Space between the notes

At this critical time on the planet, moving forward with calm and serenity can seem almost inconceivable.
When we are stressed, finding compassion and entering a peaceful state of mind takes a certain kind of steadiness and inner quiet.
If we’re honest, most of us would agree that these qualities are more difficult to summon up, these days.

And yet, sometimes it only takes one small shift for us to see things differently.
To help us think in wider terms.
To perceive life from a different angle. To re-engage when we’ve lost hope.
It’s like coming up for a big gulp of fresh air.

So, dear readers, on this momentous day, as we watch the world unfold before our very eyes, we’d like to share a technique with you that we have been cultivating in our community.
In hopes that it might bring you relief and tranquility, in this moment.
Help you remember who you truly are.

A space between the notes.

A way of bringing gentle action to a storm-tossed world.
Of reflecting without needing to go into full meditation.
A form of contemplation. Of recording the sacred.
A kind of inner mechanism that when activated has strong impact, beyond our knowing.

You might be thinking: “How could you even think of asking me to pause in the midst of this turbulence?”

A simple act

First, we encourage you, to stop reading this blog, right now, and witness yourself pausing.
Appreciate this small interval.
Take a deep breath. And then another.
Notice what’s happening in your body.
What are you feeling? Where are your thoughts? What part of you is emerging?

This is how we become aware of ourselves, again. Of our inner environment.
This can be achieved by a simple act of pausing.
It’s instantaneous. If we allow ourselves to go there.
We all know the experience of letting go of the clutter, the unnecessary.

You can let pauses arise naturally. Proliferating through your day.
Small eternities. Spacious encounters.
Watching them as they come across your field of attention.

Or you can set your own pace. Staging moments of quiet. Wherever you want.
Deliberately. Consciously.
Living the pause. As if it were a friend.

In these pauses, observe how your mind starts easing off.
How you find passage to clear thinking.
How you are more easily able to connect with your heart. Softening.
Drawing into the essence of who you are.

The more you rest here, the more peaceful you become.
In the silence.
As you enter the place of your inner wisdom.

Pause transforms

Every pause is a gift, in itself.
Offering new rhythms, patterns, cycles.
Movement where you feel stuck.
Oxygen where you are constricted.
Fresh inquiries. Discoveries. Breakthroughs.
New-found awareness. A flow of harmonious action.

The next thing you know, is that before rushing off to a meeting, making a decision or taking on your next task, you are taking a pause.
Circling back to yourself. Again.
Surprisingly, by opening up space, you seem to have more time.
You can handle demanding and irritating situations without going down the rabbit hole.

As a result, your days may take on a new shape.
The busyness of business gets turned around.
And all of a sudden, you realize that you are quietly being.
Through breath, sensing, seeing, experiencing directly.

You feel alive. Responsive and sensitive to the world around you.

A new practice

And soon, pausing becomes a habit.
A form of self-discipline.
Bringing calm. A lightness to your life.
Rekindling your spirit of generosity and creativity.
A way of exiting the old game.

When there is chaos in the world, we are spontaneously drawn inward.
It is our way of making sense of our experiences. Finding meaning.
We are drawn to pause.
To peace and calm.
Knowing that this is where our true answers lie.

Pause is the ground of possibility.

How could you introduce pauses in your day?

“Through the sacred art of pausing, we develop the capacity to stop hiding, to stop running away from our experience. We begin to trust in our natural intelligence, in our naturally wise heart, in our capacity to open to whatever arises.” Tara Brach