Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Do you take notice of the pauses happening? Between each inhale and each exhale?

Breathe in. Breathe out.

The very thing we need to do to stay alive, to fill out lungs with life; now the very thing we fear. Fear of filling our lungs with an unknown enemy. Fear of releasing said enemy into the air for another to fill their lungs with. Fear of filling our lungs with panic. Fear of filling our lungs with hysteria. Fear of exhaling chaos to join the general chaos surrounding us.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Yet, we keep breathing. We keep drawing air deep into our lungs. We keep sucking the life into our bodies. We have to.

But do we take notice of the pause?

In this uncomfortable, surreal time to be an inhabitant of this Earth. In this time where the very act of breathing causes anxieties to rise. In this time of waiting for the inevitable to come, while still holding out hope that the inevitable will somehow not be so. In this time of juxtaposition between forced external slowness and internal racing – of thoughts, of heart beats, of prayers. In this time of unknowns and change.

Do we take notice of the pause?

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Because the pause is there, as it has always been. The pause between the inhale and exhale.

We have to take notice.

The pause is there to calm and ground. The pause is there to comfort and still. The pause is there to ready and prepare.

We have to take notice.

Now, more than ever, we have to take notice of the pause. The world is changing. History is being made. Life as we know it has shifted in ways yet to be seen and we cannot pretend otherwise. Precautions have to be taken. Warnings need to be heeded.

Still… and so… we need to take notice of the pause.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Because we humans, we will keep breathing in. We will keep breathing out. And that pause built into every breath? That pause is ours to use… or ours to lose.

There is space here, in these tiny moments, in this tumultuous time. Space to calm and quiet our souls within – even as the world turns uneasily on its axis. Space in the pauses. Space within each breath we breathe.

In. Out.

There is space here to choose. Peace over panic. Calm over chaos. There is space.

But we have to take notice.

We have to take notice of the pauses.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.