11:11 Power of the Pause: How to Get Charged Up Without Burning Out
Inspired action emerges in the gap you create between action and reaction.
Workaholics aren't heroes. They don't save the day, they just use it up. The real hero is home because they figured out a faster way.
~Jason Fried
Do you imagine that you will someday get through your to-do list and finally be able to relax? If you’re moving like a freight train, racing through a list of things to accomplish, consider taking a personal timeout. By consciously slowing down your reaction time, you will enhance your ability to choose a more elegant response in any situation. Just one deep breath and a moment of stillness can bring order to the swirling chaos that can take over the mind. Such is the power of the pause.
When we are attentive to our actions we are not prisoners to our habits. ~ T. K. V. Desikachar
Whenever you operate on “autopilot” and react mindlessly to provoking incidents, your outdated mental habits will rule your behavior. But when you train your mind to pause instead, you can interrupt those powerful but ineffective habits which were learned at an earlier stage of your development. By giving yourself a little breathing room, you allow a fresh and creative response to arise spontaneously.
Pausing (and breathing) activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which can calm your mind long enough to allow you to think clearly and respond responsibly to whatever conundrums confront you. Once your rational, calm, solution-oriented brain gets stimulated, it will automatically choose a response that is more elegant, supportive and effective: A calm mind doesn’t fuel conflict; it can see both sides of an argument without freaking out, defending the ego and declaring war on the “other side.”
A pause is like mentally shifting gears into neutral. In the absence of cascading stress hormones, you’ll discover that a broader context and greater understanding will dawn on you effortlessly. You’ll start to look for what’s “right” instead of overreacting to what’s “wrong.” It takes daily practice, but over time, you’ll enjoy more inner peace and enlightening a-ha moments when you consistently practice the Power of the Pause.
Pausing Supports Self Care and Effective Boundary Setting
Your soul is the power source that energizes you in real time. Without sufficient recharging of your soul, your energy sags, your happiness suffers and your operating capacity starts to power down.
Unlike your phone, which clearly notifies you when battery power is low, the notification that your personal battery is maxed out is typically feelings of exhaustion, depression, anxiety, resentment or overwhelm. Perpetual motion, people pleasing, and poor self-care can dim your power source by rapidly discharging your “soul battery.”
Just as you recharge your phone by plugging it into electrical power, you power up your spirit by “plugging in” to stillness.
Don’t just do something, sit there!
You can keep your “soul battery” charged up and never experience burnout if you alternate between the wholehearted pursuit of your passions and your intentionally-created pauses.
By suspending the ordinary “doing” mode of life and stepping into “being” consistently, you can get powered up with revitalizing soul energy. For example, instead of automatically checking your phone during a pause in the day’s action, just be: Be open, spacious, observe your surroundings or let yourself daydream. Intentional practices like prayer, yoga, meditation or walks in nature can be another great way to take a personal timeout that boosts your personal power.
The self-care practice of pausing before your soul battery is drained keeps you consistently powered up, while doing what you love rejuvenates you throughout the activity. Slowing down long enough to ponder your options expands the capacity of your mind by connecting you to unlimited universal intelligence, of which you are an intrinsic part.
Intelligence is quickness in seeing things as they are.
~George Santayana
Relationship Care
In close relationships, it can sometimes seem like you’re going from handling one crisis to another, constantly fixing and solving things until that becomes an automatic function. Instead, pause first:
Do not rush to solve a problem that presents itself in an important relationship. Wonder about it. Restate it several ways. Brainstorm options. Ask who owns the problem. Empower everyone concerned to contribute their perspective on the problem. Be curious about how those perspectives were arrived at, but avoid taking sides. Stay engaged but neutral until a collaborative resolution can emerge.
Dysfunctional relationship patterns are unconscious because we’ve rehearsed them so many times they’ve become “second nature.”
Slowing down personal interactions to reach consensus may take more awareness, time and effort than your habitual interactions, but collaborating in this way empowers ingenuity and inspires more elegant solutions than any one person could ever generate alone.
Pausing within the unpredictable dynamic of relationships takes a lot of self-awareness. First you have to be able to notice and “own” an ineffective automatic pattern you use in a relationship; then you have to make space before reacting; finally you need to choose a different response than the one that feels like “second nature." It’s awkward and uncomfortable…at first. With regular practice though, you’ll feel relieved, energized and equipped to accept what is, change it or remove yourself.
Working smart is harder than working hard. It’s just less visible, and we care too much about what others see. ~Shane Snow
Spiritual Practice: Where can you schedule a pause?
Over time, the Practice of the Pause will reliably help you to discern what is truly meaningful or urgent, and what can be delayed, delegated or deleted.
Try an experiment. Instead of rushing through your to-do list, take a little break between activities. Feel what you are drawn to do next. The more often you do what you’re authentically drawn to, instead of what you “should” do, the more you’ll align with your soul-led self like filings to a magnet. The more you align with your Real Self, the more you will thrive and accomplish more with less stress.
Schedule Activities that Charge Your “Soul Battery:”
When you are fully charged, you feel vital, inspired and resilient, what engages you so completely that you lose track of time? What brings joy to your heart and a smile to your face? Do it more often, as it turbocharges your energy each time you do.
Drop as many soul-crushing habits, relationships and activities as you possibly can. Create the Practice of the Pause your way and carve out quiet “me” time in a way that makes sense for you. Make your intentional pauses enjoyable, something you get to do rather than something you should do or have to do.
It’s impossible to do it wrong, so let your pauses reflect your uniqueness. You can create a peaceful place for an intentional timeout or an altar at home to inspire you to commit to a daily meditation practice, for example. Please share in the comments section your favorite way to incorporate a pause in the midst of daily activity.
Three Tips for Practicing Intentional Timeouts Daily:
Add mindfulness or sacred mantra practice to your daily fitness walk.
Spend quiet time in nature just listening, observing and experiencing.
Meditate in your parked car before entering work/home/school.
Tweak your personal practice until it’s nourishing, relaxing, and something you look forward to. Find small pockets of quiet throughout your day to keep you fully powered up. Plug into your personal power source for the juice you need to make your dreams come true and create a life YOU LOVE!
