I’m writing this post on Monday afternoon. There will be a pause before I send it to you on Saturday morning.
The Pandemic created a pause in face-to-face meetings for most of us.
I’m mentioning these pauses as on Tuesday afternoon (wait for it as they say on Instagram) family members from California and Michigan will be arriving, two years after their initial planned visit. That was too long of a pause.
During the week, when I usually work on these posts, I will be playing with a nine-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy. When our playing pauses, I will converse with their lovely parents.
All this means I will be taking a pause in my routine. I neither be working on this post nor will I be revising my second memoir. This pause feels challenging as lately I’ve been having all kinds of new ideas, and it feels difficult to put the manuscript aside – but I am imagining that after family time, I will come back more inspired. Suddenly I’m thinking of the old commercial – the pause that refreshes.
Surprisingly, in Tai Chi Chih class this morning, for the first time I can remember, my Tai Chi Chih teacher instructed our class to pause between each of the nineteen movements. “Ground to the earth and let the chi settle,” she said. Pause
So the message I keep hearing and one I want to share with you is the importance of keeping in mind the value of a pause.
Writers write what they need to hear. I need to be reminded to slow down. Or, to use the word of the day, pause.
Is it difficult for you to pause?
IMAGE: Anna and Marlo take advantage of the snow and build a snowman.