ding!

Sometimes it’s best to show, rather than tell.
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That’s why I’m just popping in really quick to share my favorite tool for remembering to breathe.

Yes, I need a tool for that...and maybe you do too?

Sometimes I find myself spacing out, making mental lists of all things I have to do or recounting all the weird and awkward things I said when I was 11, holding my breath, a little dizzy, with my shoulders hunched up to my ears. I'll have missed out on hearing the person right in front of me or tasting my coffee or seeing the new freckles that have popped up my son's nose.

No matter where I've gone, I use the bell of mindfulness on the Plum Village app to bring me back. Because I want to be here.

Here's how the bell is used at Plum Village, a Buddhist, monastic community founded by Zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh:

Whenever a bell sounds, everyone pauses in what they are doing. It is a chance to stop and to take a few breaths in full awareness. People might recite to themselves the gatha (practice poem) for listening to the bell:
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Listen, listen
This wonderful sound brings me back to my true home
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Returning to our true home means bringing our awareness back to our body. By connecting with the physical sensations of our breathing and our body, we can return to the present moment.
The bell helps us to stop and fully enjoy breathing and being for a few moments; a mini mindfulness refresher.

I set the bell on the app to go off every hour. Just a lovely, non-intrusive ding that reminds me to breathe and to come back to my true home.

I hope this app is helpful to you. That it brings you back to your true home.