One day at a time, and sometimes, one breath at a time.

Every day I wake up almost always at the same time, but this morning I woke up earlier than usual. I wanted to drink a big cup of tea to control the cold I have had for a few days so I could do the things I had pending.

Before everything I have to do for the day comes to my mind, I start it with my deep breathing. The one that goes all the way to your diaphragm 🙇🏻‍♀️

Has it ever happened to you that just thinking about what you have to do brings to your mind a rapid amount of various things to do? Sometimes those thoughts are like a big line of impatient people waiting to be served, but in our mind. And other times they can be like a stampede of people rushing to be the first to get somewhere or simply running away from something.

In those moments there are several things that always help me and one of them is: deep breathing and mindfulness. And the fact is that deep breathing achieves mindfulness ✨

For me, mindfulness is focusing all my senses on one action, trying to avoid being distracted by other things 🍃

For example, when I drank my tea that morning I chose to think only about the tea and concentrate on my breathing. Let it be like a relaxing massage that reaches my diaphragm. Minutes later, all I felt was total relaxation throughout my body and mind.

Thoughts distract, they steal consciousness. But I have realized that if I am focused I can politely dismiss them or say: I will be with you shortly (impatient people). And they immediately calm down.

We don't always choose what things come to mind in thought form, but I know I can choose to dismiss them or work them out by putting my attention on it while breathing softly and calmly.

Lately, my thoughts have been going back and forth (like the stampede of people 🙈) and it just seems like the world wants to pull us into that feeling, which made me see the need to increase my doses of deep breathing and meditation. Doing it several times a day in a conscious way.

Mindfulness and deep breathing are not a magic wand that solves my problems, but they do help me to see and understand them more clearly, while the mind itself seeks the solution within the calm 🧖🏻‍♀️

Today I remember that I go one day at a time, and sometimes one breath at a time 💜