Tag: abundant breath

Everything You Need to Know About Life Is In One Breath

“Everything you need to know about life is in one breath.”

–Dewitt Jones, Photojournalist

 

 

 

 

 

 

After listening to the recent interview with Dewitt done by Sheila Finkelstein of Picture to Ponder I was brought back again to what an important tool and a metaphor for life the breath is.   You fill yourself up and then the biological imperative is that you must give it back out.  We, at times, attempt to hold our breaths thinking that it will make us “safe”and nothing bad will happen. Amelia Earhart said “Who wants a life imprisoned in safety?”

 
That is what holding our breath is about. You can’t not breathe – but you can, if you choose to do so, contract away from your own life experience and the calling and relationships that may be asking you out to play, create, and experience life fully, by shallow breathing or holding the breath.

 

You have to breathe!  Taking in a full breath fills you, gives energy, stimulates natural biological processes, and expands your potential for excitement about life and the contribution that you naturally have to bring.

 

Your contribution is then present in the exhale.   A giving out of the fullness that you have just taken in from a place of enough – to sustain, support, and create new life. For within the exhale a space is created to bring in more.

 

There is always enough, and for most living things this process is on automatic.  It is something that we can trust and relax into, especially during particularly difficult or stressful times.  Can we use the breath as a tool for recognizing the wealth and potential that is our life now?

 

Soft belly, relaxed shoulders, face and mind at peace – take time NOW to enter a Breathing Space of fullness.

 

Take that full breath and move, breathe and listen to Words From The Hopi Elders:

( from the album Songs of the Earth – Majbritte Ulrikkeholm & Søren Frieboe)  The music video was filmed by Majbritte Ulrikkeholm & Søren Frieboe .  Listen to the album on www.majbritteulrikkeholm.dk)

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:  www.WildlyFreeWoman.com

Welcome Home – Sharing a Breath of Kindness and Generosity

“Do a deed of simple kindness; though its end you may not see, it may reach, like widening ripples, down a long eternity.” -Joseph Norris

This being my last post of 2010 I wanted to make it something that we can not only reflect on, but something quite simple really that each of us can take action on every day of 2011.


Be Selfish Be Generous

How many times a day are there opportunities for you to touch someone with kindness and generosity?  I would guess that they are actually unending.  It is simple to bring smiles to people, to lighten their load for the moment, to completely surprise them in a good way, and perhaps to inspire them to pass on the kindness to others.   This of course extends to all living things on this planet as well!

While I was living in the Bay area of San Francisco I would often pay for the person behind me on the Golden Gate bridge.  It is amazing to watch how people receive these random acts of generosity and kindness.  Some would honk as they passed by or hurry to pay so that they could catch up to you to smile through the window…and others would stay at the ticket booth for awhile – I don’t know how long as I had to drive forward – and seemingly argue with the person collecting the toll not quite understanding that they had just been “tagged”.  Letting go of the outcome is part of this “game” too, but somehow there is always an effect that is generated!

Similar to what Jim Norris said in the above quote Mother Theresa said, “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echos are truly endless”.  Words, actions, smiles, creative, spontaneous, and anonymous acts of kindness and generosity all contribute to being the change we wish to see in the world.

I had to put this video on the post as every time I watch it I smile.  Put out by T-mobile it is an example of what can happen when a person is made to feel special.  In this case it is like a virus that runs through an entire airport terminal.  If you get a chance listen to the comments of people afterward that are from passengers that were arriving at the airport.  (separate video on the right side panel)

Welcome Home – Life is for sharing (t-mobile)

Let this New Year be one in which you practice what I call the sharing of a breath of kindness – a breathing space of acknowledging that through these simple kind and generous acts of humanity we are making the life of someone or something else better…. even for just a moment…and in turn it truly does ripple out forever.

Why not make this a New Year’s Resolution.  Below I have given you a link to receive free of charge something that will assist with this commitment.  The site also has great stories from people across the globe to inspire you to take action.

What is a “smile card”? It’s a game of kindness — do something nice for someone and leave a card behind asking them to pay it forward. To date, 861,401 cards have been shipped without any charge.

http://www.helpothers.org

I invite you to share your stories throughout the year on this blog… I know I will!
2011 – a year for acts of generosity and kindness!  I’m in…are you?

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:  www.WildlyFreeWoman.com

In Our Own Being – We Are Enough

What are we here for?? 

Ram Dass says “Our whole spiritual transformation brings us to where we realize that in our own being we are enough”.

“I am enough, there is enough, you are enough” – a mantra spoken by a friend of mine on a daily basis has shifted her life and her perception of “enough”.  Perhaps when we fully embody this fullness within ourselves,  everything else shifts a tiny fraction allowing us to see and feel life in an entirely different framework – exploding our narrow perceptions and beliefs, and expanding our ability to give to others and ourselves from a place of creative awareness, open heart, and deeply aligned self acceptance.

From this place of enough comes the act of generosity.  This act comes not from a place of “have to” , “duty”, or “obligation”,  but a place of wholeness within – a place of fullness where generosity comes naturally as an outward expression of who we all are.

As each of us move through the holiday season, perhaps feeling obligation to give – remember to check in within yourself to feel what is natural and what way of giving enhances the breath and aliveness of another – and in turn to yourself and the planet upon which we live.

Breathing and living from this place gives us opportunity to live fully knowing and experiencing that there is enough.  This can come in the form of simple eye contact, a hug, or as in the video below an awareness that we all share the same humanity.

There was an opportunity the other day in the medical clinic I work at to fully embrace a patient as I called him back to the exam room.  This older man was outwardly a little rough in appearance and smelled strongly of the tobacco that he used regularly.  As he came towards me and moved into an embrace that he  initiated, I fully gave myself to the experience allowing myself to accept and let go of the slight reluctance I had to get “that close”.  As we pulled back from each other I  found myself smiling broadly at him.  The eyes of this Native American man held the love that he wanted to give…and that which he yearned to receive.

This simple act of generosity in connecting with another in whatever form that you feel naturally arising within you is the real gift that we can give each other.  We may not ever know exactly the impact that it has had….but we do know how we feel when in the act – ENOUGH!

You ain’t livin til you givin!

“He who allows his day to pass by without practicing generosity and enjoying life’s pleasures is like a blacksmith’s bellows. He breathes, but does not live.” ~ Proverbs

 

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:  www.WildlyFreeWoman.com

RECENT POST : Women’s Bodies, Women’s Flourishing

The Deepened Breath of Gratitude and Kindness

In celebration of World Kindness Day I dedicate this post to the breathing space of gratitude which is intimately linked with acts of kindness.  It is the experience of most that when one is in a place of gratitude that everything “lightens up”.  This relaxed and grateful place of “wealth” stimulates our breath to deepen and our natural innate expressions, love, and creativity to come out and play.  It is here within this breathing space of gratitude that we remember why we are here.  It is here in this breathing space that we are innately inclined to practice acts of kindness.

My day yesterday reflected this in every moment from first awakening to my last eyes wide open moment.  The aromatic scent of cardamon and cinnamon awakened my taste buds in the cup of green tea chai that I was sipping while writing within the light of a candle lit to celebrate the unfolding of the days possibilities.

Aligning a place within us in gratitude before we start each day, and at night before we go to bed,  naturally evolves into acts of kindness whether you are doing them, receiving them, or giving them to yourself.  It was my intention to come from this place in every moment of my day no matter what was happening.

Everywhere I went I remembered to smile and make eye contact being grateful for the connections that were essential to the tasks before me.  Entire conversations lasting only moments had significance because we touched each other in a personal way.  Everything felt easeful, even when waiting in traffic or in line.

When I found a long line at the post office I was grateful that I had a way to send the payments, personal correspondence,  and donations that I held in my hand.  Out of this place I relaxed… and out of this place the man in front of me had me go ahead of him because he stated “I am going to take a long time”.  This man had lost teeth, was a little unkept, and could possibly have been homeless, but he practiced an act of kindness.  I made certain to give a light touch on his shoulder when I left and thanked him again for his kindness.

Walking out of the athletic club that I belong to after a satisfying weight training session (acts of kindness to oneself!), I gasped in appreciation as I saw the sky filled with feather like clouds.  The man who was limping out with me heard my gasp, looked up and said “it is like God’s paintbrush!”.  We both smiled and felt blessed to be able to witness the beauty…and to share it with each other.

Even looking at the money that had been deposited in my bank account that day I realized that there was more than enough to share in acts of kindness to Women for Women International (sponsor a woman for $27/month!), Nature Conservancy and to become part of the solution of tolerance in our world at Southern Poverty Law Center.  The feeling of wealth that I had within me must have radiated out because it was at the post office where I was mailing these donations that I was ushered to “please go ahead”.

It is moments like these that add depth and fulfillment to our lives and remind us that everyone is “doing the best they can with what they have”.  These acts of kindness come when we open our hearts, come out of hiding, and look into the eyes of God standing right in front of us.  They are spontaneous most often, although sometimes planned,  and leave us breathing more deeply and embracing life.

As Maya Angelou said so eloquently:  “People will forget what you said.  People will forget what you did.  People will never forget how you made them feel.”

I am in appreciation to Sherryl Frauenglass of A Woman’s True Voice (FB) and Robin Rice of Awesome Women Hub for the video below by Humanity Healing Network.

Random Acts of Kindness with music by Enya

 

Other Blogs by Gaye Abbott:  www.WildlyFreeWoman.com

Breath of Joy!

What if the breath was a pathway to choose joy?  There is a very old Chinese saying that says, “One who half breathes, half lives.”   When you are feeling fatigue, lethargy, slight depression, or inability to focus have you ever just done a Breath Check?  You may find that your breathing has some restrictions. The good news is that you can chose to change that in any moment!

Shallow, upper chest, or restricted breathing represents so many things.  It is a pattern in alignment with restriction, limitation, and shutting down on life – YOUR LIFE!

Have you ever held your nose and tried to taste something?  Or maybe you did that when you were young and your parents wanted you to eat something that you didn’t want to eat…so you held your nose and ate it….because you couldn’t taste it right?!

Shutting down on the breath shuts down more than just the breath.  It obviously impacts your health and aliveness, but it also shuts down your joy and pleasure of living,  being in the moment, your creativity, and your ability to “taste life”.

Here is a simple video that gives you a tool to shift what I call “low life breathing” into “breathing in creative joy”.  Use it often!

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE:  www.WildlyFreeWoman.com