Being in a breathing body is a gift.  A gift which we often overlook as the mind takes control and leaves us scattering our life moments like seed on infertile ground, never really staying with one to cultivate, nourish and add to the soil so that the moment may flourish and grow in our love and attention.

Rumi says, “With life as short as a half-taken breath, don’t plant anything but love.”

Oh, how easy this is to forget.  The years seem to speed by with breaths half taken, skipped all together, or compromised by life choices.  Wouldn’t it be easier to just remember that our breath marks the moments of our life… beginning outside of the womb space  as we take our first inhale, and ending with our last out breath as we transition.

To remember that our full breathing is a measure of the love that we give to ourselves with each and every inhale, pause, and exhale. To remember that as we breathe fully there is more of us to plant the love that Rumi speaks of.

Thich Nhat Hanh says, “Life is available only in the present moment. If you abandon the present moment you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply.”

Like the seed above that falls on infertile ground , our abandoned moments left behind for something “more important” not only fail to grow, thrive and transform, but have never been felt.    Our breath provides an anchor to these very moments that are often cast aside like trash without a backwards glance, losing forever the opportunity to investigate what treasure and possibility may reside there.  Our lives are only made up of moments.  We forget. Our breath reminds us.

Buddha says, “The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”

Now we come right down to it.  As we breathe in and out we have the opportunity to pay attention in the moment with passion and to embody that moment.  Our emotions may be all over the place, bodies may fall ill from time to time, or we may be right smack in the middle of what we perceive as a tremendous challenge.  Are we in the moment….or are we trying to figure out how to get out of it based on past or future?

Use the breath as a guide, a tool, a muse if you will.  Know that each inhale and each exhale mark a moment of your life, using attention to recapture the moments and the breath to remind you that yes indeed you do have a body that is constantly sending you wise messages.  Listen…

Breathing in, I know that I can do anything.  Breathing out, I release all doubts and fears.  ME

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

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