5 Minutes with your Friend, the Breath

by Friends of Godwin

I would like to suggest that during the day, especially if you are very busy, just try to take very brief breaks to spend some time with yourself. You don’t have to leave the place of work and you can still be seated on your chair and you can even have your eyes open so no one really knows what is happening. And then please spend some time with your friend, the breath. Even for 5 minutes, it will create space in your mind. Even for 5 minutes, whatever the build-up that is happening in your office, or whatever you are doing, there can be some recovery and some space and this will really help you.

So during the day, whatever emotions arise, whatever states of mind arise – and they are bound to arise in a place where it is busy – what we have to do is to make them the objects of meditation.

And when you go back home maybe you’ll be too tired to meditate, so at least spend 10 minutes, maybe not in the cross-legged posture but just lying down or seated on a chair, and just reflect on how you spent the day. Try to do this reflection in a very friendly, gentle way: Now how did I spend the day today? What were the times when I had unpleasant emotions? What were the times when they were not there? This is equally important. Sometimes you might be surprised that for the whole day you were angry only once. So this can really help you to understand, to discover about yourself, about how you are relating to yourself, how you are relating to others. And this can naturally bring about a transformation in oneself.