Daily Musing #3

We are social creatures. This is a truth I have come to accept, but I feel is used too often nowadays. In fact, we are so connected that I think it time we ask, what is too much?

What if we gave ourselves time without external influence, including video and audio, to process and find our own conclusions? I believe this is a large part of how wisdom is built. We need to process and consider life, not just experience it. This way we can improve our ability to make decisions and refine our ability to filter advice, not just for truth but for personal validity. Giving us a better understanding of ourselves, the world, and how to best bring the two together.

I do my best to give a few minutes a few times a day, but I have “fallen-off”. This is not because it is difficult or useless but because when something is more passive than active, such as time to think, meditate, and just breathe they tend to be more difficult to notice slippage leading to the fall-off. I have nonetheless gotten it going again, including currently. This is where a note, or log that chronicles these times may come in handy. And so I will be trying this presently.

My personal way is to sit on folded knees, palms-up on my lap, eyes closed, do a few cycles of box breathing before transitioning into whatever thoughts need to flow related to life. This allows for resetting of the nervous system, analyzing and building connections within my life, which has greatly helped me to identify the lessons life tries to teach.

When I have become overly stressed about, stimulated by, and/or emotionally reactive to life is often when I realize this missing practice. Which I have seen the effects of by using it between my vitals being taken in an extreme situation, dropped my blood pressure by nearly 80 points in under 5 minutes.

Let’s not wait until the body feels in crisis to pick up and maintain this practice to the best of our ability. Every person deserves a pleasant ride through life, especially when it comes at such a low-cost, just a few minutes to ourselves each day.