As you’re learning how to breathe comfortably, you’re learning how to create a sense of well-being that doesn’t have to depend on things outside. You don’t feel so oppressed by the situations around you, because you’ve got your own space right here.

"So make a survey throughout the different parts of the body to familiarize yourself with how the breathing feels. That right there is a project that can occupy you for the whole hour. You can do it for many days to get more and more sensitive to the breathing. Think of it as a way of showing goodwill [mettā] for yourself and goodwill for other people — goodwill in the sense that, as you’re learning how to breathe comfortably, you’re learning how to create a sense of well-being that doesn’t have to depend on things outside. It just feels good breathing in, feels good breathing out. When the breathing feels good, you’re going to be much less irritable, much less likely to feel oppressed by the situations around you. So even when things go badly outside, you don’t sense that they’re weighing on you, because you’ve got your own space right here where you can still breathe comfortably."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Breath All the Way" (Meditations6)

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