I love the breath. I’m constantly learning and becoming more aware of it, of its movement, its dynamic. (This is another reminder to read Breath, by James Nestor, if you’re interested in this stuff.) Nasal breathing is a specifically and surprisingly awesome thing: “We breathe anywhere from 20,000-25,000 times a day. Make sure that these breaths are as optimal as possible. We absorb less oxygen when breathing through our mouths. As air comes in through our nose, it is pressurized and moistened by the nasal cavity, making our body more capable of absorbing that oxygen - 18-20% more. … When you breathe through your mouth (using mainly your chest and neck muscles), the body equates these short, shallow and stressful breaths to a fight-or-flight response. Now imagine..you are signalling to your body that you are stressed, with everything single breath, every single day. Over time, this can cause chronic stress and inflammation.” @spreadwhealth So, friends, let’s take a moment to breathe through our nose. For real! I’m doing it right now as I write, just slowly inhaling and exhaling through my nose. Maybe that’s automatic for you, maybe not, but when you’re watching Netflix or on a walk or working, practice simply breathing through your nose, and practice feeling it. Our bodies don’t like being stressed, so give it a little bit of a break, by just breathing through your nose. Celebrate where you are We sometimes forget how far we’ve come. I’m constantly reminding my clients, celebrating with them how far they've come since that first call. It’s easy to dismiss the work we’ve put in, easy to not even realize that we are at a totally better place than we might even think. Sometimes we think we are experiencing stagnation when in reality, we actually are just moving slowly towards our goals. It’s still movement, but the slowness of it can feel like failure. I think that comes from simply forgetting that the journey is never ending. A moment that feels like stagnation now looks like what I dreamed about five years ago. My weight, for example. I’ve been at the same weight the last two years of my #abeminus100 journey. Over the last two years, I’ve hovered at 60-75 pounds lost. My goal is to hit 100 pounds lost, and I can view these two years as a failure or simply as part of the greater journey that is unfolding. Instead of focusing on such a limiting-feeling thought as stagnation, I’m purposefully focused on continuing to develop my nutrition habits, build techniques for elevating my mood and decreasing stress, and I’m constantly getting PRs in the gym. What I could consider stagnation today was something I literally thought I could never do 5 years ago. Now, what’s one of the key ingredients to combat quitting or real stagnation? Celebration. Focus on the things that are going right. Celebrate them! Absolutely notice things that you can improve on but also don’t stay hyper focused on what’s going wrong—focusing on the negative doesn’t lead to productive, sustainable results. Celebrating what’s going right will build the momentum you actually need to improve the areas in which you desire growth. There’s no point in beating yourself up for things you haven’t gotten “right” in this current moment. Negativity begets negativity, begets pessimism begets apathy begets you not reaching your goals. Instead, celebrate how far you’ve come and all that you’re doing right now, in this moment. And these things that we are celebrating don’t need to be getting a raise or buying a new house or finding a new partner (though congrats if you are celebrating those!)—it can be simply getting out of bed during a pandemic, or washing the dishes, or resting, hydrating, SMILING! Don’t take any of these moments that you’re alive for granted—see them, celebrate them. An opt-in exercise for you: write down what you are celebrating right now. Think about where you’ve been and how far you’ve come. Look around you. Look inside. Dig deep. Find something to celebrate about your epic journey. Focus on it. Cheers and/or pat yourself on the back. You’re doing it. Keep going. And don’t forget to celebrate where you are. I believe in you, Abe
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