When the glitter settles, there is sparkle.

Let’s take a few moments to make a craft. You’ll need a clear jar with a tight fitting lid that won’t leak, loose glitter, water. To make the craft, fill the jar to nearly full with water and some glitter. Put the lid on tightly. Voila! You are done.

Now, shake the jar. Set it on a flat surface and watch the glitter. Watch how the glitter swirls and swirls, then settles.

Try this again. This time see if you can slow and deepen your breath as you watch the glitter settle. So this time, you’ll be deliberately breathing in a somewhat slower, deeper way, perhaps breathing for 4 to 5 seconds on the in-breath and 4 to 5 seconds on the outbreath. Notice your ribs expanding in all directions, then contracting. Imagine your muscles easing, relaxing. Just keep breathing in this somewhat slower, deeper way as you watch the glitter settle.

When the glitter settles, there is sparkle.

Do you have a sense of what I mean?

When we practice this simple act of slowing our breath down, focusing our attention on this slowing down, on the rhythm of our breathing—not always right away but often over time—we can learn to open ourselves up to the experience of greater ease—to the experience of sparkle.

Sometimes, this can take a while. Sometimes, there are all sorts of things that can arise when we try this that can make it hard to do such as feelings of fear or emotional pain. Yet even in the midst of these challenges, sometimes by turning toward our breath (and to breathing in a soothing, calming kind of way), we can also feel an increase in ease. It may be a micro-increase—so a micro-easing—and it may last for only a few moments—but it is a sense of increased ease just the same. String several micro-easings together on a line and, wow, the magic of sparkle ….

When we experience a bit of easing, a bit of sparkle, we can tie this in with yesterday’s post and deliberately take that good thing in, helping our brains to process it more substantially.

(Signing off from Gift Three….)