Practice The Pause

Have you ever felt like you were racing around in circles without making much forward progress? I know I have, many times. Just recently I got caught up in thinking about things I perceived I failed in the past and wondering what my actions moving forward would help me in the future.  This type of thinking had me thinking I was stuck with no ending in sight more often than I wanted to admit, and eventually, I knew I needed to pause, reflect, and regroup my way of thinking.  I needed to free myself! So this blog is about practicing the pause so read on and enjoy!

I came across a quote that was so relatable to me at this point in my life as I'm going through the growing pains in my business and it reads:

“Practice the pause.When in doubt, pause. When angry, pause. When tired, pause. When stressed, pause. And when you pause, pray.” - Unknown

Speaking for myself, I know that I don’t practice the pause enough. Too often I jump to conclusions without really sitting down and taking the time to think the situation through.   I also talked myself out of things I wanted to accomplish before I even started them which led to a snowball effect of these worst case scenarios building up in my head, overloading me with analysis paralysis before I even started taking action.

Too often I used excuses to sell myself on why I didn't do something to justify reasons not to move forward- at least not yet.  I used my words as weapons rather than my actions as healers because I didn't' practice the pause.  Taking the opportunity to stop and really think about the situation and what actions I can take to bring results would help in every difficult situation or decision that I was in. I was stressed, and it wasn't until my doctor told me I had high blood pressure that I realized I wasn't taking care of the most important relationship in my life...

ME 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m an end result guy, but I am also easy to get into more planning and not taking action.  

When we are in doubt about taking action, when we’re angry, tired, or stressed about the current situation, we are most susceptible to allowing negative things to make you spiral downward and it affects your health, your business, and eventually every aspect of your life.   This is why it is important to practice the pause, and it is something that I am definitely going to work on.  So here are three things I did to help get out of a rut cycle.

1. Don't run from it, face it and keep moving forward. Life is always coming at you and based on the situation you can do three things: you can run from it, you can fall back on your ego and try to stand your ground, or you can use it as an opportunity to face it and keep moving forward. As the first two options would both result in you getting knocked down and possibly getting knocked out by giving up, the third option gives the opportunity to transform and stretchyourself to match your circumstances, and this is how you get through anything grow as a person. Running from situations is a tactic that too many people have familiarized themselves with, myself included. It seems like the easiest thing to do at the time. Avoiding it means you don’t have to think about it and freak yourself out. But the longer you wait, the more it grows as it catches up with you, making it even harder to deal with later compared to if you hit it on the head earlier.
2. Commit yourself. Commit yourself to sticking to your morning rituals; prayer, meditation, exercise, and reading something to empower you.  You want to go back to the things that brought the happiness and joy to your life BEFORE that situation or event happened.  It'll help relieve that stress coming from the situation and it'll help you grow as a person.
3. Give gratitude.  Give thanks for everything, starting as small as waking up in the morning and spiral upward and outward.  Understand that whatever you appreciate APPRECIATES.  Also, this helps take away unnecessary energy and focus, putting it where it is needed - in the positive things in your life.

So whenever a situation arises, I plan on diving in head first and dealing with it when it first arises, and I encourage you to do so as well. Tackling it head on helps with your confidence and growth mentally.

Your turn…

What are some of the things you would do to practice the pause? Remember the pause is for YOU to take care of you, so what do you do to keep your focus on the big picture, whether you are in pursuit of a goal, or you've just had a learning experience? How do you keep the balance with the most important relationship you keep?

Leave a comment below and share your thoughts with the STRETCHYOURSELF community.

Thank you for reading this and I hope my experiences move in the direction with strong commitment and focus. I look forward to connecting with you soon.