Backstory: Alexandra Epple’s blog, Spirit Journey (you met Alexandra in a 52+ interview about a month ago), inspired this nudge. In her “The Gigantic Breath Cycle of Your Life” post, she wrote a couple of lines that struck a chord with me:

“Our society is not set up to honor exhales. We are set up for creation, achievement, progress…all of which equate to inhaling.”

A healthy cycle of breathing, she went on to explain, is inhale, exhale, pause.

I suck at this. “Pause”? Oh, sure, I do that when I’m sick or exhausted or forced to shelter in place for an extended period of time. But the rest of it is challenging for me. “When we find ourselves in the exhale cycle,” Alexandra continued, “it takes courage, awareness, and reminders to allow yourself to be in that space.”

I know I need to be more intentional about healthy breathing–about healthy living–until it becomes my new natural rhythm. Starting today, I’m going to practice this.