Take Five

Breathing is such an essential part of life.  However, we get so caught up in the events of the day, that we forget to take a few moments to recognize our breath and how important it is.  Life is busy for every person, just in different ways.  Taking as little as five minutes everyday, can really make a huge impact in our lives.  It's hard to believe that such a little change can make such a big difference.  The positive benefits you will feel from practicing just five minutes of conscious breathing will amaze you.  You don't have to do anything fancy or have to be in a certain area to practice this.  You could be in your car (parked of course), at your desk, anywhere.  It does help to find a quiet place, but sometimes you work with what you have.  Begin by closing your eyes, take a deep breath in through your nose, completely filling your lungs, pause and then slowly begin to exhale through your mouth, pause again.  Do this three times and, while you're doing this, try to empty all the thoughts racing through your mind.  To help with this, you may want to say to yourself "in" as you breathe in and, "out" as you breath out.  After three full breaths, just breath normally in and out through your nose.  If you find your mind filling up with all those thoughts again, just keep saying to yourself, "in" with each in breath and "out" with each out breath.  If you want to set a timer for five minutes go ahead and do so, that way you're not worried about watching the clock.  After practicing this daily for awhile, you may find you don't need to set a timer and that you sit for as long as you're comfortable.  Not to say that we all aren't human and may have our moments, but I guarantee they will be less and you will be able to bounce back quicker after moments of chaos.   Bringing peace and calm within you is a tremendous gift to give to yourself.  Not only will you benefit immensely, but those around you will too as you begin to approach everyone and everything in a less hectic manner.