What is a pause and what might it accomplish? During the holidays I let myself sink under the rush I was experiencing inside and out. It wasn’t a forced pause, it was more of a letting myself do what the ancient wisdom in my body already knew. I read, played games, walked outdoors, letting myself go from the “pressures” of what I was feeling. Post holidays I noted a re-organization had taken place in how I thought about certain aspects of my life, and how to go about them.
In craniosacral therapy we talk about “stillness”. The body quieting, coming to an intricate balance of introspection. I often feel this as a pause with a flavor of something at the edges. Sometimes an edge of retreat, finding safety in being still and far away. Or a quiet sense of deep rest. Or a sense of excitement: something percolating, a new way of being, a creative energy about to express.
I’ve learned the value of a pause in conversation. Instead of rushing to fill the gap, contain, or help: instead a pause, a breath, a glance, a touch. Letting be without hurrying to fix. Compassion gets a chance when we give space to let something simply be what it is. Change has a chance when not immediately forced to compensate.
Spending time in nature is a wonderful way to feel a pause. This is my experience.
“Walking amongst the trees at sunrise, a hush comes from the land, a quietness and anticipation, I am filled with awe. The sun greets my eye slowly in brilliance, and I turn so as not to be completely undone by unrelenting clarity.
At sunset I pause, waist deep in grass. Nature turns towards the west, peaceful in it’s quiet yearning.
On the mountains I am caught up in the stillness of snow. A deep quiet comes from the stone and and trees and whiteness of mountain ranges, quietly in communication across the peaks. I pause, and listen.”
Written by: Naomi Chuah, RCST BCST
Photo Credit: Nigel