As I drove down the road with my kids yesterday, I saw a gal give me a terribly disgusted look. Either she had “bitten a lemon,” as my mother would say, or just seen a unicorn beheaded, but most likely I had done something that upset her. “Oh dear,” I said, my kids asked what happened. “I must have made a mistake and caused a big problem.” The kids jumped to my rescue, saying that they hadn’t seen anything wrong. “Kids, that is not worth our oxygen,” I replied.
Here’s what I meant: deliberately choosing what I will give oxygen to gives me power over the situation when it comes to what I let touch my heart. It’s a phrase I find myself saying out loud when I’m determined to change course. It stifles things that are getting more attention than they are due and allows me to pause and redirect.
Deliberately choosing what we will give oxygen to allows us to make conscious decisions about what we will let catch fire in our hearts. Literally anything can cause a fire in our hearts if it gets too much attention. “I am not going to give that oxygen” to me says, “I’m finished with that. I’m going to let that one go out.” It’s leaving things better left unsaid…unsaid, and it allows me to dismiss things that are shot my way without receiving them.
It’s saying no to thought patterns, conversations, and even judgment of what someone else may have said or may think about us (when it is more than likely they are not thinking about us at all). We get to choose how we use our oxygen and little traps can easily steal our gaze and our joy. We must be determined not to fall for them, or we will miss the things we care about distracted by the things we don’t.
Choosing what I give oxygen to places my breath on what is mine to breathe into and leaves the other things alone. It frees me. We only have so much capacity. Choosing what I will give oxygen allows me to select what I will and will not participate in. It’s a discipline that keeps my heart and mind healthy, steady, and only involved in the things that are worth the air surrounding them.
If you find yourself in a tizzy about something, I wonder if it would be wise to evaluate how much attention you are giving it. Could you choose to give it less oxygen and might the problem snuff out? Deliberately choose. There is a more peaceful, satisfying life than you are currently experiencing, and you will make way for this free life when you are not so bogged down by the things that are fighting for your oxygen. Discipline your heart, mind, words, and where you allow them to go. It’s worth it.
