This week’s focus point…

Breathing

I’m really not a good singer. That being said, I do like to sing in church (perhaps to the chagrin of those around me). One skill I’ve learned as a professional speaker is that you need air to say words. When you start running out of air, your words trail off into an abyss. To sing properly, you need to build an oxygen supply and sing with your diaphragm, not your throat. Singing correctly will allow you to breathe through the notes and finish the lyric. Breathing properly when you speak delivers the same result. You could say that your air acts as a positive energy source.

Life and business are also about breathing properly. Too many people don’t get a good supply of “air” before heading off into to day. How many people wake up already out of breath? The day hasn’t even started and they are thinking negative thoughts; wishing they could stay in bed; dreading their employees or co-workers; worried about things that may not ever happen; and wishing they were doing something else. If this is you, then here is my advice…go do something else!

You have to breathe passion into your life every day. There are good days and there are tough days, but both fall on days you never get back again. If you can’t pump air into your internal diaphragm so that you can finish the day strong, then you’re likely to become a blobby mass of self-fulfilling prophecy. But, if you take control of your thoughts, own your actions, and fill your spirit with passion and positive thinking, then no matter what the day holds in store for you, you are bound to finish your “lyric” strong and live to sing another day.

And that, my friends, is the art of breathing!

© 2013 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved

This week’s quote –
“The less routine, the more life.”
– Amos Bronson Alcott