Woman 2 Woman - Breathe

Strange are the moments in life when we have to remind ourselves to breathe. Stranger still is when those we might expect to take heed of our struggle pay no mind, piquing interest merely to satisfy curiosity and accelerate away. Sad is the moment when you see faces you trust drown away in a crowd of strangers. Beautiful is the moment when you emerge from these events a little closer to who you are, and to those who deserve you.
 

A slight change in the pace of your breath can take you from happiness to love to peace to excitement, or from happiness to sadness to pain to grief. Learning who and what can do that to you is something, if you are anything like me, you may have rarely stopped to focus on in much depth beyond fleeting moments camouflaged in the tapestry of life. I’m not a fan of conflict keeping necessary conversations folded away in suitcases for storage, which plays out much like believing in permanent rainbows painting a forged sky. Shocking is the moment you hit the wall of such a facade and the knock hurts your soul. Instant is the acknowledgment that your breath is your life and worthy of attention and investment; how long have I not been breathing? Amazing is how your mirror reflection can change in a day when you wake a little different to the person who went to sleep. It is in breathing a conversation with ourselves that we become able to take a closer look, see ourselves beyond the day to day routine, and gently say, ah, there you are.

 

I often wonder why we risk our hearts in these social scenes stripped out of predictable scripts laced with I told you so cliches. Why do we often want or get distracted by the very things that threaten our basic happiness, our basic breathing. Amazing how long it takes us to realise that happiness can sometimes look quite different to what we are tuned to believe it is supposed to look like. What’s more, happiness requires no approval beyond our own conscience, beyond our own ability to take an honest and deep breath. We have everything we need planted in our hearts left there for us to discover for free, at a pace we choose as we experience. The darkest of days have only the power to cast shadows on our growth for as long as we choose not to step into the sun. Liberating is the step that takes you further from who you have been hiding as, and towards who you actually are. Sometimes it feels like we were all born to fly and we earn a segment of our wings with every step we take closer to our souls. One way we can meet our souls is when we close our eyes and breathe.

My breath is my guide and I trust it’s maturity. It tells me when I’m unsettled inside, and my peace too valuable to store away so as to maintain an image that reflects what others deem acceptable. Why would we live only to hide? And who do we hide from other than our own selves? My breath whispers a breeze unveiling my choices showing me my path, my people and my goals. It’s in sitting up straight and finding that posture that opens you up to that perfect deep breath that allows you to tap a line between you and yourself; that’s all we ever really own. The heart, it keeps beating of course. The heart often beats fast and hard for the unknowns and the chances. Who takes you by the heart to dance with can distract you from your rhythm tempting you with breathlessness. It’s in those moments we all need to remember to take a step back to refocus our breath to a rhythm we trust. Slow our step until doubts melt beneath the heat of trust in our breath as we engage our choices, and allow ourselves to lose our breath for the right reasons. While falling in and out of love can happen quickly, trust takes time guided by how our breath reads amongst the chapters of our stories. Wait for trust in your breath before you dive.

 

So if someone or something is interrupting the beauty of the way we are designed to breathe, allow yourself the time and space to face it. There’s only so long we can run through life without checking our breath before we feel a stitch. Connect with yourself and disconnect from these moments and people for as long as you need to assess what’s obstructing your breath. Take a glance at your choices every now and then and don’t be afraid to choose differently if you realise forged rainbow skies aren’t worth missing raindrops on your skin for, even if it means you feel them alone and they make you feel cold until the clouds move on. Sometimes the realness of a cold shiver is all it takes to wake you from the coma of a beautiful lie, and the life that rushes through you will warm you soon enough. Spend time with your breath, get to know your breath and breathe. Life becomes much shorter when we don’t, and boy how we start living when we do. Deep Breath …