You: Quicksand

It is a grey morning in Boston.

Around Boston, businesses are issuing new restrictions and updated masking rules in response to the Delta variant of COVID. My office building is among them. I find it both reassuring and disheartening.

In fact, it makes me think of quicksand. Specifically, how to escape quicksand. It turns out that panic makes you sink faster. The way out is to continue to move, but very slowly. It is recommended that you rotate your body to face upwards (supine) and float over the quicksand. You free yourself with slow progress and trust.

This is good advice for these times. I am also adding more breathing to my calculus. Deliberate and sure breaths are not only balms for an anxious mind, they are also fuel for clear thinking. There is much we cannot control but we can influence this body, this physiology we live within.

Try this: Inhale for a count of 4 -- hold your breath for a count of 4 -- exhale for a count of 4 -- hold your breath for a count of 4. Repeat the sequence for a count of 4 and then return to normal breathing. If you have respiratory challenges such as asthma, breath normally in-between each repeat of the sequence.

Happy Monday.