The practice: power in a pause

"It's a transformative experience to simply pause instead of immediately filling up space." Pema Chodron

Daily Reflection: Taking a few moments each day to pause… to feel your feet on the ground, to take a few cleanings breathes, to be in your body rather than just being lost in your head.  Remembering to pause throughout your busy days can have a tremendous impact on your moments: on your nervous system as well as your perspective and attitude. 

So, I invite you to stop and pause throughout your day today and notice what this is like for you. Does pausing make a difference? Can you feel a difference from slowing down and being more present? In your reactivity levels? In your stress levels? In how you relate to your moments? Can you feel the power in a pause?

“Meditation could be said to be the Art of Simplicity: simply sitting, simply breathing, and simply being.” Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Meditation Challenge: Can you pause today for a few minutes and sit still? Can you let go of your habit of movement to experience stillness? And as you settle into stillness, are you able to feel the sensations in your body… the various sensations of being alive? Can you feel the sensations of breathing? Something so simple yet so beautiful and powerful.  The practice that we engage in over and over again is simply sitting, simply breathing, and simply being.

“Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different. Enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will). Being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t).” James Baraz