Sighing

It is not a conscious act. You sit at the table, stand at the window, lie in bed — and suddenly this one long breath escapes you. Deeper than normal. Heavier. Like a weight that lifts from your chest for a moment, only to settle back onto it seconds later. And then comes the next one. And the one after that.

Medicine views repeated sighing as a physiological regulatory mechanism — a kind of respiratory reset that reopens collapsed alveoli. And that is true, on the physical level. But if you are honest with yourself, you know: there is more. This sighing does not come from the lungs. It comes from a depth where words no longer reach.

Sighing is not a breathing reflex, but a sound of grief that needs no mouth.