PAUSING
MANY OF US HAVE BEEN RUNNING ALL OUR LIVES. PRACTICE STOPPING. -Thich Nhat Hanh
This quote inspired me to write about stopping. It coincides with my Summer schedule of allowing my family and myself to sort of have a non schedule. In my own life, too often I feel like I am running. Running towards, running away from, running in place, and literal, feet-on- the-pavement, running!
During the Summer, my family and I go on a 2 week vacation to the beach. We move our physical bodies quite a bit (surf, swim, ping pong) but we also manage to sort of pause. There is an ease in everyones moods. An ability to be together in a little space for 2 weeks happily. No urgency about time tables or scheduling. A relaxing that happens here to all of us that feels like a recharge we all are desperate for.
Each Summer I wonder how I can bring a little bit of this pausing into the school year and infuse some moments of into our “real life” so our pause isn’t this little lonely bubble that is saved only for vacation.
Come the end of August, I always start to have a bit of an anxiety attack. Not only about the kids school years starting and getting back into the routine of it all, but also because I know we are all about to speed up and start this race that I often wonder what the point of is…
Generally, the process of pausing seems to come not only from the external circumstance (beach, vacation, no schedule) but from internal circumstances as well. Over the years I’ve been trying to shift so that I can help my family pause more in general. Sometimes my attempts are successful and sometimes they’re epic failures. But I just want to keep trying- and encourage you to as well- to make little shifts. Over the years, in accumulation, lots of little tweaks can equal real change.
A few summers ago I aimed to make mornings getting to school and work more relaxed and smooth in my home so we feel we are “running” a bit less. I have been working on it ever since! :) Last year I focused more on making sure our family spent time outside in Nature together as often as possible in all Seasons. This Summer, I am going to work on taking more literal pauses- like a 10-20 minute self inflicted time out- and I will encourage my kids to as well. I have actually tried this before and it hasn’t worked super well, so I’m going to give it a shot again! (I’ll let you know how it goes…)
What happens in your life (and in your body) when you are able to pause? How can you find ways to cultivate this feeling without the external help which might mold the situation on the outside- such as vacation?
Could it be through meditation? More sleep? Asking for more help from others? More frequent hugs?! Less screens? Or, like I am working on, literal pauses where you remove yourself from a situation and just re-set for a bit? What works for you?
Maybe you want to find some specific way to help yourself (and your family) STOP every now and again. Think about it. Take some time to sort out when the pausing happens and how you can get more of it. I encourage you to try it, especially if you also share my feeling that too much of our lives is spent running…
xoxoxo katia