The Bucket List

I think it’s important to have a list of things that we’d like to do or accomplish as we each journey through our individual lives. It helps keep us on track with some of the bigger, or even smaller things that we’d like to try at least once as we go through. Remember, we only go through life once, better to do it now rather than leave it till later.

It can also be a useful tool to show those people around you just what sort of a person you are, and what types of things you have an interest in. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone who see’s your list goes one step further and offers to help you with one of your goals.

(I was out driving with a friend one day, and as we drove by the Airport, I commented on a nice looking helicopter out front, I commented that I’d always wanted to fly in one, but never had as yet. Turns out his company needed him to rent one the following week to video an area they were going to be laying some pipe. He offered, I accepted, and the following week I spend two hours flying in the very helicopter I had commented on.

Scratched one more off my list!

I’ll share with you my own list in the hopes that it helps you to either create your own, or simply gives you a few things you’d like to add to your own.

My Bucket List

And I am continually on the lookout for new and exciting things to add to my list, so if you the reader would like to share your own “Bucket List” with us, I look forward to reading them!

Once again thank you all for reading TheHappySelf.com

Warren

Purify With 100 Mindful Breaths.

(TheHappySelf Happiness Challenge #1: These challenges are meant to create a new awareness within you, to awaken your body and mind to happiness, and contentment. This is the first of many challenges to come. Give them a try and watch your life get better.)

I’m about to challenge you to something I bet you have never done. Something that can re-boost your life, whenever you want.

It has to do with breathing, the one thing we take for granted. The one factor that keeps us alive. The one process that sustains life and can either keep us tense, or relax our bodies via the parasympathetic nervous system. In a lifetime we take millions of breaths.

How many breaths exactly?

Let’s take a look at the numbers…

The average breathing or respiration rate for an average person, at rest, is around 16 breaths per minute.  To break it out, this means that on average we breathe…

• 960 Breaths Per Hour
• 23,040 Breaths Per Day
• 8,409,600 Breaths Per Year

To find out what you would breathe in a lifetime, just multiply the age by 8.4 million roughly and you will get your answer. If you make it to 80 years old, you will have taken in just over 672 MILLION breaths in your life!

Remember, this is based on a persons average breath rate during rest. This does not take into account the increase in one’s breathing rate during exercise such as running, vigorous walking, or even sex.

So you are probably asking, “What is the point of the 100 Breaths Challenge anyway?”

It’s pretty simple really. To relax. To recharge. To reconnect. To become aware of being alive.

The Challenge: To take 100 deep breaths in a row, but most of all, be fully present and mindful of them. Sure, I know you have already taken thousands and thousands of breaths in your lifetime thus far, but have you ever take 100 FULLY AWARE breaths in a row? I’m guess you have not. That is the point of this challenge.

How to do the 100 Breaths Challenge:

1. Sit peacefully in a chair or lie down in a comfortable position. If sitting, try to keep the spine erect but not too stiff.
2. Eliminate outside noises or distractions the best you can.
3. Close your eyes.
4. Take a deep breath through your belly and breath IN at the nostrils and count in your mind, “One”. As you breathe in, the belly will rise. As you breathe out, let the belly gently fall. Let your breathe flow naturally, go with it’s natural rhythm.
5. Continue step 4 going from number 1 to 100.
6. If your mind wonders (which it will), simply come back to your count and continue.

What to expect when doing the 100 Breaths Challenge:

At first glance simply breathing 100 times may seem easy, but once you do it, you will find out that it actually can be challenging in many ways. The first thing you will probably notice is your racing mind. Buddhists call this sporadic thinking “monkey mind” because your mind tends to jump from thought to thought like a monkey jumps from limb to limb in a tree. Your mind is simply not used to focusing on ONE thing, it likes to be stimulated by many things.

You may notice that you actually lose count of where you are at in your count at some point. This is ok and completely natural. When this occurs, simply bring your mind and focus back to your count and continue. The main objective is to breathe and focus. Nothing more.

During this process your body will most likely start to fall into a state of relaxation called, “The Relaxation Response“. The Relaxation Response is a restorative state that is actually the opposite of the “fight of flight” stress response in the body. Letting the body fall into this state on a regular basis can “reset” the body and rid it of many health problems. Breathe often, and transform your life.

So that’s it! Time to take the challenge!

Breathe In, Breathe Out

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Take out 20-30 minutes in your day, right now, and do the “100 Breaths Challenge”.

What I Want From You: I want to hear YOUR results, your feelings, your experiences while doing this challenge.  Please comment below when you have completed it and let me know your thoughts.

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