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February 26, 2008
Keep Breathing
Deep breathing is an exercise most people have to learn. I, for one, am a shallow breather and all of the ridiculous sighs I have let out over the years were a sign I never saw. Moments of frustration, or deep overwhelming thoughts, would cause my mind to trick my body into drawing in a deep breath and release it in a loud wind... unconsciously, of course. A sigher, I was. Just as my father before me. His sighs were a sign that things were not going good. My siblings and I were aware that "the sigh" was a sign that things were starting to get out of control. Whatever the event, the control was not in it anymore.
Don't get me wrong, he never really lost it in some berserk, foul-mouthed, loose-handed way. But with the sigh came the self-loathing. The feelings of not being good enough and not being able to ever rectify your mistake. My siblings and I all know that my dad loves us very much, but those years of the sighs have deep roots of dissension and disagreeable feelings.
So, I have this knowledge now. I understand that MY breathing is one of the things "askew" in my system. I am working on it. When the unconscious urge to sigh begins I try to make myself take a few deep breaths and feel the air exit slowly, not loudly, and repeat it.
Retraining something that you do automatically wrong is difficult... But quite a learning experience.
Here is a song that I thank Ingrid Michaelson for... "Keep Breathing" Find it here in the little music box on the right side... enjoy!
http://www.myspace.com/ingridmichaelson
Posted by mindy on February 26, 2008 10:06 PM
Comments
I totally agree that a sigh is a scary thing for the person who HEARS the sigh and has to deal with the interpretation of the sigh. What did that sigh mean? Is that person upset? Is he overwhelmed? If they're upset, just talk to me and don't just sigh!
Posted by: Anonymous on March 5, 2008 10:02 AM