The Breath, Silence, and Appreciation

Eckhart Tolle says, that taking one conscious breath is a meditation...

How often do we consciously breathe?

Yesterday, I reviewed some things I wrote and collected three years ago, and I was struck by this quote that I remember using in a class I taught back in the Spring of 2005:

"Just follow the breath.
Learn it.
Taste it.
Feel it.
Surrender to it.
Let the breath be you.
Feel yourself the breath.
Melt.
Fuse.
From the sleeping state
to the waking state.

Let yourself be taken to God."

And some other quotes, also used in classes:

"The distant shores of silence
begin at the door.
You cannot go there like a bird.
You must stop,
look deeper, still deeper,
until nothing deflects the soul
from the deepmost deep."
- John Paul II

"Every time you appreciate something,
every time you praise something,
every time you feel good about something,
you are telling the Universe:
'More of this please!'
A desire to appreciate is a very good first step...
and as you want to feel appreciation,
you attract something to appreciate.
And as you appreciate it,
you attract something else to appreciate,
until in time, you are experiencing
a Rampage of Appreciation!"
- Esther and Jerry Hooks, Ask and it is Given