
Breathing is Planning
I rarely achieve “empty mind” when I meditate. Maybe like you, my mind seems to default to use this time to “plan”, which is a nice word for obsessively reviewing my to-do list and my worries. One day this phrase came to me: Breathing IS planning. I “plan” because I think it will improve my reaction later when something happens. But it probably won’t happen exactly like that anyway. What will always be true, though, is that whatever happens, taking a breath before reacting will improve my situation. So, the best planning I can do is to plan to breathe.