Posts Tagged: pulmonary embolisms

“Summer Haiku: Of Thunderstorms and Breathing”

On June 19, 2019 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“Watching thunderstorm,

Boiling over western woods;

Child rapt in wonder.”

NPR is having a summer haiku fest.  I sent in the above.  It is based on a real event, which recurred many times during summers when I was growing up.

I used to love watching thunderstorms as they approached.  I would stand outside, near the door, so that I could dash in if the lightening got too close or when it started raining.  I would watch as the black clouds boiled up over the woods to the west of our pond.  If there wasn’t too much (or any) lightening, I would watch as the rain marched through the field beyond the pond, and then across the pond and the pasture that was close to our house. I would try to wait until the last possible moment, and then would run into the house.  Those were wonderful—indeed, sacred—moments.

I had a bad spell yesterday evening.  Couldn’t breathe.  I’ve been on blood thinner for years, but blood thinner doesn’t necessarily destroy the clots.  Blood thinner hopefully keeps the clots from getting too big or numerous, but it does not keep my body from producing them.  Every now and then, apparently, one of them breaks loose.  My lungs seem to be the favorite target of these little internal critters.  I’ve been diagnosed with pulmonary embolisms on two separate occasions.

It is scary to not be able to breathe.  However, to be breathless in wonder is a sacred moment.

Perhaps death is like that.  Perhaps, if I take a childlike attitude toward death, I will be able to watch it boiling up, with breathless wonder.  If I begin to breathe again, I go back to my usual tasks, glad to be alive.

But, if I am not able to breathe for a longer period of time, and the storm fully breaks over me, I will stand still and still stand, like a child in rapt wonder.

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“Just Breathe”

On January 3, 2019 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer


“A man without self-control

is like a city broken into and left without walls.” (Proverbs 25:28, English Standard Version)

I have always been a very self-controlled person—in my imagination.  I regret to report that my reality has not always matched my imagination.

The Bible has a lot to say about self-control.  It also has a lot to say about its absence.  Proverbs 25:8 seems to be speaking about the serious nature of a lack of self-control.  Like most proverbs, both ancient and modern, this saying is very terse.  Here is my rather literal, wooden translation of the verse from the Hebrew:

A broken city, there is no wall;

A man who [has] no restraint of spirit (or breath).

The  last word in this proverb is very difficult to translate.  It isn’t that Hebrew scholars don’t know what it means.  The problem is that the word means too much.  It can mean wind, breath, spirit, disposition, mood, inclination,” and these are just some of the meanings of the word rûaḥ.

So, which of these meanings might fit Proverbs 25:8?  I don’t know.  However, I wonder if it isn’t better to stick with a very literal meaning here, a meaning which would have a deeper nuance as well.

So, perhaps this proverb is talking about the importance of breathing.

Now, before you write this off as too Buddhist or too new-agish, or too something else, think about it for a moment.  Breathing is fairly important.  Yes?  And it is important for all kinds of things, ranging from playing the flute to executing maneuvers in martial arts.  It is, of course, also rather important for life itself.  I found this out in a deeply experiential manner a few years ago when I couldn’t breathe due to pulmonary embolisms.   Not breathing can ruin your plans for the day.

But breathing properly, slowly, deeply, is not the easiest thing in the world to do.  Breathing can be compromised by all kinds of outside influences.  “Her beauty left me breathless.”  “I am exhausted.  Let me catch my breath.”  That sort of thing.

On the other hand, breathing—when done properly—can influence our response to outside events and people.  I have noticed that, when I am in a tense or conflictual atmosphere, when I control my breathing, I am much more able to discern what I should say or not say, do or not do.  At least, paying attention to my breathing has helped the two or three times I’ve actually done it.

We can often control our breathing.  It isn’t as easy to do as you might think.  Just try it and you will see what I mean!  But difficult is not the same as impossible.

There are several different songs entitled “Just Breathe.”  Perhaps we need to listen to those songs (as well as to Proverbs 25:28), and begin to sing along.  Today, let’s practice the fine art of breathing.

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