The Win

Sometimes it's when you stop that you win...stop struggling, stop fighting, stop pushing, stop being angry, stop trying to force it. There's that saying about hitting rock bottom, but I think it's more like the full force of stopping that allows that shift to happen.

Life can be a big push, and there's always that framework that we're working from - that ideal we think it should look like to make us push ever harder and harder. It's a good thing from time to time - perhaps even more and more often - to pull the reigns, slow waaaay down, and just stop.

Immediately everything is different. The pressure is off, the stress is left suspended in midair with nothing to do, the task list lays untouched on the table. All of a sudden a deep breath feels like a novelty, as smooth and silky and deeply touching as the richest gift. The heart rate slows, the mind fights it a little and then follows suit and the rest that ensues opens up pathways of all the possibilities that were blocked out before.

Possibilities are what make winning possible. You can train and train, but it's an opening that let's you slide ahead and touch the finish line first and that opening is created because the blocks have been removed. Het up in all the stress and the commotion you are squeezed half to death; how can anything get through, how can anything open for you?

Sometimes it's when you stop that you win. here is an opportunity to reflect on it:

One minute breath...this is a powerful medititave breathing technique and you have to work up to the full time. Start with 7-10 seconds for each part and increase slowly, day by day until you reach 20 seconds. The one minute breath is breathing in 3 equal parts. Breathe in slowly, hold the breath, breathe out slowly. Start with 3-11 minutes.

This conscious stopping is like having every pro in your corner giving you the edge on life. Those few minutes spent relaxed, open the flood gates for possibilities, all the possibilities you need to win.

Blessings.
- Darshan

© 2009 Darshan F Jessop