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Precious Breath
Bunks
Australia Veteran
in Meditation
I was bored at work this morning so calculated (roughly!) how many breaths I have left......
Assumptions:
- I'll live to 80 (I am 42 now).
- I take 25,000 breaths (in and out is one) per day (based on a one minute sample).
So 38 years x 365 days x 25,000 = 346,750,000
Plenty of time for awakening 
4
Comments
All any of us have is our breath right now. Use wisely.
You assume.
read this statement somewhere, so typing it out here - death comes at the most uncomfortable time for all, except those who have already realized their true nature.
buddha's teachings says(something like this) - death suddenly sweeps away a heedless human being, as a flood sweeps away a whole village at night. so be heedful always.
you'll probably have many more if you do a lot of exercise, and it might extend your life.
There is another story where a man saves up a huge sack of money he has hoarded to see him into his old age. He ties it hanging from the rafters above his bed so he can keep it safe and keep his eye on it. One night a rat chews through the rope whilst he is asleep and the man never wakes up again.
mettha
The 20,000 people that died yesterday thought they had plenty of time too! Turns out they were wrong!
Exactly! Every breath you take might be your last. "Live life as though your hair was on fire." (old Zen saying, I think)
I am sure some of them knew they didn't have much time.
You were really bored at work that day!
My job often involves reconciling and analysing data so I felt I could justify it
What if you saved them up by holding your breath? Would you have even longer?
^^^ No...holding your breath could result in less long term
breaths. We had to cover that in another thread...hahaha
Good point @Vastmind, also @Bunks could be walking carefully counting his breaths and a Spacebus driver could come hurtling out of control towards him after holding his breath too long! Then there'd be no chance of @Bunks reaching 346,750,000....
or 8,760 shits, more or less (based on whether I've dined at a shady buffet or eaten a lot of cheese).
Ha ha! TMI...
But you'll have fewer if you meditate daily, because proper breathing technique for meditation slows the breath tremendously. This does lengthen your life, by cutting down on the stress hormones your body releases into the system.
So it all works out the same, in the end.
One of the simple ways to get feedback from meditation is the breath. Mine always gets deeper during meditation. Meditation also slows the resting heart rate, much like exercise. We also have stress reduction.
http://www.medicaldaily.com/success-through-stillness-mogul-russell-simmons-says-meditations-benefits-transcend-religion-age-and
In a dream of calculating how many breaths one still may have, how many breaths snoozed away their life?
How does one compare one mindful breath, gained or lost, against a background of mindless inhalations?
Good question @how. For how many of my remaining 340 million breaths will I be present?
And so much time wasted!