Godsent Pauses

“...these moments are crucial to your personal growth - if you let them be.”

Delays are inevitable; and especially in the fast paced, multitasking - culture of today's society. There will always be those people, and means of transportation - that fail to be on time. Those certain friends who still haven't mastered time management, and to your frustration they do not improve. Furthermore, buses will run late, and ubers will cancel. Those setbacks in our productive plans will happen. In an everyday setting; these inconveniences will be a part of our lives, and I believe that we must make these times purposeful. Included in the scheme of your joyful and successful life - my verdict is that these moments are crucial to your personal growth - if you let them be.

There is a culture of intense hustling, and an immense reward for the hustle. We are taught that the path to victory is one where we have to run and jump past every hinder in a hurry, and forcefully remove obstacles if it is needed. So often referred to as the rat-race, this is an infinite pursuit - often against the internal cries - and rather for the external expecting sighs. This consensus has been stated a thousand times, and even in awareness, we keep on running - afraid life will pass us by. It is this hurry; where I want to implement a small change of mindset to all the overworked minds. My wish is for people to go on - live their lives in demand to whom they choose - thus, slow down at the times they are offered to do so. These pauses, handed in formats of delayed transportation, or late friends - that is the moments which are blessings; given to you with the chance to attempt to comprehend. Perhaps, try to notice where you are, how the clouds move slowly above…and where you suit this collective, undefineable, ever-evolving community you are so stressed to ever be apart from.

Is it in the stress of being unproductive; that you sigh, breathe heavily, and scroll - when you are awaiting whatever which is so major to the couple of minutes on your own? I wonder to myself, why do we take these small trials as opportunities to show how incredibly quick we can accelerate our irregulated nervous state? The disappointment of awaiting, set-backs, and holds should be felt, thus, we can turn that into meditations of gratefulness anyways? So, if our mindsets are set to this - optimisation of the precious time we have - lets visualize how this would be. Because, in the midst of chaos - with cars, buses, or other people continuing on with their plans - when yours are halting - can be distracting. Still, if you let your breath guide you in, and fully turn your focus within; you are already at the exact place where you can contribute to a long-term win.

Serenity is a state of mind, as so many other places - you can go there wherever you are - as long as you are set into introspect, and abandon the fixated outrospect for a short while. Personally, the one factor that makes this a grounded practice is to let the phone lay in my purse. I do not pick it up, as long as there are new means of transportation on the way, or my belated friend did say yes to be here today; then I am sure I do not have to communicate. Hence, I take a deep breath through my nose, and hold it at the bottom of my belly. From there I release, it brings down my tense shoulders, and the jaw is unreleased. I tune in to the natural music of Mother earth; that little bird across the street singing to his friend who is eagerly eating the morning crumbs. Acknowledging the small wonders, and letting your worry go, is a testament to most importantly - self love. This is also an acceptance of faith, and a response to all the unpredicts that sometimes might come your way.

This little bird, and his friend - listening to their songs is a strong reassurance to your nervous system. A friend of mine once told me “birds only sing when they are safe”, and that piece of information made me appreciate their little sounds, and let them heal the uncertainty raveling inside of me. Separated from the traffic and fragments of phone calls; that little creature provides you with the message that there is no immediate danger, we are safe right now. Direct communication to our nervous system; which lets the heart know to beat slower, our muscles to relax, and to shift our energy away from the four survival responses.

This might be an opportunity for you to reset your nervous system; a time to process the information your body and mind has absorbed throughout the day - before it gets piled up into the mess of stimuli which your body never gets the time to work out. Stimuli have been keeping your senses on their toes, so please let your sensory faculties have this time to focus on the simple wonders of nature. Just a tiny fraction of time out of your day to acknowledge safety rather than novelty. Our nervous systems are so irregulated these days, and they deserve more care than the current standard. Quick inattentive habits and usual responses have the power to build up chronic stress, and truly damage us. Here - you can prevent further disaster - if you don't activate your stress responses when they are not necessary. Even with just the bustling of cities and screens, it is enough which our systems can't be up to date with. Imagine how quickly the world around us develops, and even without scientific data and references to professors - it is not bold to assume that we do not update simultaneously with the newest cars or software. Nevertheless, we do know nature; the creations looming behind the vibrant inventions and noise.

Here we are; not bothered by the unconventionalities; we are smiling to ourselves of this little luck to take time to remember where we are. Once something so negative…did we attempt to make it positive? In a silent protest - where society would want us upset - we are in a recreational little mindset. As a firm believer in the propaganda of distraction; this is a way for us to reclaim our peace. Reassure our inner voices that we surely can speak. Our internal state is one place where no loud nonsense shall not interfere! Because it would definitely gain many - our oblivion to connection with the earth and our inner self - nevertheless, we should not defeat - we can still search for our own - intuitive beliefs. So laugh a little, most of the importance of events is simply a societal construct. Let the silence fall inside yourself; create peace instead of being a contributor to the stress and overwhelm. At the end of the day; you are the only one solely in gain of appreciating, and taking care of yourself.

Religious, spiritual or atheist - we can all agree that pauses may be a gift. So please, for your self, I beg - practice this! If we take a second to imagine the world if all changed their mindsets to this…When your life gets delayed; it is a golden moment to stay. You can't change what is out of your control by expelling frustration and distress - thus, you can make the delay count. There is a reason this show, which in this occasion is your life - has to be set on pause. Simply, the plot is overworking itself - and not even the viewer - we might give them the position of the universe - can keep up. Lets believe this moment is intentional, a time for you to…gather your insanity. Give your nervous system some appreciation for attempting to keep up with a world so confusingly anew…Recognise the familiarity, finally your mind can unravel the undefined it has been indulging in for quite some time…