Hello and welcome to the seventeenth day of the June 30 days writing challenge. If you want to know all the details about this specific challenge, have a look at the introductory post. In short, I will be posting every day a short tip, or technique, or opinion, something that you can call a "life hack". Feel free to join the challenge and post your own life hacks. I will do my best to upvote each day at full strength (about $3 at the current STEEM price) 3 posts tagged #challenge30days (leaving a link to your posts in the comments will also help).

Just Breathe Three Time Before Engaging In Something

There is a very interesting study about the speed of thought (you can find some details in this article) which states that although we're perceiving our thoughts as being instantaneous, the process is actually taking a few good hundreds of milliseconds. And I'm talking about the thinking here, the actual activity of making sense of the surrounding reality and acting upon it.

Our brains are somehow misleading us to believe that it all happens instantaneously, but there's actually a gap. And, well, I find this to be an incredible blessing.

Because in this gap we can make a choice. We can decide if we're going to react, like from a reflex, or act, like founding our actions in a reasonable process.

Too often, especially when our emotional field is disturbed, we're reacting. We're just doing things on autopilot, like yelling back to someone, or running, or avoiding confrontation, or whatever. But this process is not really on autopilot, like you can find out from the article about (it's all scientific and stuff, so I'm not mumbo-jumboing here).

There is this very, very small gap, in which we can squeeze some conscious responses.

I'm not getting into more details about this topic, because I think it will take years for me to exhaust it, but I will just say that a simple activity, like not responding immediately, can have a tremendous impact. Just breathing three times before responding, like when somebody is asking you to do something, can have a big impact. Breathe, breathe, breathe, and then answer.

It will somehow enlarge your field of vision, what you think are the available choices, and your entire life. It will just feel more livable. And it just takes 3 breathes before engaging in anything highly emotional.

I'm really curious to read about your life hack today. Leave a comment with a link to your post, if possible.

Previous Posts In The Challenge

• June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hack - Day Sixteen:The 5 Minutes Meditation Box
• June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hack - Day Fifteen: Create - And Maintain - A Morning Phrase
• June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hack - Day Fourteen: Improve 1% Per Day
• June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hack - Day Thirteen: Get Rid Of TV. For Good.
• June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hack - Day Twelve: Save 10% Of Your Income - No. Matter. What.
• June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hack - Day Eleven: Set - And Keep - A Monthly Personal Expense Budget
• June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hack - Day Ten: Set A "Main Task" For Each Day
• June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hack - Day Nine: Keep A Journal
• June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day Eight: Keep An Activity Log
• June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day Seven: Implement A New Habit With A 30 Days Challenge
• June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day Six: Put It In Front Of The Door
• June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day Five: The Pomodoro Technique
• June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day Four: Keep A Clear Mind By Unloading Ideas Immediately
• June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day Three: Intermittent Fasting
• June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day Two: The "2 Minutes" Time Management Rule
• June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day One: Avoid Fighting With A Simple Visualization Technique
• Announcing The June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks

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I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.

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