I’ve been doing a lot of traveling recently on airplanes and it’s always kind mundane when you’re sitting there in the ‘upright position,’ anticipating takeoff and the flight attendants are gesturing all the safety maneuvers at you. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I typically ignore this part completely, that is, up until my last flight back to Toronto. I must commend the originality of the male stewardess on the mic, he gave a cynical yet comedic performance of the emergency instructions – complete with quips about the plane going down. And then it occurred to me, as his colleagues flashed the gear around; those Oxygen masks that drop out of the ceiling, yes those Ziploc bags with the straw, is that really going to help me when we are going down? Luckily, my thoughts were interrupted by, “…pull the mask over your face, breath normally, as opposed to abnormally, before assisting other passengers – this even includes small children.”
As I began to do my ritual of a little deep breathing to calm the nerves pre-takeoff, that last part resonates in my brain, “…even small children.” In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve always been an advocate for the breath. It’s so simple yet we take it for granted. Breath means life. To take the time to actually slow down and breath deeply for a few moments is so equally rewarding and elusive in our fast paced world. After all, life really is only guaranteed from breath to the breath. And yet here we are, learning how to save our lives in the event of a plane crash and we’re told, instructed actually, to breathe our own breath before we help another. Better still, even before a small, innocent child who is only on the flight because he doesn't take up a seat and he’s free before age two!
So if you must be selfish in life, be selfish when it comes to the breath, because as you breathe right now, someone else is taking their last. Take the time to be conscious of each cloud of oxygen, show gratitude towards it, and never let it go to waste. Just like on a plane, even the science of our bodies demand that we successfully nurture, care, and invest in our own breath before helping another breathe. Breath is the one thing we can always fall back on to remind us to be in the moment. So inhale and exhale like you mean it, and breathe your own breath.
As I began to do my ritual of a little deep breathing to calm the nerves pre-takeoff, that last part resonates in my brain, “…even small children.” In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve always been an advocate for the breath. It’s so simple yet we take it for granted. Breath means life. To take the time to actually slow down and breath deeply for a few moments is so equally rewarding and elusive in our fast paced world. After all, life really is only guaranteed from breath to the breath. And yet here we are, learning how to save our lives in the event of a plane crash and we’re told, instructed actually, to breathe our own breath before we help another. Better still, even before a small, innocent child who is only on the flight because he doesn't take up a seat and he’s free before age two!
So if you must be selfish in life, be selfish when it comes to the breath, because as you breathe right now, someone else is taking their last. Take the time to be conscious of each cloud of oxygen, show gratitude towards it, and never let it go to waste. Just like on a plane, even the science of our bodies demand that we successfully nurture, care, and invest in our own breath before helping another breathe. Breath is the one thing we can always fall back on to remind us to be in the moment. So inhale and exhale like you mean it, and breathe your own breath.
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