Hello fellow breathing humans! How many moments have you taken to breathe this week? I know, life can feel overwhelming – there’s plenty to feel uncertain about, and if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere you’re starting to see shorter days. But we can handle it. :) Breath work is an incredible tool we all have access to, for calming our brains and coming back to ourselves. So, when you feel overwhelmed in the next week or if you simply want to relax and feel good for a few moments, use your breath! It’s free! :D When you’re inhaling and exhaling through your nose (the nose is important!), focus on how incredible it is that we are BREATHING! That this simple thing provides us with the beautiful experience of being alive! That we’ve been doing this since the moment of birth! Take all that wonder, and bring it into your breath work. Our lives can be inundated with a lot of negativity, but we do not have to absorb it and keep it – we have such a powerful ability to create our thoughts and experiences, so use that to your advantage while you breathe. This next week, practice inhaling for 5 seconds and exhaling for 5 seconds, for 5 minutes straight, while focusing on wonder. Let me know what you find. :) FULL OF WONDER I enjoy writing about wellness, in all its forms. I enjoy it because I really savor experiencing and experimenting with it, and with the benefits that come from investing in it. I’m passionate about living an incredible life – and I think this comes from having lived in pain for so long! I’ve always been an extremely energetic, outgoing person, but I spent a lot of my life in internal turmoil. Well into my 20s, I was living in the closet, hating what I looked like, not really knowing what I needed to be healthy, looking at other people’s lived experiences as better than mine, running an internal dialogue that was everything but life-giving, living with depression and anxiety, experiencing physical pain from being obese. And if you knew me then, you wouldn’t have guessed any of it because of how I showed up. I think that origin is why I’m a hardcore Ennegram 3 today. I also think it’s why I don’t take any day for granted anymore. And it’s why I view this life with a perspective of joy, if you will 😉, and a perspective of WONDER. I’ve always been a dreamer. And to be honest, for years and years and years, that dreamer was silenced by the immense weight of darkness and doubt. It kept me from fully stepping into the joy that comes from believing anything is possible. But that was not the end of my story. The last five years have gifted me with a radical transformation within, allowing me to heal and create space for the desires I’ve always had to emerge with gusto, with vitality, ready to dance! And through all of this hard work – which often happens alone, in the quiet spaces of the soul – I’ve become more aware of how WONDER-FULL life is. I’m noticing, more every day, how my thoughts and focus on wonder have literally changed my life. When we take a step back and notice how incredible it really is to be alive, our thoughts start to shift and move towards a direction of health, joy and power. I sometimes think to myself, how can I not be wowed by the feeling of sunlight on my skin? How can I not be tearfully grateful when I hear my friends tell me I love you? How can I not be moved when I watch people show up for themselves? Let us not forget, y’all, that this life is full of wonder and magic every single day. And if we choose to focus on that wonder, even if for a moment every day, our lives will dramatically improve! And while I still experience pain, negative emotions, experiences, all of that, my focus on wonder is the forefront of my experience. I choose to view this lived experience as a wonderful one, filled with endless opportunities and joyful experiences that commences from my thoughts. And the more I do, the easier it is to find more and more reasons to experience wonder-full joy. So in the next week, I encourage you to pause and notice how much wonder is around you and in you. Be watchful for it, and breathe it in wherever you find it. Let me know how it goes. :) I believe in you, fully. Abe
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