A DAILY PAUSE

365 Pauses

TRUST IS A PRACTICE

From the Pause Golden Book pages 29-30

Here It Is
You distrust Inspiration Within because you have forgotten the “Within” part. You believe in an Inspiring Love, or not, that is somehow on the outside – somewhere outside of you waiting to rain down on your head.

That is an untruth. The truth is that Love lives inside of you ~ Believe this or do not believe this.
The fact is, in this life, you will either come to hate/fear Love
because you have not been willing to come to know Love
OR
you will be indifferent toward Love ~ which is the
same as hate/fear
OR
you will come to Love.

Only in your experience of truly resonating with Inspiration Within
will you experience your complete trust in it; even then you will
fall from trust from time to time. Be not afraid. Until you have this experience, trust is still available to you—through gratitude. Gratitude
has a way of deepening our trust in Inspiration Within. Expressing gratitude within or to another is acknowledging the reality and power of Inspiration in your everyday life.

Gratitude is opening to an
experience of seeing Inspiration at work in the here and now—
in the ordinariness of life.

Practice gratitude to increase trust.

Inner Voice of Love

Inspiration Inspires You to
Listen to Your Inner
Voice of Love

Your Inner Voice is the Voice of Inspiration
and it is communicating directly to you through your Inspired Heart∞Mind.

Listen to Inspiration.
It is the voice that is speaking to you always.

Have you been talking to yourself lately?
Which self is doing the talking?
Have you been hearing voices?
Which voice is doing the talking?
Your Inspired Self or the cubicle self?

What is it that is so important about what the cubicle self
is saying that we feel we must listen
and hang on to its every little thought?
And believe these little thoughts.
And converse with these thoughts.

Would you buy a recording of nonsense,
pop it in your player and listen to it all day?
Well, that is exactly the way we are spending much of our time!

How does nonsense ever get replaced by sense?

1.) We must recognize the nonsense.
2.) We must no longer want to hear the nonsense.
3.) We must be willing to let Inspiration remove the “non”
and give the SENSE in return.

Listening to your Inner Voice is like
having a Heart to Heart visit
with a Wise, Loving Friend.
Pause
Listen
Follow

The Wisdom of Inspiration – Your Inner Voice of Love

Shared from the Pause Golden Book, pages 302 – 304

Heart Petals, Checking In

The value of Pause as a way to connect with one’s Inside Self, this wise inner knowing, is immense. Pause looks simple at first glance, and thankfully it is; simple and easy to use in ordinary life. Yet in all of its simplicity Practicing The Pause can lead you on a trek of your inner landscape through which you can wander, learn, and receive long-sought truly helpful answers to your questions. Putting Pause into practice can open us to the petals of the heart.

Teaching from a Hawk

who are you striving to become?

Stepped out for an early morning walk the other day and look who showed up! Having just circled the bend in front of our home I felt a swoosh of something over my head. I looked up and there was the immense wingspan of this beautiful brown and white hawk. He swooped down settling himself on the green grass near the sprinkler.

Grabbed my phone, opened the camera, and began videoing this guy. Beginning at a distance I gradually moved in closer with a new video.
His presence was quite welcoming. I wanted him to take off and fly so I could catch another glimpse of his awesome wingspan but instead 
he beckoned me to pause with him, and so we did. lol

NOT NOTHING

Encountering a hawk has numerous meanings when I searched online, many with which I resonate. Though I thought why not listen to inner guidance about this encounter using Pause. I also wanted to practice,
Pause For Inspiration The 4 Decisions, because I lost my peace over nothing this morning. I sensed there was something deeper that led to losing my cool that was not nothing.

THE UNGLUING

Moving through my practice feeling something ungluing itself, I went grocery shopping during the ungluing! I shared Pause cards with the cashier and she loved them. Seeing that I was loaded up with groceries and it was the end of her shift, she offered to grab another cart and help me out to my car. I usually refuse the help but I paused from my impulsive, “No, thanks” and responded, “Sure!”

She held the shopping carts and read the Pause card as I unloaded the groceries, and she asked, “Are you a writer?” I paused because I don’t see myself as a writer, but rather more one who listens and writes what I receive from Inspiration Within. Skipping the explanation I simply said, “Yes.” This was the prompt inner Inspiration had planned. This was all part of the ungluing, to reach deeper into the trunk and pull out the Pause Golden Book to give her. 

THE HAWK’S WISDOM TEACHING

I hopped in my car and from the unexpected encounter with the hawk paired with an unplanned exchange with this young woman, I received an answer to an inner question that I have pondered for years. I heard:

“Mary, if you were to meet your Self on the street and have an encounter with your Self, who you are truly,
you would be so happy, and you would think,
“Wow, I want to be like that person!

Mary, you are that person. (already)”

Who is it that you are striving to become?
All the while
who you are truly in all of your depth and breadth, 
right here, right now,
is that person.

Giving and Receiving

It seems simple, you give something and you get something.
That’s giving and receiving, right?
But, to give and get something tangible
is different than the exchange that happens
when you share Your Inspired Self with another.
When you Receive Inspiration Within,
you are able to give the gift
of your Inspired Heart & Mind to others.
When this happens, it comes back to you in spades!  
Natalie

From the Pause Golden Book, Page 279:

What is giving, but to Give that which you already have, being that you Received it in Inspiration’s Giving it to you!

Here’s how it works:
Inspiration gives to us,
we give Inspiration away,
Inspiration comes back to us,
Giving and Receiving are one in the same.

In true Giving and Receiving, there is no sense of sacrifice
for we Give from our Inspired Self Heart & Mind,
which is plentiful and we Receive plenty in return.

There is nothing more calming,

loving, and helpful than

Giving and Receiving from one’s Inspired Self.

Teens Learning The Value of Pause

This photo makes me smile. The unique energy of each teen, their faces, and the teen in the white/black sweatshirt holding up the PAUSE for LOVE green bumper sticker all lift my heart. These girls taught my friend and Pause volunteer, Bridget and me a lot about the challenges we all face in
deciding to Practice The Pause in daily life.
Bridget Long, Ph.D., an educator, would tell stories about how we judge one another and the effect it has on our relationship with ourselves and others. The teens truly resonated with her sharing of her own life experience. It was invaluable. We experience this in our sharing Pause again and again showing us how we are all truly connected.
Bridget would share how Pause is a helpful tool we can use to
“suspend judgment”. How helpful is that!

I am unceasingly amazed by what teens teach me about Pause!

When we meet with the young women and men each week,
we always ask, “So, did you have any opportunities to use The Pause
since we saw you last?” If they forgot, we ask, “Looking back do you now see times you perhaps could have paused, gotten out of your own way, listened to Your Helpful Self, and followed your inner guidance?” 

One teen’s Pause story I will never forget

“Yeah, a friend and I went to a party over the weekend. There were a lot of people there we didn’t know. Some guys asked my friend and me to go with them somewhere. As I was about to get in the car,
I paused and decided
it wasn’t a good idea. So, we didn’t get in the car.”

This story shows how applying Pause in the stuff of an ordinary day,
has the potential to change our lives for the better,
in ways seen and unseen.

Your Helpful Self is Always
Safe, Wise, Kind, and Truly Helpful.

Painful, Thankful Thing

An experience shared by Natalie, a Pause Crew Member

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I visited his brother in Atlanta. We had a wonderful time. Once home, I set out to pick up our dog at the doggy hotel, driving down Manchester Rd. in St. Louis, MO, which is a very long road giving me plenty of time to think. I drove along reminiscing the weekend and feeling grateful for my extended family. My husbands’ brother, as well as his sister, have become my brother & sister.

Then suddenly, I burst into tears.

I realized I was grieving my own biological sister. Our relationship has become non-existent over the years and apparently, there has been a sadness resting deep within me as a result. As I continued to cry, I felt Inspiration Within nudging me to deal with my feelings, here and now. Since childhood, I’ve been an avoider of feelings, which seems to show up in all kinds of different ways and when I least expect it.

I decided to Listen and Follow the guidance of Inspiration Within and I let myself feel these feelings. Thankfully, within minutes, my tears were drying up and I was experiencing an Inner Love for myself and my sister. I forgave us both and, in that moment, I let it all go. I also felt a sense of “permission”, an allowing, to move forward, to be happy and to live an Inspired Life. I wish that for my sister, too.

Although this was a painful moment, I take comfort in the Pause Practice for Centering me and helping me realize I am Loved, Safe, Healed, and Whole, no matter what. Many times, one cannot clearly see the outcome in situations. When I Pause, I am able to see that not knowing is alright.

I am Willing to Trust that there is a
Wisdom and Knowing
greater than what I am thinking,
yet still within me,
leading into an awareness of the
connection to Inspiration.

The Power of Pausing With One Another

Thank you! It worked!!!

 Thank you to all who read yesterday’s Pause Post and were willing to help by practicing pausing for your Peace of Mind. There is no doubt in my mind that when 2 or more join together and are willing to open to Peace, Peace grows exponentially and is shared with EVERYONE. 

All of us Pausing for Peace helped me to see, yet again, that my mind is an environment. I can either trash that environment or I can choose to be aware of Peace in any moment, anywhere, and with anyone.

I didn’t sweep anger and frustration under the rug, rather I practiced
Pause For Peace of Mind. In doing so, I released the situation into Peace. A few minutes later, I noticed I had fully accessed Peace.
I had to only choose to be aware of this Peace already fully present
within,
instead of rehashing trash.

Not only that,

my Peaceful Self directed me about something very specific which I will share in another post this coming week. So helpful.

The rest of the day was a blessing.
I cooked a healthy, delicious dinner
and even baked a homemade pumpkin pie ~
all in the pause.

GRATEFUL TO ALL THOSE WHO REACHED OUT VIA EMAIL.
Your connecting and sharing was so helpful and I felt
the reality that we are all connected.