There is Power in Pausing

The other day I found myself doing five things at once.  I was doing a lot, but also doing nothing, if that makes sense.  

I got to thinking - the world puts so much "value" on productivity that it's no wonder that people tend to move a mile a minute.  It seems exhausting to be honest.  I know for me, in that moment where I was doing so much, I was really tired.  I probably wasn't doing any one of those things as best I could.  One of the things I was doing was talking on the phone with someone.  Thinking back on it now, what a shame it was that I wasn't even giving this person I was talking to my full attention.  That's not how I want to show up in relationships.  Distracted.  Reactive.  

After that realization I decided to pause.  To not only pause what I was physically doing but also pause what my mind was doing.  I took a few moments to be quiet and ground myself and move forward to do just one thing at a time, fully present.  

When I did decide to move forward, I moved with intention and clarity and noticed that I was not only happier, but was performing better just by doing that one thing at a time and giving it the attention it needed to do it well.  I paused, gathered my thoughts, and then moved forward.

It's a practice I implement all the time now - tiny pauses throughout the day.  I did it just before I started writing this to you, and have practiced pausing at least a dozen times since the beginning of this writing.  If I was writing about this in a distracted state, not grounded, looking everywhere and thinking with a short attention span, there is no way I could communicate effectively and clearly.

If you give yourself the opportunity to control the intention and the pace of how you move through the world you will notice that you gain a great deal of power.  You know the saying: "look before you leap".  Well - here - I'll offer that we should all "pause before you go".  

When you practice taking a small but deliberate pause, or breath, before you make a decision or speak, you give yourself the chance to check in with yourself before you do something.  When you know that you are moving forward from a grounded place, you are more likely to make good decisions and speak in a way that is aligned.  Moving through the world from a place of awareness is an incredible, powerful, beautiful way to show up in your life.  And it all comes from that tiny moment of pause.  

Today, find one moment where you can take a beat for yourself before you do or say something.  Then, take the time to think about how your reaction or behavior was impacted by taking that pause.  Over time, I know you will find that the way you show up in this world will be positively impacted by giving yourself the gift of this tiny, but powerful, pause.