Do You Need to Press Pause?

Posted on Jul 8, 2013

One of my favorite aspects of my job as a psychotherapist and life coach is that, in contrast to my other job as a mom of 10 year old twin boys, I have the rare opportunity to sit in uninterrupted conversation with an adult several times a day. When I come home, I am constantly pulled in multiple directions. Even when I have a very busy day, with clients scheduled back-to-back, during the session everything slows down for me. It is an absolute pleasure for me to be completely focused on only one task: listening to and responding to the needs of the person sitting in front of me.

For my clients, the most basic thing that I offer is the space to stop the mental busyness, stop the endless activities and 

press pause.

We live much of our lives in fast-forward. Our high octane, hyper-driven pace and habitual efforts to control our daily life arises from free-floating anxiety about something being wrong or not being enough. Pausing is an opportunity to clearly see the thoughts, desires and fears that are driving us at break-neck speeds.

Like a rest note in a music, the stillness of a pause forms the background that lets the foreground take shape with clarity and freshness. The moment that arises out of the pause can, like the well-sounded note, reflect the genuineness, the wholeness, the truth of the present moment.

A pause is, by nature, time limited. We resume our activities, but we do so with increased presence and more ability to make choices. When we press pause, we might not know what will happen next. But by disrupting our habitual behaviors, we open to new possibilities when we resume and press play.

What if you gave the gift of a pause to yourself? One hour of uninterrupted time to focus inward, ask yourself how you are.  To shift from the problems of your life and to focus on solutions. You could use the time to get clear on how you want to create your ideal life. 

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