Give your Exhale the Attention it Deserves

When breathing during yoga and meditation, many of us (including myself) have the tendency to pay more attention to our in-breaths and less to our out-breaths, almost as if we are rushing to get to our next inhale and the exhale is merely a roadblock.  But what would it be like to give equal attention to our exhales? In life we are not always fully present/aware, oftentimes running toward the next moment.  Some of us tend to only focus on what is wrong with ourselves and in the world and gloss over the good (negativity bias); others have the tendency to distract themselves from what they don't want to acknowledge. What if we could develop our awareness, so that we can embrace all of life, the good and the not-so-good, to fully experience the joys and be able to feel and release our sorrows? I believe that we can increase our happiness through this process of cultivating awareness and acceptance. Life will continue to show up in ways we can't control or predict. Rather than ignoring or fighting against it, we can acknowledge whatever arises, and then we can choose how we respond (with our thoughts, words and actions) to create a more joyful life for ourselves and for all those we interact with.