As I sat down to write this article tonight, a note popped up on my calendar. It was 14 years ago today that my father passed away. Hard to imagine. I was there, in the hospital…counting the breaths.
He had cancer. Multiple Myeloma. He had been fighting it for many years but finally reached the end. Lying in the hospital bed, incoherent, on heavy doses of morphine, breathing slowly in and out, his breath was becoming slower and slower.
The nurse informed me: “His breathing will get slower, with longer pauses in between, until finally, it stops. And he takes the final breath.”
I sat there, holding his hand, counting the seconds between the breaths. 1…2…3, and he would inhale a slow, shallow breath. Then I would start over, counting: 1…2..3…4…5 and another inhale. The spaces between the breaths became longer.
My counting became longer and longer as the breaths became slower and slower. Amazed, I was counting up to 20, 21, 22…inhale. Then up to 50…51…52.
Holding my own breath, I would count, the……space…….between……..his breathing. More than once, I thought, “This must surely be the last breath….a minute or more has passed.”
Then there would be another shallow inhale.
I was literally, counting the final breaths of his life. Ironic, that now, I sit in sessions with my clients, counting the breath. Only now, we count a specific breath pattern as a way to release stress, release tension, and improve health and vitality.
The breathing exercises I do with my clients in private session (along with hypnosis and NLP techniques) have helped people overcome stress, worry, anxiety, and depression.
Amazing now to consider that 14 years ago, I sat by the hospital bed, counting the final breaths of my father’s life, and now I count breathing to improve health and wellness.
At that time, long ago, I was in pharmacy school, working in a clinical pharmacy as a student, and working part-time in a commercial pharmacy. I had a very different outlook on health back then. I pushed my father to take the morphine and pain medicine, to control the pain. If I had known then what I know now, I would have encouraged him to deal with the emotional issues, and the subconscious beliefs, that were affecting his health as well.
Sitting by the hospital bed, counting the breaths……we reached the last one. I was still counting, “101…102……..130..131…132…” The nurse came in and made the pronouncement.
My father had taken his final breath.
One of my clients, an energetic little lady of the bright age of 76, once told me she believed we are all born with a certain number of breaths, and she did not want to waste a single one of them! At the age of 76, she was still working full time, taking great care to pay attention to her looks, her health, and her love life.
Sitting by that hospital bed, counting the breaths, I did not know when my father would take his last breath. None of us know when that last breath will be.
But to quote my client, the perky little lady who came in for hypnosis sessions at the age of 76 to improve her life: “You don’t want to waste a single breath.”
What are you doing with your breath each day? What are you doing with your life?
Are you living a life of happiness, joy and contentment?
Do not waste another breath. If there is something in your life that you need to change, do it now. Self Hypnosis and NLP are a powerful way to help you do so.
If you want to learn more about the power of the subconscious mind and how it can help you, I invite you to watch the movie Beyond Belief, available on DVD. You can get if HERE. It will shift your life.
If there is something bothering you, I invite you to visit the store and browse the titles, to see how self hypnosis audio can help you.
Or you may want to visit the list of recommended reading, and see what books inspire you.
But whatever you do, do not waste another breath. Take the step you need to take now. Do not waste another breath.
