Giving Pause

So much happens, it is easy to fall into the pattern of simply reacting all the time, and then life becomes one long emotional drama, internal or external, and that's exhausting. All day long we end up contending with fear, giddiness and more fear, up and down like an endless bumpy and uncomfortable ride. Then we react to that in our habits because it gets overwhelmingly painful.

There are other ways, it's just that we aren't taught them. We don't grow up valuing silence, we don't get taught how to breathe and bring ourselves to the present moment, we aren't brought up even understanding the importance of being present. But by giving pause to the seemingly ceaseless flow of emotional commotion we are barraged with each day, we give ourselves the opportunity to choose a different response.


Yes, it is possible to not get all wigged out with fear, it is possible to just sit with it for a moment and let it pass. And this is true of nearly any feeling. Sit with it, allow it to happen, feel it, and it will then pass of it's own accord.

It's amazing. But the most amazing part is how freeing it is. This simple little process is one of the easiest ways to be free of the turmoil of constant emotional drama and the painful things we do to ourselves to be free of the discomfort it causes.

Give pause today. Take a moment an breathe through the situations you encounter and the emotions they awaken in you. Wait with any given situation, breathe with it, sit with it, and notice that your feelings, once felt, once they have had their say, are free to go and you are left with lightness of being that is virtually pain free. When we do the opposite - do anything in our power to avoid feeling the feeling - we end up creating so much incredible pain for ourselves. It's worth it to try giving pause.

Blessings.
- Darshan

© 2009 Darshan F Jessop