Like many people, I suffer from Spring allergies or hay fever as it is referred to in other parts of the world. During the peak of the season, I dare not venture outside for a few minutes without wearing a face mask. Yes, I've been wearing those face coverings long before COVID-19 made them fashion accessories.
But the face masks do not protect my eyes. So, they get very itchy on days that the pollen counts are high, even sometimes while I'm inside. As a result, I'm used to carrying eye drops around to ease the itching.
A few days ago, I suddenly became aware of something.
I found out that each time I finish putting those drops in my eyes, I begin to huff and puff, breathless as if I've just completed a 100-meter dash. This has been going on for several years but I never really paid attention to why it was happening.
The reason for this suddenly dawned on me a couple of days ago!
Anytime I tilt my face upwards and raise the tiny bottle up to put in the eye drops, I instinctively stop breathing. I didn't know why I was doing that neither did I realize I was doing it, but it happened each time. Does this happen to you also?
Maybe I'm the weird exception that this happens to!
I know that most of us don't pay attention to our breathing. That's because it's not something we consciously do. Our respiratory center is located in the medulla oblongata and is involved in the minute-to-minute control of our breathing. But this thing seems to forget to do its job whenever I'm putting drops in my eyes.
Why is that?
Researchers have discovered that when we face a threat of any kind, the brain tends to divert most of the body's resources to deal with the threat. That explains the reason why you can run faster than normal from danger when your life is at risk. Most of the body's active resources are directed toward making your legs move faster than they normally would if there were no threats.
That most likely explains why I stop breathing when strange liquid drops are about to enter my eyes. Even though I'm the one putting them in, it seems my brain is diverting all attention to my eyes to ensure that they're safe.
But I digress! That's not the point I'm trying to make in this newsletter.
My focus is really on some of the things we do without our conscious awareness of them. Over the past few months, I've been developing a new course for project managers for delivery through the Project Management Institute's PMI Training sessions. In the process, I've spent countless hours poring over different kinds of research about unconscious biases.
So, I wonder if my increased sensitivity to these biases is responsible for my new level of awareness of the reasons for the breathlessness I experience anytime I put those soothing drops into my itchy eyes. The fact is that there are so many things that we do daily without our conscious awareness of them.
Do you know what yours are?
I think it's time we begin slowing down to pay attention to the things we do and why we do them. That awareness could be the beginning of the journey into why you're getting the current results you are getting in your life and in your career.
Unfortunately, many people go through life without this awareness. Most of their behaviors are carried out without mindful thoughts behind them. And when the results come, they attribute it to fate. I'm reminded of a quote I've seen attributed to Carl Jung: "Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate."
So, why don't you and I begin to pay more attention to what we do and why we do them? Doing that and making changes where it's needed to ensure that our unconscious behaviors do not drive us off a cliff could be the beginning of the life transformation we've needed for a long time.
It's time to start remembering to breathe when dropping some relief into itchy eyes.
At least that's what I try to do these days.