Interesting Fact-
Using the information provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, out of a population of 282,556,000 people, 40,093,000 moved. That’s an overall percentage of 14.19 percent annually. Out of necessity, we’ve become migratory.
In Restless Times: Finding Your Fort –
What in our body is constantly migrating, always in motion?
Our breath and our blood. Both need to keep moving or we die.
When we stop moving, we’re stuck and generally we know it. In the momentum of our daily lives, we don’t build in space for solitude until we realize we’re desperate for it or have become ill. Along the way we need to remember that finding solitude, creating a fort, will allow us to notice changes we need to make to stay healthier.
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Radical Idea–
We need to have solitude to understand our natural state of being which is to be in motion. What an odd juxtaposition of truth. Yet, when we find our fort, even a brief resting place, we allow ourselves space for perspective to notice things we often take for granted. In a moment of solitude, what we like to think of as SOULitude, we get a dose of nutritious peace.
Some Tips-
1. Find a shelter, a fort, where you can go even if it’s just for five minutes. You can recall that fort anytime- in the middle of a meeting, in rush hour or when you are getting a medical treatment.
2. Power nap– Lying down and closing your eyes for even 10-15 minutes can provide a reboot of vitality.
3. Focus on your breath for five breaths (which is approximately 20 seconds)- doesn’t seem like very much but a few good breaths go a long way. Feel the coolness of the air as it enters your nose, receive the gift of the refuge that the spirit in the air gives you.
Wisdom Prescription-
As children we naturally found or made forts to allow ourselves perspective. Remember your favorite fort. Where was it, what did it look like, smell like? What magical items did you take into your fort with you- a stick, your bicycle, your favorite locket? Find a fort and take a few magical items into it with you.
Recommendation-
What to Remember When Waking– A Poem by David Whyte
What to Remember When Waking
For a breath in your day, enjoy a moment of solitude and read David Whyte’s poem and rest your eyes on David Mackenzie’s photos.
Many people’s breathing gets stuck.
They may not think of it that way but on further reflection realize they hold their breath a lot or cannot take a deep satisfying deepest calm producing in-breath. Shallow breathing sets in like concrete and often stays for a lifetime. Nor can many speak out a protest or rebuttal or even an accolade.
The cause for these for many is in the way they breathe.
Thinking or reading about breathing will not change it.
Like chocolate it must be tasted.
It can not be taught but it can be learned.