Awareness to Breathing [A2B]
Thoughts are gifts- with them we can understand things and act with purpose to shape our lives and the world we live in. Emotions are gifts too- with them we have the power to take action and feel appreciation for life. Combine these with our imagination and we have the creative intelligence to champion a variety of aspirations.
But what happens when our thoughts, emotions and imagination drag us someplace we don’t want to go?
Trouble comes when these take us in directions that are harmful to ourselves and others. For example, two kids are standing and talking together in a school hallway. One of them tells a joke and the other laughs and looks toward us just as we are walking by. Not knowing about the joke we imagine they were laughing at us. We begin to feel bad about ourselves or imagine insults against them. These thoughts fuel our emotions and the story drags us down. Unless interrupted we may find ourselves taking retaliating actions.
Sometimes these stories don’t involve others. Perhaps we have a test coming up and we get the thought that it will be too hard to pass no matter how hard we study. We may begin to imagine that we will fail and tell ourselves stories of all the negative consequences that failing will bring. This story begins to push our emotions and be may find ourselves so nervous and anxious that we just can’t recall the answers we actually knew.
When our imagination runs away with us we risk anxiety. The stories that evolve in our mind can leave us worried, confused, helpless, hopeless and afraid.
Good news- there are ways to step back from these scary stories and point ourselves in a better direction…
“Breathing, breathing... look and see.
Simple breathing sets me free.
Free to pause. Free to rest.
Free to choose which thoughts are best.”
Many are surprised to find that we each have a helper built into us. This helper is our very own breathing; our breath.
- Moving our Awareness to Breathing [A2B] interrupts our focus on the catastrophic stories in our head and weakens the emotional glue that sticks our awareness to them.
- Moving our Awareness to Breathing [A2B] calms us and clears our head. From here we can point our imagination to new thoughts and consider which ones are best.
- Moving our Awareness to Breathing [A2B] brings a sense of wellness and the freedom to consider options and respond rather than react. This freedom is always available. With practice it becomes nearly automatic.
“A 2 B sets me free…
Free to choose what I will be.”
By raising public awareness to ‘breathing’ as a tool, more and more people will tap their natural ability to be self-effective.
Initiatives that engage through visual, mental and tactile channels offer a frequency of reminders over time. These environmental associations can help establish and maintain an awareness that ‘breathing’ is an asset to our physical, emotional and mental well-being.
By using reminders in an environment there is virtually no extra time needed to spread the message. Instead, the message is integrated with what exists. Integration may take a multiplicity of forms, (ie. posters, rhymes, code words, bracelets, buttons, stories, theme days, famous quotes, art projects, etc.)
The goal is to bring awareness to breathing through a variety of diverse, repetitive associations. This channels spark an interaction with the message so that it begins to develop and grow organically in the individual. This passive, non-threatening, fun, inspiring and thought provoking methodology fits easily into any school, business, organization or home setting until it becomes part of the culture of the targeted group.