It started right after a gallery show featured exhibition of my artwork on July 5, 2019. A creative process that left me wondering…”What’s next?” Enter a time of “Pause.”
What is ”Pause?” Well, for me, it was stillness. Listening from within – an inner turning instead of an external tuning. It’s quiet- as in not having a reliance on sounds. Yep, no background noise of TV, Youtube, or even music at home. It’s just being still, being in stillness. My body absorbed it. Stillness IS underrated.
“Listening from within – an inner turning instead of an external tuning.“
Like many of you, I’m focused on progress, goals, and checking off my to-do list. I take satisfaction in tangible outcomes, next steps, and doing. Get closer to my goal – Golden! But this wasn’t in me. My voice within was speaking “Pause.” I heard it, even though I didn’t want to. and I followed the Pause. And this is what I found.
Pause brings peace. The very next day the word within me was Peace. An inner soothing salve that soaks right in. This was a time for solitude, with your thoughts. This wasn’t an exclusion of community, but it was a focus on your inner core. Not keeping tune to fillers of time, meet more people, be busy, to fill the hours.
Pause takes patience. You can’t push it or rush it…so just receive it. Learn from it. You don’t get to push the pace that isn’t always yours to set. Sometimes you have to wait. You GET to wait. You GET to Pause. To Be. To Listen. To Hear.
“You don’t get to push the pace that isn’t always yours to set.“
Pause is an inner action. A friend pointed out to me (thanks Carla!) that “Pause doesn’t mean inaction.” Yes! Right…I haven’t stopped. But it’s been a time of reflection and increased spiritual discipline, not a time to just check off my to-do list. There is a time to move, a time to hold, a time to rest and a time to Pause. Like the seasons.
And just as I knew the time for Pause, I’ll know the time to “Un-Pause,” to hit Play again.
What I’ve learned in my time OF, and time FOR, PAUSE is this:
- Pause brings peace.
- Pause takes patience.
- Pause doesn’t mean inaction.
- Pause is an inner action.
- Stillness is underrated.
- Pause is Preparation.
Have you had a season of Pause? What did you think?
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As a grandmother ,I can identify with the phrase “ You don’t get to push the pace that isn’t always yours to set.
My pace is slower and no one can push it past my ability ,now or they will hurt me. When you are young as you learn,
You’ re pace builds as you take in all you must to learn a thing. Then you soar and You forget some of the patience it took to learn a thing. We need to pause to build again and again.
Thank you Amy
Ann, thank you for your insights of how we forget it takes time, then we soar and we have to rebuild.” Very good! Thank you for reading and your comment!