Maybe this is just a me problem, but I am feeling extra scattered lately. I forget why I sat down to my computer. I am finding my sandals scattered throughout my house. I have completely given up on keeping the kitchen table cleared of 5 people’s worth of scattered bric a brak. I feel like I am mentally peering at my life over a fence, unable to clearly view what I am meant to be seeing.

When I get this way, I feel as if I have left little pieces of myself strewn across the dozen of tasks I have going at one time. Nothing gets my full attention, nothing gets completely finished. It’s time for a mental cleanup. Time to pick up the pieces of attention (along with the shoes) and put it all to rights.

One of my most effective ways of doing this on the go, without some serious alone time (which apparently is NOT HAPPENING IN 2020) is to focus in on my breath. Breathe In, Breathe Out. There is a practice in my faith tradition called a breath prayer. It is when you couple a short phrase with your breath, saying half of it mentally on your inhale, the other half on the exhale. Repeating over and over until your spirit has caught back up with your runaway lifestyle.

For me, as a Christian, the prayer I return to again and again is a 4th century prayer called the prayer of the heart,, commonly practiced in Eastern Orthodox Traditions. (in) Jesus Christ (out) Son of the Living God (in) have mercy on me (out) a sinner.

However, the practice of breath prayer (or meditation) can be used by anyone, of any tradition. All you need is a short, centering phrase, a willing mind, and some oxygen. In a time where COVID is attacking the very breath in the lungs of people across the world, I find this to be a beautiful practice of both gratitude and refocusing.