Fleeing is not an option.

Chaos. Drama. Uncertainty.

?

I came into this world crying a lot.? As I grew a bit older, I flapped my hands.

?

This sensitivity was well felt in many environments. Even today, I can register a space, an individual, and? a situation as I enter (sometimes even before).

?

Being highly sensitive is nothing extraordinary.? Many hold this very same superpower of feeling and sensing.

?

Empathy. Intuition. Gut instinct. Knowing.

?

Whatever you may call it, it works the same.? A premonition of radiant light electrifies the body which in turn explodes in the mind.

?

My learned practice was to flee this momentous occasion of feeling and knowing and sensing.? It came as awkward and strange.? It was confusing and non-sensical. I never really trusted it.

?

Flash ahead, this same powerful expression became my gift.? I used it as a teacher, as a mentor, as a coach, as a parent, as a friend, as a neighbor, and as a leader in many roles.

?

Even as this gift manifested into wonderful occasions of truth, honesty and integrity.? It also ruptured my inner solidarity for trusting the value I had for myself.

?

It wasn’t until many years ago when I woke up one day and couldn’t catch my breath, that I realized something is off balance. As a practice of breathing, I could not even inhale to a count of 4.? And holding the breath was completely out of the question.? It literally made me panic and shake nervously.

?

The breath was frozen. The flight/fright response was lodged in my throat and unable to move freely within the chambers of my heart and body.

?

Patience guided me to practice.

?

What could I do?? I started there.

?

Any form of practice has components of visibility and a nature of the invisible side effects.

?

The more I practiced breathing the more I wanted to breathe. This felt very strange, at first, as breathing seems so natural. That’s the invisible nature of breathing.? There is an essence of unconscious trepidation blended with assuredness that what you are engaging in will have life-altering results.

?

Awakened to the benefits of breathing led me to journaling, meditation, increasing stillness, reading, and yoga.

?

In the ancient tradition of yoga, breathing is the pathway between you and you. It is the inner -connected highway that holds the space for what is to come and what is to be released. The connected force of using the breath is empowering as it emerges our full potential.

?

Recently, while attending a yoga class, my instructor gave this piece of influence, “Stay for the exhale.”

?

I have not been able to get this wordy influence out of my head and heart. It pops in whenever I am about to escape a moment and flee to safer possibilities. The exhale has definition and capabilities to be molded like clay.? It holds the truest potential for us in any relationship or situation that ultimately requires us to respond, lead, mentor, and guide.?

?

Stay for the exhale releases us to the ground to forever let go of the fearful flight/fright response to flee a moment that feels scary, imbalanced and horrid. Fleeing is not an option.

?

Individuals have an unconscious conditioning that uses the invisible nature to bypass logic and understanding so that fleeing, escape and numbing become everyday habits. How we lead our families, communities and organizations are governed by this unconscious thread woven into the tapestry of our mission. How we nurture our people weaves this very tapestry into the fashion for how we relate to one another and how we transact our business locally, globally and universally.

?

When you stay for the exhale, a wiser nature rises to the moment and invites in awareness, noticing, watching, observing and receiving. It quietly gets to ask the question, “What is required of me in this experience?”

?

Again the focused action of stay for the exhale, allows for the energetic dissolve of war and gathers a neutral tendency for our greatest potential.

?

Our greatest potential for leading others must out way our unconscious pattern for acting without intention and fleeing the body wisdom of a fired up thought process.

?

Watch yourself when you are enraged over a situation. You are never in your body even though it appears that the body wants to act. You are, however, swirling fearfully in your mind and the thoughts are aligned to a rampage of behaviors to prove and defend the thought.? It is your thoughts that ultimately govern and are rooted in this unconscious conditioning.

?

There will always be an element of chaos and drama in our everyday experiences.? Even the wind blows from time to time and sometimes a light wind becomes a storm.

?

Anchoring our consciousness in an awareness to stay for the exhale roots all of us in a moment of breathing through our past programing and offering any situation the very best of our true potential.

?

Challenges become solvable with an elevated notion of what is good for all.

?

Disagreements become works of art with words and language as foreplay for deep connection and greater understanding.

?

Growth becomes inevitable and less a random act of kindness.

?

Every leader has a gift.? Our gifts are expressions of value meant to wake us up and, in all likelihood, wake others up as well.

?

Stay for the exhale. Our fast-paced worlds and businesses are yielding greater return as we become influencers of slowing down, pausing, aligning our mind with our bodies, and returning to the natural state of breathing.

?

THIS is where we find the answers, the next idea, the best production and our grandest success.

?

Breathe in. Stay for the exhale. Open up to the wisdom of intelligence that bypasses old stale habits. Breathe in. Stay for the exhale.? Watch your world become alive again. Breathe in. Stay for the exhale. Feel your heart and passion rise to the surface of your imagination.

?

• You want your business to flourish?

?

• You want your family to evolve?

?

• You want a product line to thrive?

?

• You want success?

?

• You want happiness?

?

• You want peace?

?

Stay for the exhale.

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?