A Minute Of Breathing A Day Keeps The Doctor Away

Last time, in What Goes Around Comes Around, I talked about thought algorithms.  They are tools that help you stay focused during each week of the 13×4 cycle (and are the “T” part of the FAST Method™).  Other tools you can use are “Action Algorithms.”  These are similar in that they help you stay focused, but the distinct difference is that you don’t just focus on your thinking, you do something a bit more active.

Action Algorithms
Whereas thought algorithms are reminders to notice your thinking, action algorithms call on you to act in a certain way. For example, “The Sausage Machine” is a tool that my colleague, Tom Cassidy, often suggests people use.  He calls it the “Master Action Algorithm,” and using it moves you from thinking that everything is happening to you to realizing you are the architect of your life.  It encourages you to shift into action so that you change your reality yourself.  For more on this excellent action algorithm, check out this video of our conversation about it – https://youtu.be/A8OnHeqFOjw

I often use action algorithms in my 13×4 program.  It’s because the underlying focus of the whole program for me this year is Planning – and that is leading to the necessity to take a lot of action in my life.  It’s also because I’ve been driven to produce results.  A point of view expressed so succinctly by Mohandas Gandhi when he said, “You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”

My number 10 focus area is in itself an action algorithm.  I use it to solve certain “problems” like algorithms are meant to do…

Focus Area #10

F-ocus: Breathe

A-ttitude: What is my approach to this focus area – what do I/we want it to be?

It might seem silly to have to remind myself to Breathe.  Of course, I’m not trying to remind myself to do the involuntary breathing that my body does automatically without my thinking about it.  I’m trying to remind myself to pause in the midst of my busy days and do some deeper, conscious breathing.  The kind of breathing in which you imagine the stress leaving your body with each exhale and you imagine light and energy entering your body with each inhale.

Breathe is one of the main ways that I use to immediately release stress and put in more energy and vibrancy into my body.  It’s a mind function as well as a body function, but, for me, there are more reasons for bodily health as I explain below.  I know it works for me based on an experiment that I did with meditation last summer.

S-tory: What is a story that illustrates the power of having this focus in my life?

In doing this 13×4 program, I’ve enjoyed learning new things by focusing on what I hadn’t focused on before.  And I’ve also noticed that I’ve been able to get more done with less time, which is, in part, due to the week when I stopped for a moment two times each day to Breathe.  Coming out of work mode, closing my eyes and simply breathing was like a computer system reboot.  It got me to review my time priorities, reduce my stress and recharge so that I could get more accomplished. 

It’s also allowed me to maintain my health and well-being.  I don’t take medicine to control my blood pressure, but doctors have told me that if I don’t control it on my own, then they will prescribe drugs.  That’s how close I am to the borderline of what they consider healthy versus unhealthy numbers.  I don’t want to deal with the hassle of having to take drugs, especially having to deal with the possible side effects.  Breathe is in the Body/Physical domain for this reason.  And, thanks to this focus area – which, by the way, feels so good to practice that I make time more often than not to breathe and recharge – my blood pressure is still in the healthy range.

T-ool: What is a tool I/we can use to maintain this focus area?

At midday every day, I noticed my stress level and paused to breathe.  It was simple to remember to do this.  I set my calendar with a daily appointment notated with the word “Breathe.”

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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they bring who they are to what they do in life. http://angelaloeb.com 
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