Remembering to Exhale
THE RESULT OF FEELING OVERWHELMED
‘Overwhelm’ is the result of forgetting to breathe. It is feeling like you are drowning, or engulfed in ‘too much, too often.’ Although life may flood us with little warning, finding a way to emerge from that feeling may be closer than we expect.
When was the last time you felt overwhelmed?
For those who experience this regularly, you likely have little difficulty recognizing this stress as it is occurring.
Some of us (myself included) are slow to acknowledge feelings, and then stressful events which set off alarm bells for others get filed under ‘a bit difficult’ and the emotions get buried.
Often beneath a pound of chocolate.
Nevertheless, stress, regardless of the source, can leave us exhausted, reactive, weepy, angry, or without sleep.
Or maybe too much sleep if that is your go-to way of alleviating stress.
Now, I am not a doctor, researcher, or therapist.
These reflections are offered only as my thoughts, having lived with a wee bit of overwhelm in my decades on this earth.
INHALING
Because I have played a wind instrument most of my life, I developed an appreciation for managing my breath at a very early age.
Later, I took up meditation, which calls on the practice of breathing as a spiritual practice.
Add to that the years I studied biology in preparation for a career I never pursued, and I have a few reflections about inhaling, exhaling, and their effect on our feelings.
If you have ever learned CPR, you know the process is about filling up a victim’s lungs with air and then compressing their chest to help the gasses escape.
What happens if we don’t remember to exhale? If we take air in without allowing the carbon dioxide to escape?
Consider a bag piper…there is no music if the air doesn’t leave the bag!
If you have ever tried to hold your breath for an extended time have you noticed that after a few minutes, pressure builds up, and soon you are gasping for air? (Photo by Bianca Berg on Unsplash)
Carbon dioxide rules again! It seems pretty apparent that when we inhale, we need to exhale, and we trust our bodies to do that for us.
Or an EMT or a ventilator.
Life cannot continue, nor can there be music, without an exhale.
EXHALING
(Photos by Rishabh-Sharma, Ben-Hershey, Raul-Yarzar, Ian-Espinosa on Unsplash)
So what happens when we find ourselves gasping in everyday life?
Pressure builds in our spirit made not of CO2 but TMI.– an acronym for ‘too much information,’ but also for ‘too much inhaling.’
We take in everything…good and bad.
World politics and weather events and homelessness.
The beauty of nature, classical music, and newborn kittens.
We have our projects, our daily chores, good books we want to read but seldom have the time for, visits to the hospital to see a sick neighbor, a pie to bake for a community fundraiser, and an oil change that is overdue on the car.
We inhale good news and bad news simultaneously all day long. But we forget to exhale until, at some point, all this inhaling creates so much pressure we feel we are drowning!
Overwhelm!
It’s time to breathe out. To release everything that we are holding.
What are the ways we can exhale before a rescue squad has to arrive to do the job for us?
CPR FOR THE SOUL
(Photos by Sebastien Goldberg, Japheth-Mast, Sid-Leigh on Unsplash)
Is there some activity that makes you smile?
A walk in nature? Playing Celtic music? Doodling in a sketchbook?
How about pausing long enough to gaze at new-fallen snow or a watch a young child build a lego castle?
All of these are forms of exhaling.
Doing ‘nothing’ is the best exhale of all, regardless of what you learned as a child.
Some people exhale with meditation or prayer.
If you are an empathic type, prayer may be inhaling the burdens of the world, and you may have to find a different way to exhale.
You may find exercise to be great for the body, but it can be even better for the soul.
For many people, physical activity is their favorite form of ‘exhaling’ the pressures that have built up inside.
THE SACRED PAUSE BETWEEN AN
INHALE AND AN EXHALE
Between inhaling and exhaling, there is a sacred pause that often goes unnoticed.
Try it now.
As you exhale, can you experience that moment just before you inhale in which nothing is occurring?
Or it at least it seems that nothing is happening.
Some have said that this is the space where God resides.
It is where transformation takes place in the bodily process of moving gases in and out.
We can’t linger there.
We can only briefly touch the gentle Mystery of the pause.
But we can awaken to its existence with just a couple minutes of breathing meditation, focusing not in the in-breath or the out-breath, but the moment in between.
Overwhelm can gently abate in those brief moments of pause between inhale and exhale.
We all seem to know how to inhale…whether that is air, information, food, busyness, or world problems.
Exhaling, or letting go, sometimes takes a bit more intention, else we begin to suffer from a harmful buildup in our bodies and spirits.
We may even need a ‘spiritual ventilator’ or a practice to re-regulate our lives. See ‘How to Find Time for Spiritual Practice’ or ‘The Art of Letting Go’ for how to make everyday actions a form of exhaling.
REMEMBER TO EXHALE
When you think about it, an overwhelming feeling, that drowning sensation, is a warning that our bodies give us that something is out of balance.
So caught up in inhaling life that we have forgotten to exhale.
The results can be fatal. Literally and figuratively.
Here are some questions you may want to use for journaling.
- Where is my life out of balance between what I am taking in and what I am releasing?
- How is that making me feel, not only in my body but in my spirit?
- What are three things I can release now, for just a moment, if not longer?
- Where do I find pauses in my breathing and my life?
- How can I remember that I need to exhale?
I hope some of these prompts may help you to find your way of discovering balance, relieving the toxic buildup of pressure, and giving yourself room to take another big breath after a holy pause. And then remember to exhale!
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