Going to the breath

It’s easy to get distracted and caught up in thought. Frustrations, worries, or even hopes, dreams, and fantasies can pull our attention away from what matters most to us in this moment.

Coming back to what is real, my self, right here, right now, is also easy. It’s as simple as noticing my breath. As the late Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh often taught, “Breathing in, I know I’m breathing in. Breathing out, I know I’m breathing out.”

It’s not a matter of pushing away thoughts, or trying to not think. That never works anyway.

It’s simply choosing to pay attention to the breath instead.

And then once we have agency over our attention again, we can choose where to put our attention next.