Heart Pocket Word for the Day is Pause!

The word from my heart pocket is PAUSE.

"The power of the pause", my friend, Robb, said a few days ago. So true. 

Being decisive is an effective tool. It propels us and we need it to get us from one place to another. Pause, on the other hand, gives us a moment to make certain that propulsion isn't half-cocked. 

There are good reasons why we react in PANIC. Our minds feel the need to know NOW. We think if we don't react immediately we'll lose out. We care what others think and want to please. We don't want to appear wishy-washy or stupid. We have a perceived time constraint and can't see the virtues of pause.  

We can avoid pitfalls when we pause. The surest sign that we need to PAUSE is PANIC. When it happens to you, when you feel the first twinge of PANIC, take a deep breath and PAUSE. Take back your power in that moment. Claim your choices and take control of the wheel.

When we stop briefly (and look all ways for possible bombardments) we let our minds rest. This allows us to think clearly before stepping off the curb into the oncoming traffic. Are there cars coming? Are we going in the right direction? Are we even on the right street? Which way will get us to our destination the fastest? Is fastest the route that best provides what we want? 

We don't always need to pause, and we don't want to over-think to the point of no decision. But pausing is like taking a breath. We catch up with ourselves and let our focus settle before moving on. We get impatient for lots of reasons. Impatience is a wonderful sign of a hunger for movement. It is not a sign to move, but an indicator of the desire. Sometimes it is good to honor the sign. Sometimes it is best to wait ... to pause. Nine times out of ten the simple act of pausing causes us to immediately see the big picture. It allows us to take the breaths we need to calm our nerves, soothe our spirit, help us to remember we're driving the vehicle and not the other way around. Pausing also allows new information or developments to take place. Our reactions might be to a situation that isn't yet complete. By briefly pausing, we give other forces a chance to work in our lives. How many times have we leaped and wished we had waited 24 hours before acting? 

Getting what we want starts with inspiration and that's how we motivate ourselves. Once we're moving, we have fast and slow times, periods of ease and difficulty. It is good to pause to bring perspective into any work of art, and especially the art of living well.