Power of the Pause

Happy Monday! For the second weekend in a row I was blessed to have dear friends in town visiting. It really does fill my soul. In all of the planning and organizing for guests along with the day to day pace of life I noticed myself at times forgetting the power of the PAUSE. If I needed reminding, I assumed others did as well so I shared this quote by Victor Frankl with my classes last week.

“Between the stimulus and the response, there is a space. And in that space is our power and our freedom.” 

The concept of the PAUSE can truly ground us more deeply in the moment because it is a constant reminder that we have a choice. When someone lashes out at us in a moment of anger or a “stimulus” occurs that we do not like, if we PAUSE, often we can find the space to MINDFULLY ACT instead of REACT.

Likely each of us can connect to instances where we responded quickly and reactively. Often those reactions cause more suffering in both ourselves and others. Upon reflection of those moments you may notice that the reactions felt instinctual instead of intentional. That is because likely they were. Without the PAUSE, the most primitive part of our brain reacts with a fight, flight, freeze instinct. The PAUSE allows a different, more sophisticated part of our brain to take over. That is where our freedom to act mindfully comes from. That is the POWER OF THE PAUSE.