My Pen Mates,
Met a jolly fellow yesterday and learned an interesting fact about feeling and coping. He asked if I ever wondered why people turn red when they are upset or when they get angry, and volunteered the observation that it's because their breathing is interrupted, thus depriving the blood of oxygen needed to cope with the increased level of stress. He went on to conjecture that it's hard to get mad when you breathe (although I suspect that following his logic, breathing consciously will dissipate anger faster rather than keep you from getting upset). The physiology rather makes sense, and it's one of those sage advice you hear from people (breathe in, breathe out; take a deep breathe and relax; count to ten before you reply, etc.) who perhaps witness the facial change in your presence.
As a practical matter, regardless of emotion, everyone needs to breathe (you can only keep from doing so for so long....). But the value of this advice lies in the habit of learning to use it as a calming technique. This guy as it turns out, practices yoga as does my wife. The habit of disciplined breathing is sacrosanct in this exercise and it's hard to find fault in its benefit.
This is one of those corollaries to the saying that "time heals all wounds". Given the chance to step back from the heat/anxiety of the moment, one can think more clearly. Since no one can be adrenaline driven constantly, allowing a mind not addled by bodily chemicals to think things through results in more rational thinking instead of crisis response behaviour. So more than anything, breathing buys time -- time to normalize, time to get back to baseline, time to forget, and perhaps time to forgive. After all, given time, everything will pass; so why not breathe in the meantime.....
Mon
< Latest
