calming myself

“So, I guess it is pretty tough to thrive these days, isn’t it?” a friend remarked. He was assuming that, in order to thrive, life must be going well. Everything in place, and everything humming along.

Sure, those are nice days. And yes, they represent easier moments. But thriving is not just about having things go well. It is possible to thrive, in spite of what life is throwing your way.

Or maybe because of what life is throwing at you.

And wow, life is really throwing it at us these days, isn’t it? Yesterday marked the one year anniversary since the first COVID case made it to the States. We’ve been living with that virus now for a year. Then throw in the economic struggles, thanks to the virus. Then toss in a little political struggle, some social unrest. These are challenging days!

And if we aren’t careful, we can let media (social and otherwise) keep us hyped up on fear and dread.

Or we can find our place of calm. Our spot of ease.

In this episode of Thriveology Podcast, I cover the space between Un-Ease, Dis-Ease, and Ease. How to make the shift.

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It happens about 25,000 per day. And for the most part, it is automatic. But it is one of the few bodily functions that you can “take off automatic” and choose how you will do it. And you might not be doing it optimally.

What is it?

Breathing. Taking a breath. Inhaling and exhaling.

I know, it seems automatic, right? But you can choose to take a deep breath. Or you can hold your breath. You may breathe out of your nose. Or you may breathe with your mouth (you may want to change that one… listen to the podcast for why).

Breathing one way can stress you out. Breathing another way will calm you down (meaning, you can choose which way you want to breathe!).

Since you are currently reading this, we can assume you are breathing. That’s a great start? How about breathing BETTER? That is a process that can take you down lots of paths.

On this episode of the Thriveology Podcast, I interview James Nestor. A journalist and writer, James got interested in breathing from an ealier book, Deep, which focused on freediving (people going very deep for a long time, because they are excellent breathers).

His upcoming (and excellent) book is Breath. It is a super-deep (and very readable) “dive” into breathing — why it is important, how to do it better, and what difference it makes.

When I heard about the book, I knew I needed to get James on the podcast, at this moment. His book won’t be out until May (but go ahead and pre-order it!). But with the pandemic, you need this information now. So, I got him on! And James offered some simple, easy ways to uber-breathe to help your health.

This is super important. Take a listen below! (Then order his book!)

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Ease <==> Dis-Ease

Breathe for Your Health and Calm