Remember To Breathe

At times, life can get crazy busy, stressful and overwhelming.

When this happens, our first reaction to deal with what is happening is often to react impulsively without thinking things through.

This happens because in times of stress our brain kicks into operating from its fight and flight centre.

When this happens we literally cannot think straight.

When we can’t think straight, we often don’t make the best decisions or say the most thought out (or thoughtful) responses in this mode.

Yup….I’ve been there on more than one occasion myself.

So how can we better handle these situations?

It’s actually quite simple…

When this happens, we need to remember to take time to breathe.

Not the regular breathing that occurs without our input.

I’m talking about conscious breathing.

We take our breath for granted because our body takes care of this task for us, yet it is an amazingly calming and centering tool.

Conscious breathing doesn’t require any fancy equipment, it’s available whenever we need a moment to get grounded and it’s free!

And it doesn’t take long to do.

In fact, it can take less than 30 seconds of intentional, slow and conscious breathing to get your mind to stop racing.

How?

Simply take a few slow and deep breaths in and out.

If it’s safe to do so it can be helpful to close your eyes while you do it.

That’s it.

After a few conscious breaths in/out, you will notice a shift.

The chaos going on around you will move to the background.

You will begin to notice an awareness of you.

You will become calm or at least calmer than you were before the conscious breathing exercise.

Your fight and flight mechanism will begin to slow down, allowing the higher regions of your brain to engage.

When this happens, you will begin to see the situation from a non-panicked/reactionary perspective.

You will be able to handle whatever chaos is going on from a more calm thinking part of your brain.

Give it a try the next time you find yourself in a stressful situation.

You might just be surprised at the difference.

‘Til next time if you liked this, please social share it. Together we can help create a global mind shift.