The Power of a Pause

Busy busy busy – we’re all so busy. Rushing, trying to keep up, at work, at home, in our social lives. Modern life is so complex and demanding. You’ve got to do the school run, reply to that email, someone in your family gets sick, they need taking care of, then you have to manage your finances, do the shopping, clean the house, see your friends, visit your parents, solve that client’s problem, submit your tax return, go to the dentist, cook dinner and at some point, take some time for you too!

Exhausting!

Is this what life is meant to be like? What are we rushing towards anyway? You know what the finish line of life is, right? Death. Why be in such a rush to get there?!

Slow it down…

You’re allowed, you know, to slow down. It’s something you can choose to do.

The funny thing is that when we dare to take a pause – be it for a minute, an hour, a day or a week – we realise that life still works perfectly well without us scrambling around to get everything done.

“Nature doesn’t rush, yet everything gets accomplished”.

When we pause, we may realise how much of our activity is merely inconsequential, inessential, and can be let go of.

It’s the old 80:20, 80% of our results come from 20% of our actions.

The rest is largely redundant and does nothing but cause us unnecessary strife and wastes our energy. But you won’t see this truth until you pause.

Sometimes slowing down actually helps us to speed up. We take more considered, functional, productive actions when we are slow and contemplative. As opposed to the haphazard, unconscious, and ill thought through approach we take when we’re constantly rushing, chasing and trying to catch up.

Pausing creates space. Space to think, space to process, space for new ideas to come through, space to rest and rejuvenate. It’s essential for being highly functional, resilient and healthy.

Look up at the stars…

Remember what you are part of. Zoom out. Look at this vast cosmos.

That email, in the grand scheme of things, is not that urgent. I’m not saying ignore it but do keep it in the context of reality. This is wisdom. To see reality for what it is. And what is it? It’s HUGE, and sorry to say but it doesn’t revolve around you! Now, that will hurt your ego, but it will free your soul.

We are but mere specks in existence, here for a fleeting millisecond of time. Like bubbles in a bubble bath, we pop up and pop out. Life is done, just like that. Relax and take it all in. Life is truly profound. Pause, and savour it.

Start now…

Take a minute, or 5 if you can. Down tools. Stop. Become aware of how your mind harangues you to ‘keep going!’. Refuse. Tell it ‘no thank you’. You are the master of your mind, not the other way round.

Enjoy your pause.

With love,

Pinky 💕

Source: (2) 6. The Power of a Pause | LinkedIn