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What Do You Treasure in Your Life? #WriteBravely

By 05/08/2017October 17th, 2021blogging, Write Tribe
Write Tribe Blogging Challenge

Write Tribe Blogging ChallengeParticipating in a blogging challenge can be a fun way to keep the blog and your writing on track. So I’ll be blogging for the next 7 consecutive days, based on prompts from the Write Tribe Festival of Words.

(Please bear with this sudden flood, and I hope the posts pass muster.)

Today’s blogging challenge prompt is “Write about a treasure you possess.”

Over time, my concept of what I treasure has changed.

As a child, books, pens, chocolate topped the list. As I grew older, it was clothes, jobs, make-up. Older still, it was the place I lived in, the people I lived with. Now, while I still treasure friends and family, and value interactions and experiences more than possessions, the one part of my existence I truly treasure is my breath. It is not really a possession, but it ensures that I continue to exist.

But continuing to exist is not the only thing my breath gives me.

A long deep breath acts as an internal massage. Watching and counting my breaths takes me away from thoughts, and into being. It helps me stay centered when I’m agitated. A few minutes of breathing exercises charge me right up. And best of all, my breath is always with me, always doing its job and keeping me company, even when I’m asleep.

So yes, breath. Breath is my treasure, and it receives a whole lot of my attention– because it is so easy to forget, but so rewarding to remember. I took a few slow breaths as I wrote this, and it felt good.

Take a few deep breaths, then close your eyes and breathe some more, focusing on how it feels while going in an out. You might enjoy it.

What about you? What is your treasure? Who or what do you value the most in your life? Why? Do you pay attention to your breath? Care to share your experience? What sort of blogging challenge would you attempt?


I co-host the monthly We Are the World Blogfest: I’d like to invite you to join, if you haven’t as yet, to post Bloggingthe last Friday of each month a snippet of positive news that shows our essential, beautiful humanity.

This monthly event has brought smiles on the faces of a lot of participants and their audiences, and somewhat restored their faith in humanity. Here is a sampler. Click here to know more. Sign up here and add your bit of cheer to the world on the next installment of August 25th!

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Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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40 Comments

  • oldpoet56 says:

    Very good, positive article, I am going to reblog it for you hopefully this will help get a few more readers headed your way.

  • Breathing helps us to stay in the moment and focus. It also guards us against mental depression, I feel. I am learning to count my breath and yoga has done wonders for me. Today, I am skipping yoga class because of the rain. Poor me…hehe

  • macjam47 says:

    Deep, slow breaths also help us fall into a deep and peaceful sleep.
    What I treasure most is the love of family and friends (including my online friends). These associations keep my heart light and my whole being feeling alive.

  • hilarymb says:

    Hi Damyanti – you’ve picked a brilliant treasure here … we’d each be nowhere without this treasure. I have recently – last 10 years or so … taken more time to breathe deeply before I answer, or make decisions … I’ve learnt to hold back, but not stop breathing! Very clever … and thanks for highlighting ‘the breath’ … cheers Hilary

  • Kishor Kr says:

    Well, quite rightly picked your treasured possession. Not everyone gives breath (or life) such an esteemed value. Usually we take it for granted. Comparing to real life, while driving I find at least 3-4 cases each day when a person so engrossed in his/her mobile phone, that without looking at the road they come right before a vehicle, endangering their own life and other’s. It’s a sad affair how people have begun to take their life for granted (or, was it always the same).

  • Awesome take on the prompt, breath something which always exist with us until we become totally unconscious but it gets less attraction when we are conscious.
    very nicely penned…a tribute to breath.

  • grumps666 says:

    Hi, Damyanti. Until I read this today, my wife and family have been top of list of treasures. However, your refreshing article has reminded me of a time in my younger years when I self-studied Hatha Yoga mainly for inner enlightenment via meditation — [my bowed legs were no help in ever achieving any complex physical poses such as the Lotus position, but didn’t hinder me in the Plough and Lion poses, along with headstands which I usually held for over 30 minutes each session. 😉 ] Despite my efforts, Kundalini only stirred a little, and I should probably gone to Specsavers for my Third Eye to open, but I do feel at one with the Universe. 😉 My lengthy digression is only to concur with your thoughts about breathing and how you’ve made me realise that everything I treasure in our Universe is reliant on my continuing to breathe. Thank you.

  • Nice way of looking at it, Damyanti. I treasure life, but never thought of treasuring my breath or breathing! I’ll admit that I don’t meditate or do breathing “exercises” (not since being told I didn’t have to use the spirometer dubbed “Mr. Happy Face” in the hospital after breast cancer surgery, anyway!)

  • Vinay Leo R. says:

    I do love to live in the moment, but I’m not sure I’d put it as I treasure each breath I take. 🙂 It does sound nice though. I can relate to a deep breath calming me down or giving me the time to think before I talk or write. That breath is quite valuable for sure.

  • Breathe…an unsung hero! So rightly mentioned by you it is easy to forget but really rewarding to remember! Indeed it is the only treasure that gives unconditional company from birth till death.
    ———————————————
    Anagha From Team MocktailMommies

  • So much irony for me here. As an anaesthesiologist, my job is to continuously have an eye on the breaths for every patient by my side. And I mean, every single patient of all ages from 1 day old to 99 years old. But as for me myself, no! I don’t really focus on my own breath!

    Godyears.net

  • Seven days – that’s a fourth of an A to Z Challenge. You can do it.
    I treasure people now. I learned that one can’t love God unless one also loves God’s people.

  • I loved your treasure. Such a lovely reminder. We always take it for granted. Loved this one. 🙂

  • Rajlakshmi says:

    Oh I never thought that way… How easy it is to forget that one important aspect of our existence. I did take a long deep breath after reading your post 🙂

  • Modern Gypsy says:

    Breath is such a simple, yet powerful, tool. There are no instruction manuals on how to use it, nothing we could do wrong with it, we just need to remember to use it!

  • Peter Nena says:

    I don’t know what I treasure anymore. The older I become the more I lose my attachment to things.

  • kalaravi16 says:

    That is a treasure I haven’t read about anywhere else today. How we forget to be thankful for things we don’t even realize are so important to us. As I was reading the post, I felt myself relax and actually breathe in and out. Wonderful!

  • Shalzzz says:

    Such a timely reminder it is! Breath is indeed a great treasure we own. If only we give don’t take it for granted! Loved your take on the prompt 🙂

  • As you said, breath is the wonderful treasure we all have. But the sad thing is we forget to give attention to it. Great insight shared by your post !!!

  • Natasha says:

    A beautiful treasure indeed Damayanti and our life force. Something we take for granted. Lovely post.

  • Apeksha Rao says:

    Very true. Only someone who struggles to breathe, will know the true value of breath. We take it for granted, without realizing what magic happens inside our body, every time we take a nice deep breath.

  • As I am just recovering from another chest infection which has left me gasping for breath and using an inhaler, I really liked this post! Being able to breathe is such a treasure which we do take for granted. I can’t wait to be able to walk the dog and play with the grandchildren again without gasping for air!!

  • Steph Abbott says:

    Sigh. Breath is life, and life a treasure. Nice.

  • Aesha says:

    Rightly said. We do not focus on our breath , we take it for granted. When I do yoga, I understand the value of breath. Deep breathing helps to calm the mind and helps our body too. Thanks for writing this .

  • Bhavya says:

    This is such a reminder…Of those invisible yet important things we have in our life. Our breath is so natural that we even forget we are even breathing.

    • Damyanti Biswas says:

      Yes, so hard to remember, yet so essential. Thanks for visiting, Bhavya.

  • Alice Gerard says:

    I’m joining this challenge tomorrow, as i seem to be a day behind. Air and breath is everything; it is what life is all about. I love your treasure.

  • Shilpa Garg says:

    That’s such an amazing treasure… the one we dont value despite it being so vital as well. I realized its value when I started meditating where one has to focus on the breath. It was an eye opening experience and learnt the big lesson of being in the moment.

  • BellyBytes says:

    That was an amazing insight to share – breath. It is the life force without which none of us would be here! It is the most valuable treasure

  • JT Twissel says:

    Well, it’s hard to treasure anything more than breath so I think you’ve got this challenge won hands down.

    • Damyanti Biswas says:

      It is hard to treasure breath, too. Most times we take it for granted.

  • Never thought of my breath as a treasure. We breath every second without knowing which is the reason we live. Nice interpretation of the prompt.

    • Damyanti Biswas says:

      Yes, it took me years to begin to appreciate my breath, too. Nowadays, I try to be aware of my breath for as much time as possible. It is very relaxing, really.

  • Lynda Dietz says:

    What a fascinating treasure! I would never have thought about the non-physical, can’t-hold-in-your-hands treasure, but my breath is also something I hold dear. As a singer, I’m very aware of my breath and whether my lungs are working great or poorly (oh, allergy season). There are days when my first thought upon waking up is, “It’s a good day because I woke up.” There’s always a treasure in that.

    • Damyanti Biswas says:

      The intangibles hold the most precious treasures. Everything else passes from being to non-being. I like to imagine my breath as a part of the universe, that remains when I’m gone, as breath to another being, or a breeze, or a particle of a storm.

  • Zainab says:

    I think all of us can agree that our breath is a treasure, it’s the one keep us alive!
    Loved your take on the prompt!

    • Damyanti Biswas says:

      Yes, but is also a treasure that is the least treasured– we often forget about it. Paying attention to your breath can bring fundamental changes to your life.

  • jamesrneal says:

    I liked your description of how focused breathing focuses our being in the present, removing anxiety and stress over past and future. Thanks for sharing this!

    • Damyanti Biswas says:

      Yes, focusing on breathing is the best way to keep my monkey-mind calm and rested.