Breathing in/breathing out
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)
This is the verse I appended to yesterday’s passage and commentary. So today I’ll just write of a practice I learned from Mary Rose O’Reilley’s The Barn at the End of the World. It’s something like this (I’m sure I’m misrepresenting it at some important level): Be aware of how you’re feeling–say, sad. Then, as you breathe in, say “I breathe in and know that I am sad.” As you breathe out, say, “Breathing out, I smile with my sadness.”
Somehow, the mindfulness of this practice helped me to “not worry about anything,” as Paul writes. Perhaps a pauline version would be: I breathe in and know that I feel anxious about the day. Breathe out, I smile with my anxiety, bringing it up to God.
