Portofino Promontory, many years ago. I had recently obtained my Advanced certification, and in those days I never said no when someone invited me underwater to dive.
I had recently been underwater, but it was cold, very cold, and I had forgotten my gloves. Following the others, more experienced than me and with thicker wetsuits appropriate for that temperature, was a struggle. I didn’t know my dive buddy very well; he had been assigned to me on the boat.
I fin, I fin, I don’t want to stop and fall behind, I want to follow the others, what a figure I make, otherwise.
Things around me become like darker, there are more shadows than lights, everything suddenly seems inhospitable. Breathing is now labored, and the only thought that makes its way through the mind is: I WANT TO RISE HARD.
But underwater thinking about getting back up quickly is neither smart nor healthy.
I lived for years convinced that only by DOING would I prove what I am worth and am.
If I don’t organize things perfectly I am not competent. If I can’t solve that issue at work I’m not good enough, if I don’t keep working even when I’m exhausted I won’t be considered, if I don’t behave in a certain way my partner won’t love me, if I can’t do that thing I’m not worth enough.
The thoughts that accompanied that urgency to do.
From Daniel Lumera I learned that it is called the code of doing: the code of those who think that you have to know how to do in order to be, that being happy comes from doing. From going, going, tirelessly, without stopping.
Then I realized that nothing good comes out of the frenzy of doing.
I was doing, doing many things, and the more I did the less I recognized them. I wasn’t allowing myself to celebrate achievements, I wasn’t stopping to listen to myself.
Doing was pulling away from me.
That’s when I said STOP and began to ask myself who I am and what I want.
I started looking inward before looking outward.
Life cannot be solved for you by something or someone external to you.
Daniel Lumera
STOP BREATHE THINK ACT
Those who have taken a diving course choosing me as their instructor and have certified with me know how much I care about and emphasize the importance of the STOP Breathe Think Act system.
It is valuable to remember, at every opportunity, especially when you are in distress or in a challenging emotional condition.
STOP
Underwater, when you feel insecure, emotions get the best of you, or you find yourself in a difficult situation, the first thing to do is to STOP.
When you stop, your heart starts beating steadily again, you are at the center and it is not everything else that is spinning or spinning around you. You become aware again of where the surface is and where the bottom is.
You stop and find yourself, as when you give yourself permission to stop and recognize that you are not the things you do, but, simply ARE.
BREATHE
Breath is life; it reflects and amplifies emotions.
You use your regulator to breathe underwater and cannot use your nose; sometimes you experience a feeling of “AIR HUNGER” when you gasp.
Only after you stop and restore control over your breath can you manage your emotions.
When you breathe in the correct way, you bring balance back inside your body and mind. The heartbeat returns to an acceptable rhythm. Oxygenation especially benefits the brain, and the quality of thoughts improves.
When you learn to master the art of breathing, you are finally at peace with yourself and the world.
Danny Penman
THINK
When you have become aware of your emotions, when you have restored balance, your thoughts have a different vibrational frequency.
Mindfulness is a state of mind, it is full awareness, attention to thoughts, feelings, emotions, it is PRESENCE.
As defined by Jon Kabat-Zinn, scientist and MBSR protocol theorist, Mindfulness means “paying attention in a particular way: intentionally, in the present moment and in a nonjudgmental way” (Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p. 63).
ACT
It is only by ACTING that you gain experience in life. Thoughts, made in moments of stillness of mind at in awareness, lead you to ACT in the way that is right for you.
Acting, in fact, is not doing. Doing is limiting; it comes down to performing a task. It is explicating skills. Period. But You are not your skills. You are your PURPOSE, your VISION.
Doing, as Aristotle declares in Metaphysics, is “knowing the what but not the why.”
To ACT, on the other hand, is to give meaning, a direction of travel to our being in the world.
That day in March, on a dive, I stopped. I approached the wall. I laid my fingertip lightly on the wall, because at that moment my buoyancy and balance seemed to have vanished. I stopped and stood still and looked at, in front of me, a group of sea daisies, Parazoanthus, which in fact are not daisies because it is a colony of wonderful animals. I began to breathe properly, to regain the right rhythm of my breathing, and clarity slowly returned.
At that point, thoughts lightened, around me things returned to the right light, and when I got moving again, after the okay to my partner who was looking at me worriedly, I acted for who I am, and let myself flow, appreciating the extraordinary world I am fortunate enough to experience beneath the surface.
Remembering the technique STOP Breathe Think Act in diving is VITAL, but it can also be VITAL in everyday life.
Pippo, a well-known Professor whom I had the gift and good fortune to take underwater and patent Divemaster, told me that he brought this technique to the University for his residents, for those who, working in certain situations, want to act in a balanced way in various situations.
Stephen and I use it underwater, then, for ourselves and the people who go below the surface with us, and we have made it, along with mindfulness, breathing and relaxation techniques, a very useful and important tool and technique for people who choose us as coaches to go a stretch together, with awareness and responsibility, and get to great results.
Contact me to find out how you can take action to regain balance in yourself through life design, meditation and forgiveness.
SOURCES
- Aristotle, & Reale, G. (2000). Metaphysics. Retrieved from https://amzn.to/2Rhk698
- Kabat-Zinn, J. (2017). Wherever you go you are already there. Understanding the richness of our present to begin the path to awareness (G. Arduin, Trad.). Retrieved from https://amzn.to/31CMmaZ
- Lumera, D. (2017). The art of making things happen. How to learn how to consciously design your life . Retrieved from https://amzn.to/2Iq4lKx
- Penman, D. (2017). The art of breathing. The secret of mindfulness for living with happiness and without stress (C. Sapegno, Trad.). Retrieved from https://amzn.to/2Vp9Ccz
