DSTSS - think about it

55.  Breathe before you speak

i have a friend who is currently going through a transformational journey and she has often said i am extremely mindful (or self aware) and wonders how i do it.

and last week i was at the doctors and he commented on how happy and positive i looked and i said it's because i am happy and positive (and try to be, regardless of what is going on) and he said is wife suggested he should become more mindful - it is certainly a thing at present. that's for sure.  he kind of looked bewildered when he wondered how he could become mindful and i think plenty of people do.

so how do you become mindful, what is it you do, how do you start?  i have never really pondered this - even though i am mindful - but on thinking about it, i think the word "think" is what stands out as the key.

chapter 55 isn't a chapter on mindfulness, it's a chapter about breathing before you speak. and when i think about situations i am in, i think about what the possible outcomes could be with what i am about to say or do that may impact on others.  it doesn't always go as planned, but a potentially difficult situation can so easily be non existent, if there is time to breathe and absorb what is happening before reacting. i cant tell you how many times, i have had conversations that i have never meant to cause harm, or bad will towards others, but for whatever reason, a reaction occurs that is unexpected and boom, off goes the fireworks and before you know it, what could probably have been just a little flame that may just burn out on its own, becomes a full on pyrotechnics show.  do habitual behaviours automatically trigger a response that may not really be the best one? what if taking that moment to breathe before reacting enabled a slowing down of your mind, body and of a situation before it became worse then it needs.

this video is at my house and boy was it fun - there was flames, sparklers, 2 wax fueled kabooms, that singed the trees, the grass and the eyebrows of the person in charge. i know, safety first, but we had a cracking time.

And what does this have to do with breathing before you speak well nothing really, but it is fun to watch.

back in one of my first blogs when i started this project, i talked about the reminder trigger, my bracelets - and when i looked at them, or touched them it would trigger a response to be thinking about a situation that required me to be mindful of. they are still there, cause i am still going through a crazy journey.

so the think link i mentioned earlier is about being aware that if you want to change something then you really have to want to do it and consciously plant the seed of change. if a pattern is continually happening then set the wheels in motion to be aware of it and no matter how hard it is, keep it foremost in your mind, that you want to do it.

Note to self: spend more time adding fuel to the fire of fun and life, not fuel to the fire of anger and reaction, because words, burn, just like a fire and sometimes those scars take a long time to heal.