Regrets Of The Dying and an Epipheny of Sorts

Beyond the Opposites has a post up about the Top Five Regrets of the Dying.  All of them are things about which I'm trying to be mindful, but number five surprised me.

"I wish that I had let myself be happier."

The double-surprise for me, is that I'm currently skimming my way through Lynn Grabhorn's book, "Excues Me, Your Life Is Waiting," which also suggests that I'd be happier if I got out of my own way.

And then it hit me.

For years, I've been taking classes which all inevitably draw my attention to my breath.  The various instructors have encouraged me to breathe into my abdomen.

And for years, I've consciously worked on forcing that to happen.  Muscling the breath to where it should be going.

Recently, it occurred to me:  I'm not supposed to be forcing the breath there, I'm supposed to be relaxing enough to LET the breath go there.  I'm supposed to relax so that I'm not stopping it from going where it naturally is supposed to go.

For now I will start with getting out of my own way for my breath.  When I master that, I need to figure out how to scale that to the rest of my life.