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Power of Pause: How to Keep Your Hope, Optimism, and Spiritual Values Alive and Effective in the World, Even When Your Life Seems to be Going to Hades in a Hand Basket |
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By Alan Davidson http://www.ThroughYourBody.com © Alan Davidson- All Rights reserved
Katy was tired, her body exhausted and her mind scrambling to keep up. Refugees from Hurricane Katrina teemed through her doors like hordes at the gates. The Gulf Coast reeled from the one-two punch of the killer storm and the flooding of New Orleans. The whole country jolted as rescue efforts spiraled into mayhem and chaos. The botched response from the ill-prepared and devastated city governments and the achingly slow federal response shocked hearts across America.
Katy, the Director of The Montrose Clinic, was stretched thin in the best of times. Her clinic served Houston's swelling poor, uninsured, and gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender (GLBT) communities. Now, New Orleans's gay, lesbian and HIV community swarmed to the clinic and Katy was in hyper-drive.
Far under the radar screen of the relief efforts going on across town at the Astrodome, suddenly, new patients at the Montrose Clinic, with no medical records, no homes and no funding, needed care, and more importantly, expensive medications. The clinic's dedicated doctors and staff worked over the Labor Day holiday to welcome patients.
Katy scrambled to find the money for their meds. Two weeks of this kind of pressure had taken its toll on. She came through the door needing a spa get-a-way to unkink her body, soothe her anxious nerves, and calm her ricocheting mind. She was already looking forward to next month's birthday gift to herself-a spa vacation to rest and relax.
These are extraordinary times. We are called upon to stoke the brightest light of our selves and to shine brilliantly into the world, especially into the darkest crooks and crannies of our human condition. We are called to vision the very best that humanity has to offer and live fully into that vision.
But the task of lifting the world from darkness can feel daunting. The evening news is a steady stream of war, tragedy, horror, and violence. The specter of every "ism" known to society: sexism, racism, classism, poverty, hate, and greed can zap the energy, along with all the good intentions, from many a spiritual activist.
Yet we are born for such times. We are called to fortify our truest selves, to marshal our physical, emotional, mental, moral and spiritual IQs and to direct them for all that is right and good in this world.
In the scope of all the work needing to be done, it's easy to exhaust ourselves in the process; to run on fumes; or worse, flat out of gas. This is where practicing the simple "Power of the Well Intentioned Pause" comes in handy.
The very nature of energy is to expand and contract. It's one of the few constants in the universe. The stars and their moons rise and set, waves of water crest and fall, electricity pulses, hearts contract and then pulse, lungs rise and fall, orgasms come and go. Energy may be constant but it oscillates. The energy keys in our bodies are the same.
• Physically we have times of effort and times of rest and sleep. • Emotionally we balance our sense of individuality and our need to connect with the people around us. • We can be mentally muddled and confused or focused and clear. • We can pursue lives and ideals we don't truly want for ourselves or we can live our deepest values in the world. • Spiritually we can remain dormant or we can sparkle and thrive.
There is a fine line between efficiency and burnout. The fulcrum that makes the difference is respecting your body's need for pause and rest. This simple directive sounds, well too simple. But in these times of over stimulation, hyperactivity and multi tasking, our bodies consume tremendous amounts of energy that we simply must restore. If we are to continue to thrive we must learn to balance performance with pause.
A prime example comes from the laboratory of pro sports players. For thirty years sports psychologists Jim Loeher and Tony Schwartz have helped professional athletes define what it takes to succeed at the most competitive levels under the highest pressures.
He discovered the key difference when he focused on what the players did between the points, not during the points.
The topped ranked players, each and everyone, had a personal ritual for calming their breath and heart rate, sharply focusing their attention, and preparing for the next point. These rituals might last only ninety seconds between points, but practiced often where highly effective.
"A well intentioned pause" is an extension of Loeher's discovery with tennis players. A strategic pause becomes a practice for everyday life. It is simply remembering, on a regular and consistent basis throughout the day to completely unplug from the all-consuming tasks at hand:
a chaotic workday fraught with calls, meetings, and deadlines; demanding children, navigating the stresses of family and relationships; driving in traffic; balancing the demands of personal life and community service, or fighting for social justice.
It is our focused intention that sets this kind of pause apart. The power of our intention is source of tremendous energy in, and of itself. When I turn my intention to rest, restore and refuel my energy; when I turn my intention to calm and soothe my feelings and mind, life naturally responds. Possible pauses can be just about anything that unplug us from the consuming thoughts of our day and refuel our energies. Anything you consciously do to disconnect from the intensity of your day and nourish your energy will make a big difference.
They include:
• a few minutes of breathing or meditation, • a brief set of stretches, sit-ups, or push-ups • going to the gym, • a dance, yoga, or aerobics class, • reading a juicy novel, • a phone call to an inspiring friend or a loving family member, • a walk outdoors in nice weather is mighty helpful, • a nap, • savoring a healthy meal.
A well intentioned pause can last ninety seconds, ten minutes, one hour, a day, or a week. Don't underestimate the power of a deliberate ninety-second pause. Remember the tennis pro's in Loeher's study. Between points, they each had a ritual that rested their energy, calmed their breath and heart-rate, and then focused their attention to the next point.
It was this consistent rest and recovery, brief as it was, that separated the top-ranked players from the rest of the pack. The key is to train your mind and body to relax and restore energy in concentrated pauses. Our bodies respond quickly when these ritual pauses become a well trained habit.
The ten to twenty minute pause is a good place to start for beginners. This is ample time to unplug from the demands consuming your attention, soothe frazzled nerves, and to refuel spent energy. Ten minutes of focused breathing is excellent. Train the people around you to respect your pauses. A ten minute pause interrupted by a phone call and an officemate poking their head through the door is barely a pause at all. You'd have to be as skilled as a tennis-pro to get much benefit from such a pause.
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Alan Davidson is the author of the Free report “Body Breakthroughs for Life Breakthroughs: How to Peak Your Physical, Emotional, Mental, Moral, and Spiritual IQs for a Sensational Life” available at http://www.throughyourbody.com.
Alan's also the author of Body Brilliance: Mastering Your Five Vital Intelligences, the #1 Health and Wellness book and Winner of Two 2007 Book-of-the-Year Awards.
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