TOVO Tuesday 175

Take Pause

There are moments that pause the senses.

There is only one outlet from Lake Tahoe. The Truckee River flows from a California mountain bliss to the heart of a Nevada desert. It is there that I go from time to time to escape, refresh and rejuvenate. A river.

A cold, crisp river.And even more specifically there is a slight curve within that course where a rising cliff meets the shore. Just there I stop. Just there I seek something. Just there.

The flow is swift enough to carve mountains. The flow is constant enough to move the tourists down river in rafts and gasps, bathing in motion.

I can ride that energy. I can join the fray. I can allow the force to carry me downstream or I can do what I do.

I can pause.

Just ten feet below the rapids I dive. Just ten feet below the surface of today. Just below the duties, the tasks at hand, the laundry list of life I submerge. And in one specific spot, ten feet below it all, I hover in a tranquil womb. The river flows firm above. The force upon the surface is powerful. But just a bit below is a liquid oasis. I am still while the surface above rumbles. Just for a moment there is no other place to be. No other goal to chase. No other agenda.

In that cove of clam, I stay. It last only seconds but seconds are enough when they expand. When the peace provided lingers into the hours. And hours in to art.

There are moments that pause the senses.

I know I must surface to the daylight. I know I cannot escape the flow forever. I know that my breath must be restored by the pine air. I know that my moment will pass and my form must float again to take on all that awaits above. But for a moment, I am nowhere to be seen and everywhere I want to be.

I am not sure what you do to pause. I am not sure you will, given so much to do today. I am not sure we adults remain young enough to frolic beyond the shore of systems and status.

And for our kids. I am not sure we equip our children with the sensible as much as sensational devices. Games and gadgets. Notifications and nonsense. Somewhere along the way we have confused connectivity with connection. But a river, and our children’s life, cannot be solely the rapids of agendas and expectations. It cannot be constant flow. Kick and run. Run and gun. Go, go, go. While we may champion those that never stop, perhaps we need to pause.

Perhaps there is a lesson in the river. Perhaps we can recognize that a river contains both rapids and release. That below the flow there is something deeper. A state of mind that holds still. That slows down. That is poised and pleasant. Not immune from direction. Just a calm within the turbulence.

I can teach a kid to run. I can teach a child to hustle and drive. Or I can show her the balance between motion and emotion. Between pace and pause. Between exhaustion and exhale.

I wonder if your child, or even your child within, will find that sweet spot below a river bend. That spot where among the chaos you find space. Space for your child. Space for a companion. Space to immerse yourself in the depths of tranquility. Silence and security. The unknown worth knowing.

If you are looking it is just below the surface. Just below the metrics of winning. Just below the grades and gigabytes. Just below the demands of the day. Just below the constant and commonplace.

You may just find peace beyond the you perfectly packaged and presented. Wrapped and ribboned.

You may just find a deeper you that has yet to surface.

There are moments that pause the senses.