“Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting.”

 ~ Joyce Meyer

Remember to breathe! How many times have you heard that advice? How often do you take it?

Breath is one of those things that’s easy to not think about. Right up there with gravity and the air that we breathe.

Because it’s ubiquitous, we hardly give it a second thought. If you are alive, you are breathing, and if you’re not, you’re not. So, aside from a few moments here and there, the act of breathing is synonymous with our life force in general.

While your breathing goes along pretty much unnoticed a great deal of the time, there are any number of things that can affect it in a hurry. Obviously, it speeds up when you’re exerting yourself and slows down when you relax or fall asleep.

But have you ever noticed how it can “catch” if you’re suddenly confronted with an awkward scene? You might find yourself holding it in entirely in certain scary situations.

All good points to ponder as I get to my thought for the day, (which came to me on Wednesday as I sat in the dentist’s chair for some routine work). It occurred to me that breath and patience have a working relationship with one another. Whenever I find myself in a situation that requires a degree of patience, I find that paying attention to my breathing is the ninja trick that gets me through.

Writing this today, of course, brings to mind a great individual who had to exercise a great degree of patience on many occasions. One can only imagine what Martin Luther King Jr. had to face as he stood up for civil rights on behalf of the nation.

Because progress requires patience too. To stoically stand for something so important and yet so massive that only future generations will see the results requires a depth of determination that’s hard to fathom. Imagine the times he must have had to “take a deep breath”!

My hope for you this week is that life will let you breath easy, and if you need to summon your patience your breath will be your guide.

Much love till next Monday!

M+

Mark Metz
Director of the Dance First Association
Publisher of Conscious Dancer Magazine

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