Become a Mixed Mindful Artist:
https://breathlearning.com/
You can read the text version and sign up for The Breathing 411 Email Newsletter here:
https://www.thebreathingdiabetic.com/blog/a-clearer-life-quiet-joy-3-random-thoughts
The Breathing 411
A Clearer Life, Quiet Joy, and 3 Random Thoughts
Hi, it's Nick. Welcome back to another episode of the breathing for one one Let's jump straight into this week's four thoughts. The first one is titled a clearer and more vivid life And here is a quote Think about a digital photograph the vividness and clarity of the image depend on the number of pixels Likewise the vividness and clarity of the meditation object depend on the number of perceiving moments of attention Whose content is the meditation object in quote and that is from the book the mind Illuminated and although it's talking about meditation and the meditation object, right? This analogy is perfect for life as a whole right the more perceiving moments of attention we bring to what's happening aka Mindfulness the more pixels will add to our life image and the more clearer and more vivid they will become So that's just a great analogy to think about throughout your day Maybe just once or twice let it pop into your head You know, I can add more pixels to this image by simply bringing a little bit of mindfulness and with that Let's move on to thought number two. It's a good one. It's called Tuning out from reality and skipping away with the fairies and here is a quote If you are already breathing at a normal rate slowing it down further still Can change your state of mind to the point where you tune out from reality and skip happily away with the fairies And quote and that is Caroline Williams from move and that quote made me laugh, right? It's a fun reminder that although the breath is a gateway to Mindfulness to the present moment all of these great things We can also just use slow breathing as a mini retreat from life Allowing us to quote tune out from reality and skip happily away with the fairies. That is hilarious. So it's just a nice Alternative view that a lot of what we do right with breathing mindfulness meditation all these tools that we're interested in are about being here Actually in reality. It's not about an escape from reality It's about being with the moment, but occasionally it's kind of fun to to just tune out Let your breath go slow or paste or whatever you want to do Really slow paced breathing can really just tune out everything and give you a mini retreat from life. I hope that makes sense All right, with that, let's move on to thought number three and it is titled three random thoughts and here They are here's the first one Breathing with awareness is Gratitude I'll let youth ponder what that means to you. I know what it means to me when I wrote it But I'll let you decide for yourself. All right, here's the second one If you follow your breath, you may actually end up where you're going All right, that's another one to be trying to be a little silly, right, but also Quite literal. All right, and then the third one Right now to get a fresh perspective You can view your breath cycle as starting with an exhale rather than an inhale The insight though comes from remembering that we can do this with almost everything in life So that's inspired by James Clear believe it or not because he always talks about inversion thinking Inverting your thoughts on a process and that is a great way of doing it with the breath But it applies to all of life, right? All right, and then so those are the three random thoughts and that was the third thought So let's move on to the fourth and final thought for this week Uh, I might I might change the name of it before I send it out But for now when I'm recording this I have it titled be weird So I'll stick with that one because I think that's a great title Um, but here here's the quote, uh for the thought We are able to connect with life best when we get juice from multiple places A puzzle piece doesn't just click in on one side It clicks in on two three or four What that looks like varies from person to person in quote and that is glattice mcgerrie imbi Maybe my favorite author ever probably my second or third favorite to be a hundred percent eyes She woke she wrote the well lived life. She is now a 103 years old A doctor and just yeah has a cool just the best perspective on life ever and this quote It's just a nice reminder that breathing Mindful living all that are not about sitting cross-legged all day or becoming a zen master or any fill in the blank Cliche stereotype right they are about becoming more us right allowing ourselves to be weird Embracing our varied interest and connecting with life's bigger puzzle on multiple sides So I take that quote as permission just to be ourselves If you like all the things you like that's okay, right? It's just because you're into breathing and mindfulness doesn't mean you have to give up a love of Sports or the music you like or Silly movies or whatever it is right you can still enjoy all those things perhaps You can enjoy them even more because you know They're just part of who you are as long as you are trying your best to be a good person, right? All right, so that is it for the four thoughts. Let's move on to the one quote for this week Here it is quote There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude a quiet joy That is Ralph H Blum or bloom depending on how it's pronounced I'm not sure and I found that one from insight timer I've mentioned that many times I use insight timer every single morning in my life to meditate and to do my breathing practice Uh, and they always show you a quote at the beginning of the session and that one stood out to me. I love it Um, yeah, there's a calmness to a life lived in gratitude a quiet joy That is awesome. And with that, let's move on to the one answer for this week. The category is Skin and nervous system and here is the answer Slow breathing helps to reduce this skin associated measure Which is thought to be a marker of nervous system activity What is skin conductance? So it has to do with the sweat glands and higher skin conductance. I believe is associated with more sympathetic nervous system activity. So when we see reductions in skin conductance during slow breathing, we see Increases in parasympathetic nervous system activity or decreases in sympathetic activity. However, you want to frame it Um, yeah, so with that, let's do a quick recap. Remember add more pixels to your image, right? Bring more mindfulness to each moment. It's like adding pixels to your life Remember, you can tune out from reality and skip away with the fairies with some really slow calm breathing lying down or sitting quietly However you want, uh, you don't have to worry about mindfulness every single time, right? You can just use it as an escape as needed, but let's realize that we're also ultimately trying to be better at life too Uh, remember those three random thoughts. Uh, yeah, I liked all of them because I wrote um, uh, that's pretty bad Uh, so just remember, uh, whichever one you like better to go check those out But getting that fresh perspective is a nice thinking of the breath starting with an exhale Just reframe that in all of life. What else can you invert in your thinking on and then fourth and finally remember to be weird, right? That we're all pieces of the global puzzle Each of us fits in on multiple sides and not just one so you don't have to limit yourself to one personality, right? One thing that you are, right? We can be all those things because that's how we fit in best, right? Uh, and what that looks like varies from person to person as Gladys McGarry tells us and as always remember that There is no one path that goes perfectly with the breath learning center, of course Becoming a mixed mindful artist, right? Using your breath and your mind and your awareness As the most powerful tools for a fulfilled life And so I'm obviously in bias, but I argue don't limit yourself to just one method or feel get guilty about All these things that make you you right embrace that stuff explore different teachings be nourished every single day Motivated inspired every single day with little short messages to keep us in the game just reminding ourselves never feeling bad about ourselves Never beating ourselves up for not doing it, right? Just trying to bring a little bit of positivity and a lot of uh practical wisdom that we can actually apply Each and every day to our lives so um go check that out breathlearning.com and become a mixed mindful artist Bruce Lee style, right? So with that, I just want to thank you as always for listening and i'll see you next week