Create / Taking Time to Pause

“Wait, pause…don’t take any sudden actions or make decisions before you have given yourself a moment to think, or maybe even run that thought by a fellow or friend.

This advice was so foreign to me, it was like watching a cow flying past me with a set of wings. I couldn’t digest the idea of “waiting” when I had learned that by taking fast action, my problem could be solved. Not only was the problem solved, but I didn’t have to sit and wonder what was happening. Sitting still and wondering made me feel so uncomfortable. In my past world, I was always in a reactive mode instead a responsive one. In the book “Don’t Worry, Make Money”, author Richard Carlson, Ph.D. states:

“The reactive mode is one that feels stressful. In it, we feel pressured & are quick to judge. We lose perspective and take things personally.”

Over time, the word pause became part of my vocabulary, and when broken down the word can mean:

P- postpone A- action U- until S-serenity E-enter s

Currently, I no longer take “immediate action” in order to solve a problem, respond to an email or text, and doing this has saved me valuable resources, in both time & money. I know that if I take my time to answer an email, text, or a comment, all parties involved win. When I was involved in a court case re: a property settlement, I learned that I didn’t always need to respond to the lawyers right away. Sometimes, even waiting a period of 24 hours to reply has always brought me new awareness & insight.

Pausing can take practice, as so many of us ( myself) are used to taking action and getting things done. We can start doing this in small ways, and by doing so, build up to bigger pauses, until we start to feel at peace with the process.

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