I was working on a client’s sprinkler system a few days ago. It’s one of those that begin with a hose into the lake, a pump and then the garden hose. Those of you who are on city water or have never spent time at a cottage haven’t a clue what I’m talking about. You’re excused for a moment.
So… I’m operating on three hours sleep (being generous), blinking a lot to clear my vision through sandpaper eyeballs and wondering why the effer won’t prime. I tried everything I could think of from my plumbing repertoire. Hmm… repair the intake hose… yup. Search for leaks… yup. Stand there scratching my head… yup. Shake the living shit out of it… yup. Make sure I have butt crack showing… yup. Nothing seemed to work. There’s an air lock in there somewhere.
While I was standing over the offending, uncooperative beasty, I knew all I needed was a little flow.
Life is like that. Finding flow isn’t always the easiest thing to accomplish, especially when the proverbial is hitting the fan. Remembering to breathe properly can help dramatically. That is, keeping the airflow moving and not locked is a key to keeping life flowing.
Yeah, I know how odd that sounds. Of course you have to breathe to live, Dufus! Then again, there are days when remembering to breathe at all is a chore.
I have found that recognising how I breathe makes a great difference. If I’m stressed, my breathing becomes shallow and rapid. This, I know, is a fight or flight response. Unless I’m being attacked by gun toting Amazon women from Mars, there’s likely not much reason for shallow breathing. Still, it’s a response I notice in myself when I’m criticised. What I find interesting (at least for myself) is if I manage to literally catch my breath, I can completely change my disposition simply by regulating how I breathe.
Slowing down my breathing changes how I feel about what it is I am facing and I find flow in the moment.
Back to the offending watering system, I’m thinking I’m enjoying the shallow breathing. A few solutions come to mind. A sledge hammer should take care of it. Then I can return to breathing normally… and uncross my eyes. Showing butt crack certainly isn’t helping. It makes me wonder why plumbers bother showing crack in the first place. It doesn’t seem to do much.
There’s something to be said for finding flow.
