When you're suffering from crippling anxiety,
That familiar lightness in your body creeps in.
Not the good freeing kind,
But the one that feels like a momentary fall of a bad turbulence on an airplane.
Your sleep was just fine,
And suddenly you are awake with racing thoughts.
A thousand things to add on your to-do list.
Bottomless worries and fears engulfing you like a tidal wave.
You swing somewhere between,
I've got to do this,
I've got to do that,
And,
Oh god,
What if.
Your heart beats faster.
You feel lightheaded from shallow breathing that seems to get shallower and quicker.
Stop.
Stop.
Right here,
Right now,
Stop.
Just for a moment.
Breathe.
Use all your might right now to focus on each and every breath.
Slowly and deeply.
Use your mind's microscopic eyes to observe the rise and fall,
Beginning,
Middle,
And end of your breath.
One inhalation.
One exhalation at a time.
One inhale.
One exhale.
And again.
It's the only task you have in your hands in this moment.
Everything else can wait.
Your worries,
Fears,
To-do list.
Just for this moment,
They can wait.
I know that you know that nothing good can come when you are not grounded or present.
So just this moment,
Stop and breathe.
Focus on your only task.
Stay with this breath.
Every inhale,
Let your body become spacious.
Fill every corner with your breath.
Concentrate in your solar plexus.
Every exhale,
Let your body become taller.
Fight with your physical ground and expand upwards like growing trees.
In and out.
In and out.
Our body is so intelligent that it has the ability to control and redirect our mind,
Just by breath.
Even if you don't believe it,
The body does the work for you if you simply just pay attention to the breath.
Trust in your breath.
If you want to be productive,
Helpful,
And loving,
There is no hurry.
Being full and content within ourselves is the only way we are useful to ourselves and the world.
The entire universe conspired to create you.
You cannot fail.
Because even the things you believe you can fail are not failures from the eyes of the universe.
So just this moment,
Breathe.
And when you open your eyes,
You are ready.
