I think coming to our community gives me time to pause. At work, we have a serenity room now with two massage lounge chairs, we also have a gym that I try to use also to give me some pause away from the grind.
Tomorrow I leave for my trip to visit my daughter, thankfully no issues so far with departing. The airport was closed yesterday. We got 15 inches of snow but never lost power thank goodness
I think of all those lazy days of summer,
where I could have paused before moving forward . . .
I squandered many,
and paused too long at some.
I guess it is the way of the world,
that we come into existence
fresh and open,
become trained and restricted by our upbringing,
and then fight our way through the trauma
to learn what we have spent years unlearning.
My body
helps me with this forward gesture
by demanding that I pause now and then,
and I take that as a sign that I must make good use of that pause
to reset,
re-orient myself to want out of my time here,
out of this day,
out of this minute . . .
a space to remember and forget,
and to simply be with the moment . . .
a little separate from
The world,
the tasks,
the Life.
Then
I weave it all back together,
adding a few golden threads
that remind me to be grateful for all of it. ♥
I have lots of opportunities; whether or. not I take advantage of those opportunities is usually the question. I need to pause before I speak, before I click “purchase” or “submit”, before I hit “post” or “send”. I need to pause before I choose what to eat or drink, sometimes, even before I step out of the house in a certain outfit – “Is this how I want to represent myself in the particular setting where I’m headed?” In these highly politically and emotionally charged days, it pays for me to be mindful of my words, and my self-care – even for my words of gratitude, to pause, breathe and allow myself to settle in to God’s presence before I charge in to whatever activity awaits me. My relationship with myself and others depends on it.
There are many. I must remember my breath & take a moment to pause & refresh before charging ahead, often I get lost in the doing.
Be here now……
Loving kindness to All.
🕊️♥️
I’ve made it a practice in my overscheduled work life to start meetings that I set at 5 minutes after the hour or half-hour. This builds in an opportunity to pause, set down the last meeting I was in, enter the next one mentally prepared to be present.
I don’t always fully take advantage of that. Today is one of those over-booked days when I especially need to use this time. I appreciate the question as a reminder.
I’m not sure I understand the question.
Do I pause the opportunities, or do I pause before the opportunities. Hmmm 🤔
Either way, pausing is something that I need to do more of. Especially before speaking.
And the opportunities that are available today will reveal themselves in due time.
The opportunity to practice kindness and gratitude, and the opportunity to be present are always available.
Yesterday, while on a short hike, I passed by many people. As we said hello or good morning and gave a smile, I could see the pain beneath the smile. The worry in their eyes. We were still trying to be kind, even when our future is unclear and possibly quite treacherous. It took effort to notice the flowering Irises and the soaring Peregrin Falcon.
Sparrow, like I said on my comment to Carol, it’s exactly why I feel that it’s important to look past the old saying on how if we don’t have anything nice to say that we shouldn’t say at all. The priority must shift to calming the soul. Simple put. We reep what we soul.
Every moment is an opportunity to pause. “Moving forward” is usually something that happens inside of myself–thoughts tumbling over each other, projecting into the future, tension in the stomach. Rarely am I physically moving fast enough to think “I need to stop.” In fact, physical exertion feels calmer. I can always pause inwardly, no matter what I’m doing, and observe the moment.
Drea, not too long ago when I was much wilder, I was once told often to slow down by older folks and my root people. Again, it’s great hearts but with lacking techniques. It’s why It didn’t help. The monkey in the mind as Joseph likes to say, grew and bought their LeBron superteaming buddy systemic umpires along with them. By learning to allow nature to take it’s course by keep moving, those monkeys went away and pauses happened. It’s just like dealing with the bully. 9 out of every 10 times, if you ignore them, you give them nothing to destroy you. They feed off of attention, and attention boosts their pleasure. Hurting others is their pleasure. Appearing weak in front of them gives them greater ammo.
The early morning is a long period of time I intentionally devout to pausing and setting up my day. I also have opportunities during the day to stop, look, ,go.
Yram, the early morning after a good night sleep is when we feel most refreshed. It’s the easiest time to enjoy the moment. Many things to enjoy. The vibe just feels peaceful.
Today, I have a writing assignment that is due on Wednesday, and I want to work on it. While this assignment helps me reflect on my life and my surroundings, academic writing is not my cup of tea. Therefore, I need to pause for a moment, stop here on this site, and refresh my mind before I can continue writing. Happy Monday, filled with hope and wonder, everyone! Special thanks to my Loc for being by my side, especially when I’m acting beauty and ugly. 🌸
My Ngoc, academic writing is different from fun writing. I knew you’d stop by, and I’m glad you did as usual. Here, it’s like a warm-up. The margin of error in academic writing is much thinner.
“May such calm of soul be mine, so as to meet the force of circumstances.” Aeschylus
Today’s quote is a mantra that could serve me well. It asks for calmness of soul with which to meet the force of circumstances. For example, Sometimes I need to pause when I have the opportunity to speak and ask myself, “Is what I’m about to say necessary or helpful?” That’s a calm soul speaking. That is not my ego.
The Hindus say that the “you” that is not ego, is God. That instead of creation being an artifact, it is an expression of the whole thing…It is eternal…the fundamental ground of being, the reality that always was, is, and will be. As Author Alan Watt’s explains in his essay, The Drama of It All, there is no “cosmic boss.” That reinforces something that I have believed for a long time. We are creators and we should examine every opportunity with the calm of soul not the wants of ego..
What could life be like if we all lived from the calm and wisdom of Soul? What could we create? I share one of my poems.
The Buck Stops Here
by
Carol Ann Conner
God, You are not a Being.
You are Being itself,
ever faithful, ever present,
in my joy and my sorrow.
Your vulnerability
humbles me beyond belief
and at times,
leaves me lonely and afraid.
You see, I’ve come to know my choices matter.
They either nurture or destroy the gift of life.
Why? Because, You have made us all Creator
and I don’t want that responsibility!
Why don’t You change the game?
Just fix everything?
“It’s not possible,” You say.
“I have to change. It’s called free will,” You say.
“Become the peace I seek.”
“Share it with all I meet.”
“It’s an inside job,” You say.”
“That begins and ends with me.”
Carol, as a Christian, I greatly take pride in the soul. We reep what we soul. Christianity puts a great premium on that. Having talked about the fine line between honesty and impulsivity before, when our soul is calmer, it’s easier to be honest without crossing into impulsive. Like I also said before, the unkind form of honesty people talk about is actually impulsivity, because they speak before thinking. I’ve talked about how if we don’t have anything nice to say that we shouldn’t say at all. The saying feels exhausting, because we’re putting in extra energy to control ourselves, and there’s only so much we can do. Shifting our priority to calming the soul greatly reduces the burden. Work smarter; not harder.
I’m grateful I can create numerous opportunities to pause; recalibrate as if I were directions on a cell phone and ask the Divine for guidance. Challenging times here in Minneapolis. I’m grateful for the Prayers and Reflections shared here online. May we all be peacemakers in whatever way that manifests as we go about our days this new week. Namaste🫶🏽☮️
Carla, my heart is with you and all the people of your community. Hundreds of people in my community showed up yesterday in a peaceful protest against the murder of Alex Petit and the violation of your communities rights and liberties.
There are multiple opportunities throughout my day where I can take a moment to pause, focus on my breath, and then move forward.
Peace and loving kindness to all today.
I have this opportunity right now. Sitting at our table with my laptop with birdsong playing through my meditation app. Through the day, I will take moments to just focus on my breath and be.
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I think coming to our community gives me time to pause. At work, we have a serenity room now with two massage lounge chairs, we also have a gym that I try to use also to give me some pause away from the grind.
Tomorrow I leave for my trip to visit my daughter, thankfully no issues so far with departing. The airport was closed yesterday. We got 15 inches of snow but never lost power thank goodness
Have a great week all!
I love the idea of a Serenity Room. Safe travels to you too:)
All the best in your travels, Robin Ann.🩷
What a great company to have a serenity room for the employees! I love that!
So glad you’re still able to go see your daughter. Hope the weather stays smooth.
I think of all those lazy days of summer,
where I could have paused before moving forward . . .
I squandered many,
and paused too long at some.
I guess it is the way of the world,
that we come into existence
fresh and open,
become trained and restricted by our upbringing,
and then fight our way through the trauma
to learn what we have spent years unlearning.
My body
helps me with this forward gesture
by demanding that I pause now and then,
and I take that as a sign that I must make good use of that pause
to reset,
re-orient myself to want out of my time here,
out of this day,
out of this minute . . .
a space to remember and forget,
and to simply be with the moment . . .
a little separate from
The world,
the tasks,
the Life.
Then
I weave it all back together,
adding a few golden threads
that remind me to be grateful for all of it. ♥
I have lots of opportunities; whether or. not I take advantage of those opportunities is usually the question. I need to pause before I speak, before I click “purchase” or “submit”, before I hit “post” or “send”. I need to pause before I choose what to eat or drink, sometimes, even before I step out of the house in a certain outfit – “Is this how I want to represent myself in the particular setting where I’m headed?” In these highly politically and emotionally charged days, it pays for me to be mindful of my words, and my self-care – even for my words of gratitude, to pause, breathe and allow myself to settle in to God’s presence before I charge in to whatever activity awaits me. My relationship with myself and others depends on it.
There are many. I must remember my breath & take a moment to pause & refresh before charging ahead, often I get lost in the doing.
Be here now……
Loving kindness to All.
🕊️♥️
Loving kindness to you too PKR
I’ve made it a practice in my overscheduled work life to start meetings that I set at 5 minutes after the hour or half-hour. This builds in an opportunity to pause, set down the last meeting I was in, enter the next one mentally prepared to be present.
I don’t always fully take advantage of that. Today is one of those over-booked days when I especially need to use this time. I appreciate the question as a reminder.
I’m not sure I understand the question.
Do I pause the opportunities, or do I pause before the opportunities. Hmmm 🤔
Either way, pausing is something that I need to do more of. Especially before speaking.
And the opportunities that are available today will reveal themselves in due time.
The opportunity to practice kindness and gratitude, and the opportunity to be present are always available.
Yesterday, while on a short hike, I passed by many people. As we said hello or good morning and gave a smile, I could see the pain beneath the smile. The worry in their eyes. We were still trying to be kind, even when our future is unclear and possibly quite treacherous. It took effort to notice the flowering Irises and the soaring Peregrin Falcon.
I was graced by a soaring golden eagle yesterday, Charlie T. Such a sight. Thanks for the reminder.
Sometimes,
dear Charlie,
when someone is thoroughly engaged,
as in hiking,
that masks often fall by the wayside
in favor of the task at hand . . . ♥
Sparrow, like I said on my comment to Carol, it’s exactly why I feel that it’s important to look past the old saying on how if we don’t have anything nice to say that we shouldn’t say at all. The priority must shift to calming the soul. Simple put. We reep what we soul.
Every moment is an opportunity to pause. “Moving forward” is usually something that happens inside of myself–thoughts tumbling over each other, projecting into the future, tension in the stomach. Rarely am I physically moving fast enough to think “I need to stop.” In fact, physical exertion feels calmer. I can always pause inwardly, no matter what I’m doing, and observe the moment.
Drea, not too long ago when I was much wilder, I was once told often to slow down by older folks and my root people. Again, it’s great hearts but with lacking techniques. It’s why It didn’t help. The monkey in the mind as Joseph likes to say, grew and bought their LeBron superteaming buddy systemic umpires along with them. By learning to allow nature to take it’s course by keep moving, those monkeys went away and pauses happened. It’s just like dealing with the bully. 9 out of every 10 times, if you ignore them, you give them nothing to destroy you. They feed off of attention, and attention boosts their pleasure. Hurting others is their pleasure. Appearing weak in front of them gives them greater ammo.
The early morning is a long period of time I intentionally devout to pausing and setting up my day. I also have opportunities during the day to stop, look, ,go.
Yram, the early morning after a good night sleep is when we feel most refreshed. It’s the easiest time to enjoy the moment. Many things to enjoy. The vibe just feels peaceful.
Today, I have a writing assignment that is due on Wednesday, and I want to work on it. While this assignment helps me reflect on my life and my surroundings, academic writing is not my cup of tea. Therefore, I need to pause for a moment, stop here on this site, and refresh my mind before I can continue writing. Happy Monday, filled with hope and wonder, everyone! Special thanks to my Loc for being by my side, especially when I’m acting beauty and ugly. 🌸
My Ngoc, academic writing is different from fun writing. I knew you’d stop by, and I’m glad you did as usual. Here, it’s like a warm-up. The margin of error in academic writing is much thinner.
“May such calm of soul be mine, so as to meet the force of circumstances.” Aeschylus
Today’s quote is a mantra that could serve me well. It asks for calmness of soul with which to meet the force of circumstances. For example, Sometimes I need to pause when I have the opportunity to speak and ask myself, “Is what I’m about to say necessary or helpful?” That’s a calm soul speaking. That is not my ego.
The Hindus say that the “you” that is not ego, is God. That instead of creation being an artifact, it is an expression of the whole thing…It is eternal…the fundamental ground of being, the reality that always was, is, and will be. As Author Alan Watt’s explains in his essay, The Drama of It All, there is no “cosmic boss.” That reinforces something that I have believed for a long time. We are creators and we should examine every opportunity with the calm of soul not the wants of ego..
What could life be like if we all lived from the calm and wisdom of Soul? What could we create? I share one of my poems.
The Buck Stops Here
by
Carol Ann Conner
God, You are not a Being.
You are Being itself,
ever faithful, ever present,
in my joy and my sorrow.
Your vulnerability
humbles me beyond belief
and at times,
leaves me lonely and afraid.
You see, I’ve come to know my choices matter.
They either nurture or destroy the gift of life.
Why? Because, You have made us all Creator
and I don’t want that responsibility!
Why don’t You change the game?
Just fix everything?
“It’s not possible,” You say.
“I have to change. It’s called free will,” You say.
“Become the peace I seek.”
“Share it with all I meet.”
“It’s an inside job,” You say.”
“That begins and ends with me.”
‘Calm of Soul ‘ – 💗 Thank you Carol.
Years ago I learned this set of questions that I don’t always remember to apply before speaking:
Is it true?
Is it kind?
Is it necessary?
When I speak, do I improve on silence?
Ideally at least two of these will be true any time I speak.
Great questions,
dear Barb . . . ♥
It is up to us,
dear Carol Ann,
isn’t it,
for us to do the work. ♥
Carol, as a Christian, I greatly take pride in the soul. We reep what we soul. Christianity puts a great premium on that. Having talked about the fine line between honesty and impulsivity before, when our soul is calmer, it’s easier to be honest without crossing into impulsive. Like I also said before, the unkind form of honesty people talk about is actually impulsivity, because they speak before thinking. I’ve talked about how if we don’t have anything nice to say that we shouldn’t say at all. The saying feels exhausting, because we’re putting in extra energy to control ourselves, and there’s only so much we can do. Shifting our priority to calming the soul greatly reduces the burden. Work smarter; not harder.
Amen, Carol Ann.
Whenever I choose to or remember to do so. I appreciate the question as a reminder.
Mary Mantei, we often have many excuses, myself included. One excuse leads to two, ten, and so on…
My typical day is a walk in the park. I have the luxury to pause when I decide to do so.
I’m grateful I can create numerous opportunities to pause; recalibrate as if I were directions on a cell phone and ask the Divine for guidance. Challenging times here in Minneapolis. I’m grateful for the Prayers and Reflections shared here online. May we all be peacemakers in whatever way that manifests as we go about our days this new week. Namaste🫶🏽☮️
🙏💗☮
Dear Carla . . .
the Divine in me
bows to the Divine in you. ♥
🕊️♥️🙏🏻
May peace be restored in Minneapolis,
dear Carla . . .
we all share their pain and sense of loss and injustice. ♥
Yes!
The response of the people of MN to brutal occupation is an inspiration to many across the nation.
So, so true.
Carla, my heart is with you and all the people of your community. Hundreds of people in my community showed up yesterday in a peaceful protest against the murder of Alex Petit and the violation of your communities rights and liberties.
I apologize for the misspelling: Alex Pretti.
There are multiple opportunities throughout my day where I can take a moment to pause, focus on my breath, and then move forward.
Peace and loving kindness to all today.
And to you Michele.
Thank you Carla
I have this opportunity right now. Sitting at our table with my laptop with birdsong playing through my meditation app. Through the day, I will take moments to just focus on my breath and be.
Sunnypatti, the early morning is a perfect timing. It’s certainly healthier to start the day slow and steady than to be in a rush.
Best way to start the day!