We are all so busy, that even in the moments when we aren’t crossing something off our list, we fill in the space with something that still doesn’t allow the space to “JUST BE”. When I am resting I am usually still doing something that I call relaxing, like reading a book or solving a word puzzle. And while those things are relaxing for me, I am still in “doing mode” – beat the puzzle or learn something new from the book.
Learn to pause or nothing worthwhile will catch up to you.
– Doug King
Why is it so hard to “just be”? I love this photo because cats are excellent “just be” creatures. What is the difference between us and the cat in this example? The cats aren’t afraid of:
“I will be irrelevant if I can’t prove you need me every moment”
“I won’t measure up to the “superwoman” who is the best friend, wife, and mother, and corporate executive”
“I won’t get everything done “
“I am what I do, so I have to be doing every moment”
If something isn’t on this list, I am sure that you could add 100 more things that you are afraid of missing, or doing, or being – that stands in your way of “just being”.
Too many people go through life without pausing to enjoy what they have.
– David Gemmell
What is just pausing? Being disconnected from the world for just a few minutes. Check into what you are feeling. Quiet your mind. Look around you at the beauty of your surroundings. Ignore just for a moment, if the windows need cleaning, that you just spotted a spider web, or there is dust on the piano. It is taking the time to replenish, to give yourself permission to rest and truly relax.
Something precious is lost if we rush headlong into the details of life without pausing for a moment to pay homage to the mystery of life and the gift of another day.
– Kent Nexbum
Why is this so important?
Taking time to do nothing often brings everything into perspective.
– Doe Zantamata
What I find for myself personally, is that when I am avoiding something, I get really busy, usually deep cleaning, which means I take the entire room apart and clean everywhere. I move all of the furniture, I decide that the bookcase needs to go into another room, which means that all of the books get removed, etc….
Don’t mistake movement for achievement. It’s easy to get faked out by being busy. The question is: “Busy doing what?”
– Jim Rohn
I get busy to avoid the thing I don’t want to do. I get busy to avoid the thing I don’t want to face. I get busy and stay busy and ignore the calling of my soul. I don’t want to face this thing, and so I get so busy that I forget it for just a little while. At any moment I can say enough…, I am not going to avoid this any longer. I can radically change the course of my life, my purpose, my destiny. I have the power, the faith, and the courage to follow my hearts calling. I have the ability to pause, to pray, and to stop and practice deep listening to what my soul is calling me to do. I can pause and just listen.
Pause and remember – Change will happen the moment you have the courage to change.
– Jennifer Young
The courage to change is folded into the realization that every change in our life has been meaningful. Some were life’s lemons and they tore us asunder. We may have thought that they were going to be the end of us. But instead, they made us smarter, stronger, and wiser than we were before they blew through our life.
Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.
– Unknown
Other changes were easy and like a light summer breeze came and went without too much commotion. Even so, they changed us in a very meaningful matter. It revived us.
Learn to pause . . . or nothing worthwhile will catch up to you.
– Doug King
Introspection, reflection, relaxation, they all mean that we have to take a moment, a pause to let our minds wrap around the changes and accept them in a way that moves us forward in progress.
Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.
– Guillaume Apollinaire
So, pause and practice being a cat and JUST BE.
Pause, reflect then move forward. Great Article. If we would take the time to pause we would make better decisions on how we engage people, problems and life.