Deep, Shallow
In & Out
Expand, Contract
Gentle or Harsh
As it goes in giving life, breath is one common thing that all living creatures have regardless of species, gender, color, caste and creed.
Breath is in-discriminatory in nature although it manifests differently in each, given their circumstance, situation and feelings in any given moment.
Breath – the fundamental necessity that distinguishes between life and death, an involuntary but completely taken granted for, until no more – A vital component which determines if you can move or not, if your existence is guaranteed or not – that vital component that absolutely determines and makes my mark on this planet – is so taken for granted.
You assure myself that because you can breathe now, you can in the next minute as well. You act as if it is seamless and yet between each breath lies your life’s guarantee, your story can be finished between exhale and inhale. Flared out lungs may not necessarily contract in and yet you act as though they have come with a promissory note. Well they did.
The day you were born, your lungs had a time stamped on them, a ‘best before’, or a ‘use by’ date that only the hands that printed on them can see, a shelf life that is predetermined and yet can go off any minute.
Do you need to know the exact date to determine how to live today or is it enough for you to know that there is an expiry date that could be as soon as between next inhale and exhale or as late as a billion or trillion or countless exhales later?
Countless breaths in your mind yet a count has begun with your first exhale the day you were born.
So how are you to live with this awareness?
Every breath in writes a memory only to be etched deeper with every breath out. A whole of eternity will pass halfway between exhaling at the last breath.
The tiny space between the in and out is where the world is held as memories. There is no good or bad, no right or wrong, just life coming in and going out, bringing with it stories that create memories.
When you penetrate into the space between the two breaths, you accept that pain and pleasure are inseparable, you cannot have one without the other. In that acceptance life flows. That is the truth about your need to tell our story unfolding today in its struggles and triumphs.
In Out, Expand, Contract – you need to focus only on expansion. An expansion painted on the waves of life only guaranteed until the next gushing in tide which may or may not arrive.
So how do you treat your breath? Do you take it for granted or are you consciously aware of each in and out?
It is difficult to be in that constant awareness, but a few minutes spent in silence every couple of hours during the waking time, just becoming aware of the breath and being thankful for it, brings things back into perspective.
What practice can you establish to become aware of your breath and give thanks to its presence?
Do tell me……….
Until next time
With Love and Respect
Padma Ayyagari
Are You Changing 