Breathe

Yesterday, whilst sitting in the weeds, I listened to a podcast with a neuroscientist and professor.

Sometimes it's very helpful for me to listen to people who are experts in the field of my broken brain.

They have great advice that I have heard before, but that I remember much more richly whilst listening to them talk about it.

Our brains are amazing things.

Our brains connecting to our bodies second by second is even more amazing, really.

It isn't until our brain has broken a bit that we realize to what fullness that amazingness is!

Sometimes I don't feel much like me.

I'm sure that sometimes you don't feel much like you.

For not many good reasons, really.

Or even for reasons that we can't articulate.

But, when you have a broken brain OR an addiction, it can be very difficult to pull yourself from a very simple feeling such as this.

Simply not feeling like yourself.

We don't like feeling uncomfortable or uneasy.

So we RUN to find ways to not feel those things.

Until we have tools to help us to sit with it...

Realize those feelings aren't actually dangerous.

They aren't actually going to hurt us.

We can just sit with them and be.

During the podcast, the doctor spoke about breathing and sleep.

I do breathing exercises throughout the day, every day.

Sometimes they "work."
Sometimes, I am not willing to practice focusing on my brain enough to allow them to work.

So, as I sat outside in the weeds, under the shade of a tree, I focused on all things breathing.

I was reminded that my brain is still an amazing thing that can calm my body.

There are SO many breathing techniques.

It's important, in my opinion, to study them and research them and then to give them an effort.

I have found that some work better for me than others.

That's the point of trying them out.

Also, make sure you are in a space where you can focus on it.

Sometimes for me, that is going into the bathroom and locking the door and sitting on the toilet.

Sometimes, it is going outside in the sunlight for a few minutes.

Sometimes it is watching baseball.

Sometimes, it is coloring in silence.

Wherever it is, find a place and reconnect your brain to your body often.