Breathe

 

I took this photo yesterday as I sat at the table trying to make sense of what my life and schedule is looking like these days.  I started out the day feeling completely stressed and overwhelmed, but after blocking things out and attending my first real counseling class last night, I'm feeling so much better!  All the pink highlighted stuff you see there are study blocks - whoop!  The "experts" say for every hour spent in class plan to spend at least two hours outside of class reading, researching, writing, etc.  As we speak I'm already cheating by doing this (shhhh!), but all in all I'm really excited to dig in and begin this journey.

In the midst of my freak out stress sessions I'm really trying to be conscious of breath  -specifically my breathing.  It's amazing what a difference it makes to stop and take a nice deep breath.  Simple, but very easily forgotten!  I think I might put the following quote on my laptop, fridge, mirror, heck maybe my forehead?  Good, good words.

“Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment I know this is the only moment.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace