Just Breathe...

8/100

Tonight? I walked home and looked at the moon. Watched her peek in and out from the clouds. It was such a beautiful, quiet night. Tomorrow I start back to school, so enjoying the peace tonight is all part of my mental health.

Looking at the moon reminds me to breathe. With the rush of trying to get ready for school, moving my office and still trying to unpack my house, it's been rush rush rush since getting back. How easy it is for me to forget to breathe.

Breathing connects me to my heart. It reminds me to be present in my body. I had a wonderful dinner with a friend tonight. I completely love her and as I listened to her tonight, I took a moment to breathe and be grateful for the company, the laughter and even though we sit on different sides of the political table, we even danced around that topic for a while. On the way home, I looked into the sky and saw this huge, brilliant, full moon hanging over the sky above my house. My friend dropped me off at the end of my street and I walked back to my house in the moonlight, pulling my recycle bin behind me.

And as I walked? I remembered to breathe. To practice being grateful for my wonderful summer with old friends (and even a few new ones!), my father, my family. To honor the trade-off that even though my vacation is essentially over, I get to return to a job I love, people I work with that I love, a boss I respect tremendously and students that change my life every day. I am constantly amazed and thrilled with how much I learn from my students. I have almost no patience with drivers that insist on cutting me off when the road merges and the other driver feels it is OKAY to zoom up on my right and cut in front of me; but, the patience I have for my students is almost limitless. Not that my students don't, on occasion, push me to my limits, but more often than not I look forward to each different person that walks through my door - I know I am going to learn something and grow from the encounter.

So as sleep comes knocking  (okay it's more than knocking, it's rented out the bedroom and moved in) on my eyelids, I head to the dream world with a full heart, a space of gratefulness for a full summer, and a small amount of anxiety and excitement about the upcoming school year.

Peace,

MaryKate