Winter Blessings and Beauties, Day 27: Mindful Breath

 

The cold winter weather is now getting into its stride. The nights are freezing, the clear skies glittering with stars. The mornings are white with frost, sparkling in the slanting golden rays of the sun. 

This cold brings with it a winter phenomenon that has intrigued and delighted me since childhood - I can see my breath! In cold air, water vapour condenses quickly and easily. As a result, morning mist hangs in the folds of the hills, delineating their contours. And each exhalation of my breath is briefly visible, like a tiny personal cloud until it disperses on the breeze.

Winter Blessings and Beauties: Day 27

Mindful Breath

Our breath sustains us from the moment of our birth until that of our death. Yet for the most part it's not something we think about. Use the temporary visibility of your breath as a reminder to honour it, and give thanks for the wisdom of your body which just knows - without being told - how to take in the oxygen that your cells need and give away the unwanted carbon dioxide they produce so that it can sustain plants and trees. Breathing is simultaneously normal and miraculous. Give thanks and appreciation for every breath - visible and invisible!