In the past I would eat rapidly, one quick bite after the other, gobbling down food like a madman. There would be no pause between bites, only the constant chewing until the whole meal was finished, and after the food was all gone, I would want more. A small meal wouldn't satisfy me. Even worse than my eating habits, however, I would, and I still kind of do, drink even faster than I ate. Whenever I was inside a restaurant with free refills, I would put those soda machines to work! By the time my girlfriend would take her first sip, for example, I would have gone through two or sometimes three glasses of drink. I would not pause or rest between my next bite or sip. Now that I look back I understand that those eating and drinking habits were an expression of my anxiety. But what was creating the anxiety? The slowing down and space between isn't just important with eating and drinking, but also in thinking, and especially breathing.
Just as I constantly and rapidly stimulated my taste-buds, I did the same with my breath. I unconsciously breathed rapidly to stimulate and feed my thoughts. Most of my life I was a very weary, shy, and anxious person, and my short shallow breaths fueled the fire of those fears. The fears of course were created by the mind, which creates thoughts. The mind can sometimes interfere with people's lives by putting false, insignificant, and absurd judgements into their heads. Since my breaths were short and shallow, my mind would constantly create very fearful thoughts throughout my day. "What if this person doesn't like me?" "What if they don't say hello?" "What will they say about me?" These were thoughts that would rule my everyday living. I would constantly feed my thoughts without slowing them down or pausing in between them.
The breath is very powerful and influential. It is what helps the ignition, combustion, and creation of energy (thoughts) inside the "pistons" of the brain. When we breath quickly, our thoughts become very rapid and often very obscured. When we think very quickly, thought after thought, it is as if our brain is trying to drive on the freeway on first gear; our brain activity quickly starts "redlining." But when we slow and deepen the breath, we discover lower and heavier gears that can handle the demand of the "freeway," whatever it may be. I have to jump on a freeway tomorrow morning; it is called the History 6 midterm essay exam. This exam is a very demanding freeway. Now instead of freeway I will call it "situation." The situation tomorrow demands that I arrive at my destination, the end of the exam, effectively and on time. Once I find myself in the situation tomorrow and my breath is rapid, reaching the destination on time will be a very difficult task, but if I am aware of my breath and make sure to slow it down, I will be able to shift into a deeper gear, easily remember details, cruise through, and reach my goal.
Currently I am not, not yet at least, in control of most of my thoughts, but I know that with attentiveness and awareness of my breathing I can overcome my fears. In order to calm the mind, we must first slow the breath. The breath is what ultimately fuels the brain, which can create a lot of fearful and false thought. The breath is more powerful than the mind. Therefore, if we have control of the fuel we will have control of the unconscious-loving government that the brain tries to impose on us. So we must pay attention to the speed of and space between our eating, drinking, and other activities but most important of all is the breath. The breath can guide or misguide us in any situation that we find ourselves in depending if we are aware and in control of it. So lets become aware of it and help others as well. Doing so will help humanity overcome the situation that it is faced with in these days.
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