trees
I dropped Oliver off and did a couple more miles on my own, pushing my pace more. My breathing pace picked up. I thought about breathing and how very important it is and how very little most of us, me included, pay attention to it.
My friend Jenny is a yoga instructor and has practiced yoga for years. She taught me a yoga breathing technique that I use most mornings. It's cleansing and centering and I appreciate it. But I'm not that good at taking it with me into my day. Progress not perfection.
When I was going through chemo and all things cancer, my friend Jill reminded me to "Just Breathe" and I have a humorous and special memory of her and the song "Just Breathe" by Anna Nalick that was out at that time. Just breathe. Just appreciate that you are here and getting through this. It was helpful then and is helpful now when I remember to use it.
Today I will appreciate breathing, lungs in good working order, and the air out there for me to breathe in.
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