What If You Just Stopped for a Moment?

I love to pause.

Sometimes it’s simply a few quiet minutes with my morning tea. A few deep breaths between one thing and the next.

Sometimes it’s stopping in the middle of a busy day and asking myself:

How am I feeling?

I’ve learned that these little pauses matter.

Because life has a way of pulling us along.

There are things to do, people to respond to, places to be, and decisions to make. Before we know it, we’re moving from one thing to the next without ever stopping to notice how we actually are.

And I can get caught up in it.

I can push. Overthink. Try to figure everything out. I can convince myself that if I just think about something a little longer, surely the answer will magically appear.

Usually, that’s when something in me whispers:

Pause.

A few weeks ago, I had one of those days when my mind was going in ten different directions.

There were emails to answer, decisions to make, and things I felt I should be doing. I could feel myself getting more overwhelmed the more I tried to accomplish.

So, I stopped.

I made myself a cup of tea and sat down. No phone. No trying to solve anything. Just me and my tea.

I took a few breaths and noticed what was happening in my body.

And I realized: I was tired.

Nothing was wrong. Nothing needed to be figured out in that moment. I simply needed to stop pushing.

After a little while, I felt different. Not because my to-do list had disappeared—it was still patiently waiting for me!—but because I had come back to myself.

That is the gift of the pause.

For me, pausing isn’t about escaping life. It’s about being more fully in my life.

And really, we could learn a thing or two from animals.

They seem to have mastered the art of pausing. They nap when they’re tired, stretch when they feel like it, sit in a patch of sunshine and simply watch the world go by.

No guilt. No to-do list. No wondering if they’re being productive enough.

Maybe they know something we’ve forgotten.

We live in a culture of doing

There is so much messaging telling us to keep going.

Do more. Be productive. Make things happen. Keep up.

Even rest can become something we try to accomplish!

Yet some of my greatest clarity comes when I stop trying so hard to find it.

When I create a little space, I can hear myself again.

I might notice:

I’m tired.

I’m holding my breath.

I’m saying yes when I really want to say no.

I’m worrying about something that hasn’t even happened.

Or perhaps…

I’m happy.

This moment is beautiful.

I have enough.

I don’t need to be anywhere else right now.

Without the pause, we can become so busy living our lives that we forget to actually experience them.

Pausing creates space. And in that space, we have choice.

Your pause doesn’t need to be long.

It might be three conscious breaths before getting out of your car. Putting your phone down and looking out the window. Walking outside. Closing your eyes for thirty seconds.

Or taking an entire afternoon with nowhere you have to be. (Now that sounds heavenly.)

The length of the pause isn’t what matters.

It’s the intention behind it.

Perhaps today, somewhere between everything you have to do, give yourself permission to pause.

Take a breath. Feel your feet on the ground. Look around you. Notice what is here.

You don’t need to accomplish anything in the pause.

You don’t need to find an answer.

You don’t need to make anything happen.

Just be here.

With love,

Diane