10/19/2024
From Chapter One: ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐ก๐ฌ ๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฉ
...by your first birthday, youโd performed the miracle of respiration some 26 million times and change.
Each inhalation nourishing your body's ecosystems like Spring rain on a fallow field.
As you grew, your body adapted to take in more oxygen with less effort.
By your 18th birthday, you were taking around 18-25 breaths a minuteโ25,000 a dayโwithout pause, appreciation, or reflection.
In fact, through all the days of your lifeโfrom childhood to adolescence into adulthood, middle age, and beyond,....
...through the heartbreaks and disappointments, through every victory lap and overnight successโyour breath has been right there with you, keeping you alive.
Nine million breaths a year.
108 million breaths for every decade of your adult life.
You do the math.
As many inhalations as there are stars in the night sky.
More exhalations than there are grains of sand on a stretch of Florida beach.
Now, you may pause to consider that the vast, vast, vast majority of your breaths occurred without your deliberate consentโa persistent refrigerator hum beneath the surface of your awareness.
What you may not have noticed is that in those moments when
your attention is turned inward, your perceptions dull.....
....and your inner voice, loud, compulsive, repetitive and so
commonly negativeโperhaps you failed to meet the moment head-on.
When you press the pause button, transcend your busy mind, and inhabit your body fully in the here and nowโwhere the real action isโthose are the moments of your life you cherish most of all.
Wide awake.
Perfectly okay.
Aware of your soul's essence, beingness, and this precious life's temporary nature.
That, my dear friend, is the driving force behind the book youโre holding in your hands.
A book that explores the breath is a book that discovers the profound power of Presence along the way.
And the present moment is where your beautiful life is happening.
Right Now.
