Loosening My Grip ~

Choosing Pause, Letting Lightness In ~

Feeling bogged down? Maybe by all the to-dos, situations, relationships, the
state of the world, or perhaps your own thinking? I realized this morning that it
is less about all I have to do and more about
how I approach all of the to-dos.

Asking, “How am I approaching time and space?”

In a pause, I remembered I can approach today with pausing as it is in a pause that I find a lightness ~ I can access feeling lighter.

In the movement studies I have engaged in and still practice and teach, one of the qualities of movement is “lightness”. Today, as I am feeling bogged down with to-dos and the thoughts I tell myself about the to-dos, I have decided to practice pausing as a way to approach the to-dos and the actual doing so I can begin to experience

a sense of lightness that all pausing brings 

I am recognizing that the first place to begin is to allow the thoughts in my mind to pause so they can 

become lighter; now I am experiencing my thoughts as if they are clouds, gentle breezes, or cotton balls. 

This is a stark contrast from gripping, holding onto, attaching myself
to my thoughts.

I am also allowing a pause to open to a sense of lightness in my body;

pausing for lightness in my hands

my feet

pausing for lightness at the base of my skull

pausing for lightness in my face

my jaw

pausing for lightness in my heart

pausing for lightness upon my shoulders

all can become lighter

with my simple thought of pausing

aggressive attachment is replaced with lightness, peace of mind

. . . to-dos are still getting themselves done

not saying this is easy today, but even my willingness 

to be aware that I have a choice is better than the alternative

LOVE
mary 

Clarity

putting pause into practice day

In a recent morning pause, Inspiration fed me with clarity. I ate it up! How did
that happen? I stopped figuring. I let go of my figuring, “Figuring is the belief that calculating will protect me from harm . . . worry is the motivation for most figuring”(pg. 17). In an evening pause the night before, I asked Inspiration about something very specific, and then I let it go. The following morning, suddenly the clarity showed up in the pause. Clarity partnered with immense JOY. I was given true insight and even the precise words as I began writing the insight down on paper. Glorious!

All safety begins in the mind. A mind at peace is a mind

that is safe. As feelings of vulnerability arise, be open to

the Inspiration living inside of you – lean into LOVE. 

You have access to a mind that was not composed by fear,

but by LOVE. Let this be the Mind, your Inspired Mind, whom you

look to for clarity. The Mind of Inspiration is clear and will

bring clarity into your awareness.

pg. 18

complimentary pause yellow book download

Is there something you want clarity around?
Practice Pause
and Welcome Clarity.

Still

another quality of Inspiration

Inspiration inspires stillness; there are those moments when we are Moved to stillness. Often, we side with cubicle resistance and try to push through
this natural pause, for the cubicle mind fears stillness. It is in the still point
of Inspiration, in the pause, that we come face to face with our Inspired Self.

pg. 167 “The Qualities of Inspiration

Versus

False Humility

the practice of pretending to be less than

scroll down to read how I pretended

False humility is pretending to be “less than” the magnificence that you wholly
are as an extension of LOVE. We mistakenly act as if we are less than. It often involves so-called “good intentions.” As the Irish say,

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Why rely on false humility and good intentions when we have the very Best available to us in LOVE? False humility is actually arrogance! Oddly enough,
we may have been taught false humility in place of true kindness, what it is to
truly be meek, valuing victimhood as a way of life, etc.

We ALL, that includes me and you, have been given gifts to use, that is, to
place in the service of LOVE, as opposed to in the service of our me-character.
Lots of people are wondering who they are, why they are here, feeling life has
no meaning. BEGIN USING THE GIFTS LOVE HAS HONORED YOU WITH.

Exchange making excuses for creating.

Trade out thinking your gift isn’t really your gift with accepting your gifts.

Pause from judging your gifts as unnecessary in the grand scheme
of things. Instead, be willing to accept how your part is essential.

Give up using your gifts for self-absorption which is a misguided attempt to find a meaningful identity and Let LOVE ~ love you to find your
true identity in LOVE.

Set yourself free of pretending you don’t have any gifts; no one got left out. Experience the freedom of sharing your gifts.

Step Back from sizing others up and down for using their gifts. Trust LOVE
to show you how to use yours.

Is there anything or anyone else to help you recognize and extend your
gifts as Inspiration guides? Be willing to receive Help.

Practice Pause:
Recognize and Extend Your Gifts!

Why I Unknowingly Practiced False Humility for Decades. I Literally Just Now Discovered This While Writing This Post!

I have been graced with many talents and gifts. There you go! I said the truth and it didn’t hurt one bit. I am not alone in this. I used to think I was alone. That I was somehow special in the gifts and talents I had been given and I shouldn’t dare expose them to others because those poor people didn’t have any gifts and talents and I didn’t want to appear prideful. I didn’t want to be exposed. I felt jealous of those using their gifts and talents because I wasn’t using mine; somehow my gifts felt less than their gifts; not worth sharing.

OH MY GOD, WHAT WARPED THINKING FALSE HUMILITY RELAYS!

Loving Who I Am

The other morning in my pause time, I received WISDOM that I have heard before, but have not been ready, willing, or able to digest my entire life.

LOVE MY TRUE SELF. LOVE WHO I AM TRULY IN LOVE.

Have you ever wondered why loving ourselves can be such a challenge? We hear these words:

Love yourself
Take care of yourself
You better take care of yourself because no one else will.
Love others
You’re worth it

WHY DO WE FIND IT SO DIFFICULT TO LOVE OURSELVES?

WHAT DOES LOVING MYSELF EVEN MEAN?

I don’t know about you, but I have struggled with loving myself my entire life.
I wasn’t taught to love myself.
Rather I learned:
don’t let anyone walk all over you
stand up for yourself
speak up
don’t say anything
just ignore them
killem’ with kindness (that’s really out there!)
pretend it doesn’t bother you
don’t let it bother you
just be nice
be a good girl
don’t give them the satisfaction
add your own to the list

WHAT A MESS!

One can move towards accepting and experiencing the following instead:

There IS a LOVE that loves me,

and it is because of this LOVE who loves me that;

> Firstly, I am able to recognize that LOVE exists

> Secondly, I am able to love and accept who I am in LOVE; and

> Thirdly, I am prepared to love myself and love you.

THERE ARE TWO EGO PRACTICES, WHICH MANY OF US HAVE
BEEN SO INDOCTRINATED IN, THAT PREVENT US FROM
EXPERIENCING LOVE and BEING LOVING?

False humility

Fake forgiveness

Over the next few days, I will share more about each of these.

~ ~ ~

A Saner Day

The Healer Within

another face of Inspiration

A teacher connected with me this week and shared about a teen who took
his own life. Thankfully, the school is caring and aware enough to pause and
survey how the other kids are doing at his school. Hearing this news felt dispiriting. Yet, as I pause for this teen and his family,
I am re-Minded and
re-Hearted, if you will, of the Healer Within.

As one who practices healing myself and others through the Healer Within, 

I experience that healing is 
moving from the experience of disconnection to the 
experience of connection.
~   ~   ~

The following is taken from the Pause Yellow Book pg 177 

Inspiration heals dispiritedness.

Imagine, within you is a Healer.

A Healer is one who recognizes the cause of dispiritedness and thus can
bring true healing by getting to the root.

Inspiration uproots the cause of dispiritedness, the thought of being
disconnected, and replants our heart and mind in the soil of connection.

The Healer Within shows us how our thoughts and perceptions
are causing us dispiritedness.

Healing Practices for Teens and Us

In all of our Pause Practices, you may receive guidance to reach out to and connect with others for support, including parents, counselors, therapists, health professionals, ministers, etc.
We can always be open to receiving the Help we need.

A Healing Practice for Us All

Notice any dispiriting thoughts in my mind ~ a worry, a judgment, unforgiveness.

I am willing to release these thoughts and perceptions that have come into my awareness to the Healer who will reinterpret them for me and teach me something I need to learn. I can recognize that dispiriting thoughts are remnants of the thoughts of aloneness, unworthiness, guilt, and fear.

I can ask, “Do I want to continue to think these dispiriting thoughts? I need not wait upon the Healer Within to immediately show me new thoughts. This may or may not happen. I trust Present LOVE.

Yet, I can be assured that healing is occurring and Inspired thoughts and awareness are available to me. Pause.

I receive the Healer and the healing within.

I trust healing to be true as I go on about my day. Soon I may notice a lightness in my step, a lifting of my spirit, and hope in my heart.
page 178

Download Pause Yellow Book

Skidding Along With My Socks On!

I hear my father saying, “Mary, slow down.”

When I was growing up, my mother used to impatiently say about my
father, “He has one speed!” My dad would often say to me, “Mary, slow
down” as I was constantly rushing. I still am!!! 

I caught myself the other day skidding along with my socks on catching
my balance on the hardwood floors. Do you find yourself in a hurry to
go HERE and go THERE as quickly as possible so you can get back to
THIS and return to THAT as quickly as possible?

LOLOLOLOL

~   ~   ~

Inspiration Within is patiently teaching me that as I begin to
stop valuing rushing, I will begin experiencing the value of
slowing down to pause.

NO HURRY

Slow down. Listening to the voice watching the clock telling you to
hurry up? Hmm. Start with slowing down. Even amid body motion the
mind can slow down, pause, and be still. The body often will follow. 
Even deciding to slow down your body motion is the decision to stop
valuing being in a hurry. It is not that we cannot move at a swift pace
and be present to Inspiration Within for certainly Inspiration is not
bound to time as we are. All moments in time are precious to LOVE for
they are the time for us to receive LOVE.

Slow down, my dear friend.

Complimentary Pause Yellow Book, pgs. 34-35

Am I Willing to Forgive Myself Today?

I am encouraging all of us to use The Pause today as a practice in
forgiving one’s self. It’s a tall order I know, yet it is in forgiving myself that I will most certainly forgive others.

WHY?
As I see myself, I see another.
As I see another, I see myself.

WHOA. HANG ON. DON’T LEAVE!

The truth can be painful. Not because
truth in and of itself is painful; no, truth brings great relief
in my experience. Truth can seem to be painful and cause suffering
when I resist it.

“What do I still need to forgive myself for?”
I’ll ask this right now. First I pause, get out of my own way, and
open to receiving an answer from inner Wisdom.

Here’s a LIVE Conversation As It Transpires Between Wisdom within and myself

Wisdom
Mary, if I were to tell you what you need to forgive yourself for,
you wouldn’t believe me.

Me
Try me. What do I still need to forgive myself for?

Wisdom
You need to forgive yourself for thinking that there is still something that you need to forgive yourself for. Your errors have already been forgiven you. It is your rejection of having been forgiven that needs your attention.

Me
That’s interesting. On my walk just now I was feeling rejected by someone and then I thought of the many ways I reject others. Rejection is painful, whether I am the “rejectee” or the “rejector”.

Wisdom
That conversation you were having with yourself about rejection has led to this Pause Post and you are now being given awareness around accepting that you have been forgiven ~ for it is not All~Encompassing LOVE who is rejecting you or teaching you to reject others.

Rather it is the lack of LOVE you are experiencing because you are refusing to accept LOVE in all its TOTALITY;
this LOVE that loves you, and whose
forgiveness is resting upon your shoulders ~ still.

I leave you and your Pause Practice in the hands of
All~Encompassing LOVE