Pause for Self~Care

allowing myself to receive LOVE so I can Love myself

Self~Care has always been a challenge for me. In this morning’s Pause Practice of The 4 Decisions, I felt INspired that today’s post would be on Self~Care. Great!

Then I heard Inspiration Within say,
“You can only do a post on Self~Care if you start practicing Self~Care!”

Inspiration will not let “me” get

away with anything!!!!!!! LOLOL

How Am I INspired to Practice Self~Care So Far Today?

> We are having a beautiful spring day; I am being urged from within to

go for a walk. Best decision of the day so far.

> Back from walking I hear to eat lunch before back to work

> An inner nudge says to share some of the joyful photos I took on my walk

> Now I am noticing I am dehydrated so I am going to get a drink of water

> Now I am being Guided to simply notice my breath as I sit

here at the computer

> Now I am being shown that this is enough for today’s Pause Post

and to encourage you to

PAUSE

SLOW DOWN

RECEIVE

and

PRACTICE SELF~CARE

Maybe even this evening? Sunday? This coming week?

Look how easy Pausing for Self~Care can be from my examples above.

If I can do this, You can do this!

What Do I Mean By Self~Care?

Pausing, Slowing Down, Listening to Inner Wisdom, Being Willing to Truly Receive This Wisdom ~ take it in, digest it, assimilate it ~ and
Follow The Wise, Loving Guidance received. That’s Self~Care.

In this instance today, Inner Wisdom’s guidance for Self~Care has been a re~Minder to NOT BYPASS the care, compassion, and mercy
that Inner Present LOVE is extending into my heart, mind,
body, and soul. Listen deeply, don’t ignore the inner calls for LOVE
that involve loving myself.

LETTING LOVE ~ LOVE ME IS ALWAYS

SAFE, KIND, WISE, and TRULY HELPFUL

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

LET’S NOT MISS IT!

This Is The One Thing Your Ego Won’t Do!

PAUSE IS A PRACTICE

In my experience of observing myself and others,

the cubicle heart÷mind (ego)

is willing to read about Inspiration,

talk about “love”,

go to workshops, retreats, classes, programs, etc.

on awakening, enlightenment, faith, meditation, prayer,

being more neighborly, pain, suffering, forgiveness,

goal setting, success, etc.

BUT, and remember the ego has a really big ‘BUT’

along with EXCUSES, EXCUSES, EXCUSES . . .

THE EGO WILL NOT

PRACTICE GIVING THIS MOMENT TO INSPIRATION WITHIN

BECAUSE THAT IS THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE EGO.

Hence, my WILLINGNESS to PAUSE amid everyday life stuff,

and STEP BACK from this little me-character’s opinions,

judgments, perceptions, feelings, and what it thinks it knows,

is absolutely necessary for one to encounter

ABSOLUTE INSPIRATION and LET TRUE

WISDOM, PEACE, and LOVE SOAR.

What These Youth Learned and

What I Am Still Learning From

Being With These Truly Creative Teens

Grateful for these youth who participated in a 6-week Pause Training. To
say they have all had challenging lives thus far is an understatement. One
way they experienced using PAUSE was as a tool for expressing their inner
Inspiration through art and poetry.

When asked, “What does Pause For Inspiration mean to you?”

One young man said,

“It means to be open to correction.”

Another young man shared,

“It’s to receive new solutions.”

A young woman shared,

“It means to shift. To see another way;

to see a person or situation in another way.”

What I Am Still Learning

I learned through the direct experience of being with these curious and incredibly creative teens that we each see life through a different lens and I can’t for one moment think I know what someone else is going through. It’s also not my job to change or fix people; or fix myself, for that matter.

What Can We Do?
We can Pause to Access Inner Wisdom to be shown how to see ourselves and others in ways that are truly helpful; and in our thinking, saying, doing, and being.

Today Is Your Opportunity to Experiment
Applying Pause with Anything!

the choice to pause & where, what,

and with whom to pause, is always ours

C R E A T E

The catalyst for creativity is not having to be a specially gifted “artist” of some kind with an exclusive talent. NOPE.
True creativity flows forth from one’s True Nature whose energy is
that of CREATING because your True Source is Creative.

Get on out of that cubicle chair and into the laboratory.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with applying The Pause Practice.

~ ~ ~

TODAY I PAUSED WITH WHEN TO PAUSE!

BEFORE I sat down this morning for quiet time, I paused

standing at the doorway to the room.

STEPPING BACK, I looked at the chair I sit on to pause

and saw myself sitting in that chair on my phone returning emails and
doing Pause social media work.

Not pausing!

I realized that I am doing bunches of work
in the space I have designated for morning quiet.
Pausing while working can reap huge benefits, but I noticed I am
pressuring myself to get a bunch of emails, etc. done BEFORE I PAUSE.
I saw that my quiet time wasn’t very quiet!
I had made another office space!!!
My mind was crowded and stressed with thoughts about work

IN STEPPING ASIDE and asking,
“What would be truly helpful now? A creative solution?”.
I CHANGED MY TUNE.
When the tune changes the dance changes.
I FOLLOWED THE WISDOM RECEIVED.

I was guided to begin my morning quiet time

BEFORE checking my emails ~ phone down.

What a difference a pause makes!

In my willingness to change up my routine,

I feel happier and way less stressed about work.

YES, WORK CAN BE CREATING and CREATIVE.
WooHoo!

Try Our New Pause for Creative Solutions
Practice below. CLICK on Cards to enlarge.

Roll Call ~ Are You Here?

There is nothing that cannot be fully accomplished Now because whatever is happening Now is all that is really being accomplished!

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF EACH OF US GOT

“CAUGHT UP” WITH LIFE TO

BE HERE NOW?

Pause, Step Back, and Open to Your Inspired Heart∞Mind,

and Ask, “If I were ‘caught up’ on my life, what would I do?”

pause

TRULY LISTEN FOR ANSWERS with YOUR INSPIRED MIND.

pages 288-290

Lights ON Now!

I was cooking breakfast one morning and in a pause, I heard the thought, “Go and extend love to John.” “Ah, what a nice thought,” I thought. “I will do that later when I finish breakfast.”

“Oh, really?” queries my Inspired Self.

“Okay, I got it.” So, I decided to go find John and dig him out of his office, and lo and behold, I turn around in the kitchen, and there he is, standing right next to me!

He said, “Oh, I changed that light bulb.”

Without a plan for any particular words or behavior, I looked at him, gave him a hug, and thanked him for changing the light bulb. In that moment I felt my HEART in a way I have never felt before.

pages 290-291

GIVING and RECEIVING ARE
ONE IN THE SAME

To Be Understood

This morning’s quiet pause brought forth an unexpected reflection

as it so often does. I was desiring for someone to stop assuming they know who I am, and understand me instead.

The words of Francis of Assisi resounded within,

That I may not so much seek to be understood, but to understand

I, like many of us I suppose, desire to be understood. We may feel that

“If only I could be understood at my deepest of being, then I would be

at peace.” Today I experienced this Peace. I experienced this

gaping sense of being misunderstood, this

open wound, being healed.

Today I am practicing

seeking to understand another, rather than seeking to be understood.

All the while admitting that I, Mary, of my own accord,

do not truly have the capacity to understand

without the help of the LOVE who is

beyond all understanding. LOVE that heals what

I can only describe as a “nameless gap.”

After my practice, I am immensely relieved.

Never have I understood another so well in all my life;

this other wasn’t “the other” anymore,

and in so,

never have I felt so understood in all my life. Wow.

LOVE CLOSES THE GAP.

Today’s Understanding, Understood Pause Practice

For just a moment, I pause.

In this pause, I step back from my need to be understood.

I welcome awareness of Inner Inspiration.

I let a person come into my mind whom I feel I don’t understand. In my mind, I quietly say to them, “I am willing to understand you.” And I rest.

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