I hope this New Year finds you well. I’m writing with an invitation to pause.
So easily we can find ourselves back to speeding along the surface of our lives, when everything we love and cherish most in this world requires us to pause, to be present, to touch that mystery that's always here.
We’re habituated with activities. We’re on automatic. It’s our habit to do. We’re driven by the primitive feeling that we must do more, be prepared, be ready, take action in order to feel we have control, by doing. We get hooked on that something that always feels like a threat, that incessant doing, but in order for our fire to burn more brightly we need space. We need to mentally pause to allow space for a deeper wisdom to pass through us. The pause creates a space, space to notice where we are.
The challenge in pausing, to allow for the light to pass through, is that we must also allow for the vulnerability that’s there, to let go. There’s often an anxiety, a restlessness; to push on. Taking action puts us in a ‘doing’ state that can be harmful, locking us into this pressure to keep doing so much, as though if we’re not working hard, we’re falling short.
When we don’t take a necessary pause, we are reactive, we’re hijacked, caught in our behaviours; we behave in ways we regret.
Can we invite a pause into our day? Perhaps each time we respond to a message or an email? Before we step out of the car? Each time we boil the kettle?
Our lifestyle habits can keep us distracted and immersed and mentally preoccupied. Can we learn to feel the moment? Between stimulus and response there’s a space, there lies your power, your freedom and your potential.