The Most Difficult of Moments Requires The Most Simple of Tasks

Try this.

Breathe.

Breathe in.

Hold it.

Hold it a little longer.

Breathe out.

Try it again.

Breathe in.

Hold it.

Just a little longer this time.

Let it out.

It’s incredible how much breathing fixes.  It fixes stress. It fixes sadness. Hell, it even fixes death. One cannot be dead if they can breathe. Sure, they cannot really be “with us”, but they’re not dead. They’re breathing.  As long as one is breathing, they’re telling death to kiss off; we’ve still got something to do.

Even if that something is just simply breathing.

We never really forget to breath to survive. It’s subconsciously programmed into our mind from the time we are young until the time we are old. Yes, sometimes when we are young and when we are old (and sometimes in between) our breathing may be aided by machines, but in the end, we’re still breathing.

However, even though we don’t need a reminder to breathe to survive – we do often times need a reminder to breathe to live. We need that reminder sometimes to slow down.

To steady our course.

To close our eyes.

And just…

Breathe.

We as humans face a multitude of stressful situations every day. Perhaps it’s the alarm clock ringing at 5:30AM when we were up all night with a sick child. Or perhaps someone cuts us off in traffic. Maybe a family member is giving us grief. Maybe we miss someone or are heartbroken. Or even worse, maybe we’ve lost someone we love.

It’s in those great moments of stress and solitude that we must do what comes most natural to us. It’s in moments of doubt, fear, weariness, and worry that we must let the sublime simple nature take over. We must make time to breathe. Both breathing to survive – and breathing to live.

It’s my wish that I always remember to breathe. That I always remember that things may not be as bad as they seem. That sometimes our perspective gets cloudy and we must clean the windshield of ourselves of bugs, dirt, and debris and simply do what we were created to do.

Breathe in.

Hold it.

Breathe out.

Once again.

Breathe in.

Hold it…

— J. Daniel Rollins

(01:08AM. 9/9/12.)