A Moment in Time: Giving Yourself Permission to Breathe

It's been almost 4 years since I've posted but I feel compelled to write ... This one comes to me from November 16, 2014 ... many written but never posted :-)  That's my M.O. but G-d willing all that will change very soon.  Why must we give ourselves permission to breathe?  Why does it feel foreign or strange to just be?  To just sit?   To just be still?  Why must we give ourselves permission to breathe?  Why do we feel guilty if we sit and do absolutely nothing?  Why do we feel as if something is wrong if we just sit and breathe?  Why does it feel strange and out of the ordinary?  Why do we feel incomplete if we STOP to nurture ourselves?  Why does sitting still for just a moment in time feel wrong when actually our bodies have rights - and this - this STOPPING - this breathing - it's right ...

Because sometimes we as mothers find ourselves overly consumed with doing.  Oftentimes to the neglect of our own selves.  Often to the point where we are moving day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second, trying to get it all done, trying to hold it all together, giving ourselves burdens that we were not meant to bear.  After all, it takes a village.  And down time is priceless.  Sometimes we just need to be still - mind, body and soul.  Sometimes we just need to sit in silence.  Sometimes we need to just sit in peace.  Sometimes we need to say "Please be still".

But other people's judgments and unrealistic expectations reign supreme and take hold and take over.  And we always feel like we don't have time to breathe because there is too much work to be done.  And we own it all by any means necessary.  Even if it causes us pain, we own it all.  Even if it means that our muscles are permanently contracted, we own it all.  To the extent that we have to learn to let go and breathe again.  An act that was once natural, innate, automatic and unconscious now becomes another task on our to-do list - something else that we have to learn, something else that we have to facilitate and regulate - another chore.  Another battle that we have to endure that we may or may not win.  ENOUGH!  Breathe.  Relax.  Relate.  Release.  And make no excuses and give no apologies for it.  You are enough.  Your job is enough and you deserve to live.  You deserve to breathe.  You do not have permission to make yourself mediocre by cutting off your own oxygen supply.  Take time for you and make no apologies.  Give yourself permission to breathe.