The Power Of The Pause!

Far to often in life we just keep moving forward, onto the next task, onto the next relationship, onto the next job. The thought of pausing for many is impossible. You don’t have time for it, create space for it, let’s be honest, most of us are just not comfortable with the uncomfortable pause and the emotions that can come up.

When we pause in life all of a sudden there is time to process how we actually feel, think twice about our next steps, really figure out what we want and what is right for us. I can tell you first hand this is scary!!!! I can also tell you this is so worth it! I have never been so clear on what I want in life and what I deserve in my life.

Just so you have a little context to this, I recognized about 5 months ago that I literally have NEVER taken a pause in life. I have never slowed down to take a good look at what was in my life and even if I liked it or not. This includes relationships, work, health habits……all areas. I kind of always kept moving in the ‘What’s Next Direction.’ I would reach one goal and barely pause to celebrate before moving onto the next.

When I finally decided to pause I had A LOT of work to do because for 35 years I literally never paused. What I learned though is that you do not have to do all of that work in one day, or one week or even one year. You can do it in bite size pieces, as little as five minutes a day.

Seriously, think about it, when was the last time you took five minutes at the end of the day to just sit and pay attention to how you feel emotionally and physically? Some of you may do this on your yoga mats or others in their meditation practice, that is amazing! You are a step ahead. If you do not already have any of these things in place, don’t worry, I am going to make this easy for you too!!!!!

Pause by definition means to interrupt action or speech briefly. In definition it is rather simple, however, in our day and age this concept is nearly impossible. Just think about waiting in line at the store. Go back 20 years we had no options other then to wait patiently, read a magazine that was sitting next to us in line or talk to someone nearby. Now when you look at people waiting in line 90% of them are staring at their phones. We don’t even take these natural times to pause, we fill them with mind numbing activities such as scrolling through facebook.

I often use the example of a dirty dish after dinner. We wouldn’t keep using the same dirty dish for dinner day after day without cleaning it right? Then why do we start each day on the same dirty mind cluttered with thoughts from the day before. You will be amazed what happens when you start to incorporate steps in your life to clear your mind and clear your thoughts.

There are a lot of great ways to clear you mind, however I am going to focus on two of them. These are two that I find easy to incorporate and have a large return on the time you invest. That is journaling or meditation.

Before I dive into these two and how you can start incorporating them I want to share with you some of my favorite essential oils I grab when I journal and/or meditate. I find having an essential oil that I can reach for, put a drop in my hands and take a few deep breathes helps to cue my mind and body that it is time to relax and release. I can settle my mind and release my thoughts a lot faster. I have a few essential oils that I prefer to grab for and I will explain more below.

Frankincense is the oil of truth, it reveals deceptions and false truths. it invites us to let go of lower vibrations, lies, deceptions and negativity. It can help to create a new perspective based on light and truth. For this reason it is great to utilize when we are trying to clear our thoughts and tune into our bodies.

Peace is a blend formulated to assist individuals who lack inner pease. People thrive when they feel connected to the divine. Our souls can achieve true and lasting peace through connection to this source. Without this true peace, there is a human tendency to try to manufacture peace by controlling one’s environment and relationships. For this reason I love turning to peace when I am feeling the outside urge to control.

doTERRA Yoga Collection is made of of three incredible blends. You can turn to each blend when you need different levels of support.

• Arise invites us to ruse up and meet our lives. it can be powerful at lifting the despondent or burdened individual and fill them with enthusiasm, joy, and optimism. Perfect oil when you need a pick me up emotionally.
• Anchor offers an anchor to individuals when they are experiencing upheaval or instability, either in their outward or inward life. Its calm, present, and supportive aroma extends an energetic arm to lean on. Perfect when you need to feel more grounded.
• Align calls the soul back into alignment. it reaches gently into the heart space dos shift heavy energies that are inhibiting progress and disrupting stillness. While working on the heart center, it recalibrates an individuals inherent integrity and brings into awareness the costs of misalignment. This oil is wonderful for self acceptance, openness, and trust.

JOURNALING

Why journaling? It gives us time get the thoughts racing through our minds out and on paper so we can process them and release them……basically, let’s get them to stop running around in your head. So how do you journal?

What to write about:

• If you journal in the morning write about what you dreamt about?
• How do you feel about the day ahead?
• What is frustrating your and/or what is going really well right now?
• What are some of the things you wish to accomplish?
• What are you grateful for?
• “I am” statements that empower you (these will be different for everyone but here are some examples) I am happy and relaxed. I am love. I am abundance.
• One of the simplest things to do is simply write whatever comes to mind, just get it out.

Try incorporating this into your life for about 5-10 minutes in the morning and evening. Give yourself time to process your day, your thoughts, your feelings.

WHY MEDITATE

I am about to list a TON of reasons why we should all meditate. You will be tempted to skip over it, but I urge you to pause and take the time to read it. You will be amazed at all of the benefits of meditation.

• It actually grows your brain both in volume and thickness. It increases memory, attention, self-awareness, and self-control
• Increases blood flow to the brain
• Reduced cortisol production (which can then help decrease anxiety and weight gain)
• Reduces blood pressure and heart rate
• Increases neuroplasticity
• Increases the production of good neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine
• Triggers the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest)
• Boosts the immune system
• Helps with muscle relaxation
• Slows the aging process by significantly increasing melatonin and DHEA while decreasing cortisol
• Increases our resilience to stress through our increased control of the sympathetic (fight
• or flight) nervous system and the parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system
• Increases positive emotions, bringing us to a state of peace and calm
• Improves our focus on the present moment, our awareness by stimulating the pre-frontal
• cortex which is respons9ible for concentration, focus, and problem solving
• Increases emotional stability and intelligence, it helps us to feel less reactive, less
• defensive and more balanced
• Increases our capacity to learn by stimulating the pre-frontal cortex
• Increases empathy and compassion
• Increases a sense of connection to your self and others by going deeper then our
• everyday levels of thinking
• Increases our sense of purpose and meaning, giving us more clarity about what is
• important in life and a sense of confidence to make choices that enliven our passions and
• dissolve distractions
• Improves sociability, by feeling more connected with ourselves, we have more confidence
• when connecting with others
• Reduces stress related conditions such as anxiety and depression

Ok so now that I have convinced you that meditation is amazing let’s talk about how to incorporate it.

HOW TO MEDITATE

I am assuming by now I have convinced you that it is important to start meditating regularly right??? So how in the world do we do this. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are the steps I utilize.

1. Find a quite space where you won’t be interrupted, it is optimal if you can find a space that you can use daily, however it is ok if you cannot
2. Get comfortable, you can be seated or laying down (just know lying down you have a greater chance of falling asleep)
3. Decide how long you have to meditate, in the beginning I recommend between five to ten minutes
4. Choose the type of meditation you are going to do. In the beginning I recommend some type of guided meditation. On the next page you will find some of my favorite resources or this
5. Close your eyes to allow you to focus and relax
6. If you are not doing a guided meditation I recommend starting a timer
7. When you finish take note of how you feel

I want you to carve out a couple minutes to sit, without your phone, without the tv, without a book………yes, just sit. I know it seems crazy, but you are worth this time!!!! Your life will change forever once you start incorporating it. Below I have some amazing resources to support you in incorporating meditation in your life.

MEDITATION RESOURCES

Apps

• Insight Timer
• Headspace
• Oak

YouTube Meditations

• 10 minute chakra meditation: HERE
• 10 minute positivity and abundance meditation: HERE
• 10 minute mindfulness meditation: HERE
• 5 minute calming meditation: HERE
• 5 minute miracle morning meditation: HERE

Unguided

• Prayer repetition
• Mantra repetition
• Mala Bead meditation
• Body scan

I hope you enjoy the many benefits of incorporating the pause into your life! Would you like some support on incorporating this pause and more healthy habits? Let's connect. Schedule a call with me HERE.