AN INVITATION TO PAUSE
AN INVITATION TO PAUSE
Pause.
Breathe in slowly,
relax
breathe out slowly,
and relax.
As you continue to pause and breathe slowly,
notice sounds around you,
notice colors,
open to the feeling of your whole body.
Notice the quality of the sensation,
pleasant,
unpleasant
or neutral,
without reacting or judging;
notice with gentleness, care and compassion for yourself.
*******
Notice emotions and thoughts coming and going like clouds passing across a clear blue sky.
And especially notice, as you slowly release all effort, you may notice a feeling of calm
quiet
and peace
underlying whatever apparent storms (or rain clouds?) are appearing in your experience.
This calm
quiet
and peace
is always potentially accessible,
and potentially…. with a related experience of gentle joy and happiness, love and kindness.
The more you pause,
the more accessible you’ll find this to be.
effortlessly
Ok, is this IMPOSSIBLY self serving??
I'm just re-reading this post, and feeling calm and grateful as I read it, and thinking to myself, "Don" (yeah, sometimes i refer to myself by name!), "you're always looking for writings that bring you back to that pervading [yeah, i even talk to myself using words like 'pervading'!!] sense of calm, peace and joy. You should really just write more stuff like this!"
Ugh. Meh. And whatever other social media cliche you like. Ok ok, I apologize, but heh, for all you concerned about "spiritual bypassing" and just plain navel gazing, in my defense, i DID acknowledge the rain clouds and storms.
Ok, i really should delete this comment, right?