Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about work. A problem that looms large or an idea that I can’t get out of my mind. Once I am in full action at this time, I find it hard to go back to sleep. What I have discovered to help me get back to sleep is to get my breathing back in rhythm.
This sounds strange but true for me. A regular rhythm of deep inhaling and exhaling begins to relax me. Much needed after what turns out to be some intense thinking in the middle of the night. Only then can I fall back to sleep.
All of this leads me to so many ideas we are commonly exposed to. Things like morning routine, daily habits, structuring your calendar between meetings and to do items to accomplish. Figuring out if you do your best work in the morning or at night. Fitting exercise into our busy day. Sampling the benefits of meditation with a focus on this same type of intentional breathing.
Which then leads to the concept of flow. A state of mind where you become so present in what your doing, time simply flies. Where deep thought and immersion in the present blocks all distraction. Flow doesn’t happen every day nor every minute. But is wonderful when it occurs.
Bringing us back to rhythm in our day. Not in terms of following the worn path we have become mindlessly happy to often revisit. Rather in creating structure in our day that triggers us to next steps in an orderly way. Things that are important for us to do. In step with who we are and what needs to be done. Giving them a regular presence in our lives. With benefits to follow.
If distraction causes stress, rhythm mitigates it by helping us structure our day (in part) so as to be in more control. To a beat that we can follow. Not with precision but rather with intention. Giving us a chance to find flow in things we deem important. Worthy of regular oversight while hopeful of being able to complete.