- Observation
- I fidget with my mustache continuously
- Interpretation
- When I'm engaged in an activity that involves deep thinking, I have a reflex of fidgeting with my mustache, as it helps me hold a line of thought. I'm not fully sure why it helps. Perhaps it acts as a slight distraction that acts like focus music, or perhaps it affect my breathing rhythm (which it does) in a way that helps my brain stay focused. When I notice it, I realize even as I'm writing this paragraph, when I finished the last sentence, I immediately went back to my beard to think about what's next. I do notice when I breath deeply, the hand doesn't automatically go to fidget with the mustache, and if I breath deeply mid-fidgeting, I stop fidgeting. Perhaps it's the shallow breathing that gets the hand to fidget, and not the other way around. Perhaps thinking in a focused manner about something makes my breathing more shallow, which in turn triggers the fidgeting. But is breathing deeply a distraction to deep thought? Can it be something that accompanies it? Is it something that is simply not a habit at the moment. It is possible that the entire chain of reaction that ends with me fidgeting is induced by shallow breathing that is induced by deeply thinking about something, which can be modified with a regular practice through my days of breathing deeply and consistently.
- Insight
- Breathing patterns can both influence and be influenced by different habits, so developing awareness to breathing and noticing connections between it and different habits, enables identifying breath-related habits and modifying breathing patterns to support overcoming undesired habits, and reinforcing desired habits.
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