Taking that Breath for Granted

Original Post in March 2003, "the Wirth Report"

You just did it again! What am I talking about, you ask?

We are a people obsessed with the future and the next thing. We take each moment - the here and now - for granted. We assume that life will go on as it always has. It isn't until crisis, tragedy, or old age that we even begin to consider our own mortality. It is this unconscious cultural denial that feeds and fertilizes our unwillingness to treasure the moment...in the moment.

I was reminded how easily this happens in my own life while driving across South Dakota to Speak at Si Tank University. The song lyrics on the radio grabbed a hold of me I hope that you never take one breath for granted! Well, I had heard the song I Hope You Dance before. But I was sure that this moment was my own private wake-up call.

Suddenly, my screen was filled with all the things I'd placed on the back burner... to do one day, some day. But that day might never come! It's time to really look at this laundry list, and determine which are my real priorities.

You see, most of us live each day on half empty, conserving energy for tomorrow.

Do you have any idea what this mortality blocking fog is costing you? Just talk to someone who's recently lost a loved one. Ask them if they're aware of how precious that breath you just took really is!

You see, it's never too late to wake up. Today is the day. Go ahead! Ask that person out. Tell your Grandaddy that you love him. Take up yoga or join a dance class. Ask your mother to show you how to make that special family recipe. Forgive a grudge. Plant those flowers. Take a nap. Change your career. Go back to school. Write that letter. After all, I hope that you'll never take one breath for granted.

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The reflection above was written in 2003, yet it lands with striking relevance today.

If anything, our collective distance from the present moment has grown. With advancing media, we live faster, consume more information, and rarely pause long enough to feel our own lives unfolding.

We are conditioned to look ahead to the next task, the next milestone, and the next version of ourselves. The present becomes background noise and we assume there will be time later to feel, to connect, to begin again.

That assumption often goes unquestioned until something breaks through it.

Most of us don’t realize how much we’re holding back. We conserve energy, emotion, and honesty for a future that isn’t guaranteed. We live carefully instead of fully. In a world where things are changing quickly and tomorrow may look different than it does today, we need to live in the present as much as we can.

If you notice yourself feeling distant or rushed right now, pause for a moment and return to something simple and reliable: your breath.

Try this:

• Inhale through your nose for 4

• Hold for 4

• Exhale slowly for 4

• Hold again for 4

  
  

Repeat this cycle four times.

This isn’t about control or perfection. It’s about remembering that you are here. That this moment is real. That your body is already participating in life, whether your mind is present or not.

So let today be enough to begin. Reach out. Tell the truth. Forgive what’s been heavy. Move your body. Rest without apology. Change your mind.

Don’t wait for certainty.

Don’t take this breath for granted.