WATCH\u00a0IT!<\/p>\n
\u201cThe\u00a0miracle is not to walk on water.\u00a0The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present\u00a0moment and feeling truly alive.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0– – Thich Nhat Hanh<\/p>\n
The greatest gurus and teachers remind us that breathing consciously\u00a0fills us with acceptance, joy, peace and love. It helps us keep fear at bay. Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist, poet and peace activist, died last week at 95 years old. Exiled from Vietnam for four decades, he was one of the foremost advocates of mindfulness across the globe, a practice which he defined as \u201cthe energy that helps you to be aware of what is going on. \u201cForgetfulness,\u201d he adds, \u201cis the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moving or speaking blindly with no regard for yourself or anyone else\u00a0ends up causing all of us stress and suffering. It puts us in danger and it\u00a0makes for a fear based life. \u201cPeace,\u201d the master says, \u201conly exists in the\u00a0present moment, the substance with which the
future is made. Therefore, the best way to take care of the future is to take\u00a0care of the present moment. What else can you do?\u201d<\/p>\n
One of my ongoing goals is\u00a0to avoid living a fear based life. It makes living so small, so tight and\u00a0limited and stressful. It does have a purpose, however. Fear reminds us to be\u00a0alert and to sense danger that could hurt us. But being afraid about life in\u00a0general takes fear to a whole new level. Whenever I crossed the street with my\u00a0mother, she had the habit of stepping off the curb, catching her breath and shouting\u00a0\u201cWatch it!\u201d in a shrill voice. Then she threw her arm out in front of me as if\u00a0she were shielding me from getting hit by a car. It startled me every time as I\u00a0swerved my head around, searching for the Mac truck that surely was heading my\u00a0way. Nothing was there.<\/p>\n
I recall a Thanksgiving\u00a0dinner with my extended family when I was in my twenties. The table had been\u00a0cleared and we were having dessert when a family member told a story about\u00a0someone who was robbed in a subway station. One by one, everyone began to tell
their stories of confronting danger, of this or that terrible thing happening.\u00a0When it was my mother\u2019s turn, she stated definitively, \u201cThe whole world is\u00a0dangerous.\u201d Then she took a bite of pecan pie.<\/p>\n
The programming was\u00a0obvious, I recognized it at the time, but it had been etched into the synapses\u00a0of my brain since I was a young child. It has taken a great deal of awareness\u00a0and practice to recognize when that message is at play and do what I can to
transform it. I\u2019m still working on it, but it\u2019s worth the effort. It\u2019s the
difference between being stooped over and riddled with fear all the time or standing\u00a0tall, being courageous and curious, breathing deeply and being filled with awe\u00a0and wonder.<\/p>\n
Whenever I\u2019m struggling with life, the answer always comes back to the\u00a0same thing: Mindfulness. Staying in the present moment by focusing on my\u00a0breath. It\u2019s the one thing all human beings have in common. Whether you’re a\u00a0nurse or a serial killer, a Christian, a Jew or a Muslim, we all breathe. We take\u00a0our first breath when we’re born, and we take or last when life stops. There is\u00a0no way we can live without it. We can survive without food for three months. We
can survive without water for three days. We can survive without breath for\u00a0three minutes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s all about bringing yourself into the moment and into the rhythm
with which you breathe. Aligning with your breath takes you out of fear of the\u00a0future and dread of the past. It places you securely into the inhale and exhale\u00a0of the present moment where things are simple. There is no stress or fear. Of\u00a0course, some situations are harder than others. It\u2019s one thing to sit and focus\u00a0on your breath in a quiet, safe place. It\u2019s another thing altogether to find\u00a0your breath when you’re in crisis, when you’re feeling regret, anxiety and
cravings. Or when your mother shouts out in a panic when you cross the street\u00a0with no cars coming.<\/p>\n
As we search for the elusive thing called \u201chappiness,\u201d I remind myself\u00a0that happiness is based on inner peace. Happiness without peace is mercurial\u00a0and evasive. It slips through your fingers like melted butter. Peace, on the\u00a0other hand, is the foundation for happiness. It deepens us as human beings and\u00a0reminds us that we are all connected. When you find peace in your heart and\u00a0reflect it outward into the world, you will be on the path to dispelling fear
and healing the wounds in your heart and in the world around you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WATCH\u00a0IT! \u201cThe\u00a0miracle is not to walk on water.\u00a0The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present\u00a0moment and feeling truly alive.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0– – […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}