“Smile, breathe and go slowly.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Sarah, a psychiatrist of How to Cope with Pain.

Ever have one of those days when it seems there’s not a minute to catch your breath, let alone meditate or relax? A day when you feel like the proverbial busy bee, with no time to admire the fragrant flowers you’re landing on?

Leo has given us some wise ways to relax, simplify, and take life more slowly, but you might still find it tricky to always put these suggestions to use. Or, perhaps for you, some days flow smoothly, but there are still some - or many - during which taking a break feels impossible.

On those days, instead of an evening, an hour, or even 15 minutes to relax, could you spare 6 seconds?

Yes, that’s right… 6 seconds. That’s the time it takes to let yourself have 1 relaxing breath. 2 seconds breathing in through your nose, and 4 seconds exhaling through your mouth. Right now, I’m going to ask you to take 12 seconds for an experiment. At the end of this sentence, practice that relaxing breath… 2 seconds in and 4 seconds out.

That’s right. And once again at the end of this sentence.

Even that little amount of time – 6 seconds - can help your body and mind relax. Let your heart rate slow. Let some of the stress slide away.

Now how can you give yourself the gift of relaxing breaths during even your busiest days? One answer is to pair a relaxing breath with an activity that comes up repeatedly during your day. For example, let’s say you’re a secretary. Each time your phone rings, breathe before you answer it. (6 seconds is less than the time it takes for the phone to ring again, so no one will even notice you’re taking time for yourself.)

Here are some other examples of fitting in a single breath, using - you guessed it - BREATHE:

B: If you’re a Blogger, take a breath each time you click “save” when writing an article for your blog.
R: If you make Reservations for an airline, take a breath each time you book a flight going east.
E: If you’re an Engineer, take a breath each time you use your calculator.
A: If you’re an Accountant, take a breath each time you see a number ending in 6.
T: If you’re a Teacher, take a breath each time the school bell rings.
H: If you’re a Highway tollbooth operator, take a breath each time a white car comes through your lane.
E: If you’re an Editor, take a breath each time you correct a comma.

Now it’s time to put your creativity to work for yourself. You’re invited to fill in the blanks below, and then share in the comments what you’ll do to regularly sneak in relaxed breathing during your day.

I’m a _________________, so I’ll take a breath each time I ________________________.

Will you commit to try this exercise today? Remember, even busy bees rest. The American Bee Journal says so. And if they can do it, so can you!

How to Cope with Pain, hosted by a psychiatrist specializing in chronic pain management, frequently writes about breathing, relaxing, and managing stress.

Sim says: Here's my latest video remix, this time of America's latest sweetheart/demagogue.

Three weeks after we delivered the report, on September 24th Judge Feinberg ordered us not to release it. This is part of a lawsuit filed by the Rutgers Constitutional Litigation Clinic, seeking to decommission of all of New Jersey's voting computers. New Jersey mostly uses Sequoia AVC Advantage direct-recording electronic (DRE) models. None of those DREs can be audited: they do not produce a voter verified paper ballot that permit each voter to create a durable paper record of her electoral choices before casting her ballot electronically on a DRE. The legal basis for the lawsuit is quite simple: because there is no way to know whether the DRE voting computer is actually counting votes as cast, there is no proof that the voting computers comply with the constitution or with statutory law that require that all votes be counted as cast.

The question of whether this report can legally be suppressed was already argued once in this Court, in June 2008, and the Court concluded then that it should be released; I will discuss this below. But as a matter of basic policy--of running a democracy--the public and legislators who want to know the basic facts about the reliability of their elections need to be able to read reports such as this one. Members of the New Jersey Legislature--who need to act now because the NJ Secretary of State is not in compliance with laws the legislature passed in 2005--have asked to read this report, but they are precluded by the Court's order. Members of the public must decide now, in time to request an absentee ballot, whether to cast their ballot by absentee (counted by optical scan) or to vote on paperless DRE voting machines. Citizens also need information so that they can communicate to their legislators their opinions about how New Jersey should conduct elections. Even the Governor and the Secretary of State of New Jersey are not permitted, by the Court's order, to read this report in order to inform their policy making.

Examination of the AVC Advantage. In the spring of 2008, Judge Linda Feinberg ordered the defendants (officials of the State of New Jersey) to provide to the plaintiffs: (a) Sequoia AVC Advantage voting machines, (b) the source code to those voting machines, and (c) other specified information. The Sequoia Voting Systems company, which had not been a party to the lawsuit, objected to the examination of their source code by the plaintiffs' experts, on the grounds that the source code contained trade secrets. The Court recognized that concern, and crafted a Protective Order that permitted the plaintiffs' experts to examine the source code while protecting the trade secrets within it. However, the Court Order, issued by Judge Feinberg on June 20, does permit the plaintiffs' experts to release this report to the public at a specified time (which has now arrived). In fact, the clause of this Order that permits the release of the report was the subject of lengthy legal argument in May-June 2008, and the plaintiffs' experts were not willing to examine the AVC Advantage machines under conditions that prevent public discussion of their findings.

I served as the plaintiffs' expert witness and led an examination team including myself and 5 other computer scientists (Maia Ginsburg, Harri Hursti, Brian Kernighan, Chris Richards, and Gang Tan). We examined the voting machines and source code during July-August 2008. On September 2nd we provided to the Court (and to the defendants and to Sequoia) a lengthy report concerning the accuracy and security of the Sequioa AVC Advantage. The terms of the Court's Protective Order of June 20 permit us to release the report today, October 2nd.

However, on September 24 Judge Feinberg, "with great reluctance," orally ordered the plaintiffs not to release the report on October 2nd, and not to publicly discuss their conclusions from the study. She did so after the attorney for Sequoia grossly mischaracterized our report. In order to respect the Judge's temporary stay, I cannot now comment further on what the report does contain.

The plaintiffs are deeply troubled by the Court's issuance of what is essentially a temporary restraining order restricting speech, without any motion or briefing whatsoever. Issuing such an order is an extreme measure, which should be done only in rare circumstances, and only if the moving party has satisfied its high burden of showing both imminent harm and likelihood of success on the merits. Those two requirements have not been satisfied, nor can they be. The plaintiffs have asked the Court to reconsider her decision to suppress our report. The Court will likely hear arguments on this issue sometime in October. We hope and expect that the Court will soon permit publication of our report.