Breathing In
🌿 Tool One: Breathing In
Shelter from the Chaos — Right Now
Welcome
Welcome, dear soul.
I’m very glad you’re here.
People often arrive at this discovery place feeling overwhelmed, tired, unable to sleep, or unsure how to meet what life is asking of them. Sometime they are curious but don’t know why.
If that’s true for you, you’re not alone.
I have been in a place like that many times.
This first tool in the Bright Moments toolkit offers something simple and immediate:
a way to find shelter — right now.
🛠 The Tool: Breathing In
What this tool is
Breathing In is a simple way to use your breath on purpose
to calm your nervous system and to return to the present moment.
When I would teach this concept in seminars I would ask the group, “how many of you breathe on a regular basis?” That always got a laugh. Of course you do what is different here is
that thishis tool teaches you how to use your breath as an ally.
Why this works
For the purpose of this guide, let’s agree on something simple:
Your breath is the bridge between your body and your mind.
When you feel anxious, frightened, or overwhelmed, you easily become stuck in memories of past events or worries about future events that may never happen. And, your breath becomes shallow or tight.
When your breath slows and deepens, your nervous system receives a clear signal:
I am safe right now.
In this safety you enter fully into the experience of just this moment… and now the next. In this moment you find peace.
This practice was taught to me many years ago by the Vietnamese Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, and I have used it thousands of times —
in moments of fear, confusion, creativity, and joy.
It works because it brings you out of thought
and into experience - And, out of the past or the future and into the present moment.
🌬 How to Use This Tool
This recording will guide you through the practice:
🧠 Claim Your Result
Now pause and notice.
Answer each question honestly:
Are you more relaxed or less relaxed than before?
Do you feel more resourceful or less resourceful right now?
There is no right answer.
Noticing is the practice.
Give yourself credit for showing up.
✍️ A Note to Yourself
If you’re willing, take one small step more. This has been a secret to my own continuing development
With paper and pen, jot down a note to yourself:
something you noticed while breathing
how your body feels now
or one word that describes your state
This is not about being an author or poet,
It’s simply a quiet, private conversation with yourself.
I’ve done this for decades.
It brings clarity and makes choices easier.
🌿 Ways to Practice
This Tool
Here are a few simple ways you might use Breathing In:
before bedtime, to quiet your mind
before making a choice, to listen more clearly
before eating, ro enjoy and for me I even improved my digestion.
three times a day, as a reset
Or find your own rhythm.
There is no correct schedule.
Only what serves you.
🌱 Returning
to This Tool
This breathing practice is not something you finish.
I still use it many times a day —
to steady myself,
to listen,
to return to what matters.
Throughout Bright Moments, we will return to this tool again and again.
It is one of our most versatile practices.
It strengthens and amplifies everything else.
For now, let it be simple.
Let it be enough
🧭 Peace and Power Are in This Moment
A teacher once said to his students:
Yesterday is gone.
Tomorrow has not yet arrived.
So the only day you truly have
is today.
🌿 For the Purpose of Bright Moments
For the purpose of the Bright Moments toolkit, mindfulness means:
The ability to place and sustain your attention
on what is happening right now—
in your body,
your thoughts,
and your perceptions—
without judgment
and without interpretation.
Just being with what is.
This is a skill.
And like any skill, it strengthens with practice.
🔍 What This Tool Helps With
• calming the nervous system
• reducing mental noise
• restoring a sense of safety
• returning to the present moment
🛠 How I Recommend Using This Tool
I’m offering the way of using this tool that has been most effective
for me personally
and for hundreds of coaching and seminar clients over the years.
As with life, you are always at choice.
This tool is profoundly simple—and quietly powerful.
Use it often throughout your day.
Use it alongside every other tool in this collection.
With consistency, its effects deepen.
Benefits arrive more quickly.
And the practice begins to work for you.
🌱 A Reminder
You can return to this tool anytime—
for seconds or minutes—
whenever you need shelter.
With practice, you can use it while sitting, standing, lying down,
or even walking.
Peace and power are never elsewhere.
They are always here. For the Purpose of Bright Moments
For the purpose of the Bright Moments toolkit, mindfulness means:
the ability to focus your attention - what is happening right now —in your body, your thoughts, and your perceptions — without judgment and without interpretation. Just be with what is..
This skill can be mastered and strengthened with practice.