Space is a beautiful thing, occupied by potential above all else and we frequently speak of the "potential" a space has. I recently found myself pondering one space I often observe but rarely consider the potential of...the space between breaths.
Initially I am aware that there is potential for another breath; it is in fact highly probable that a breath will follow, but it is not guaranteed. A breath can carry the words or actions of a given moment, providing the flow of air that energizes or releases the potential that is held within that breath. And what energy do we place into a given breath? Where does it come from, and what determines how that energy moves out into the world? Well of course the breather/actor/agent does, but the question struck me more deeply than that.
For me this line of pondering lead me to attending to what I notice, or what is present for me in the space between breaths. If that space if filled with all the potential of a single breath, it seems that what I do with that breath will be determined in large part by what I hold in that space. Maybe it simply begs the question of who I am, who I aspire to be, and how I move through the world. Perhaps this is why I am drawn to Metta Bhavana as a practice.
