Everybody has a busy life full of back-to-back appointments, meetings, and to-do lists. In the twenty-first century, perpetual busyness seems to be the new normal. It used to be sporadic enough to distinguish between days when it was hectic and when it wasn’t. But, now, you are overly busy and don’t have time to pause.

What can you do to make things serene? Competence demands perspective, which is difficult to acquire when you’re focused on finishing an endless to-do list and crossing your fingers that everything will work out. Space provides the kind of perspective that helps with clarity and focus.

And even while you might not always be able to choose to lighten your calendar, you still have the power to free your brain from the ingrained momentum that stifles compassion and creativity. Additionally, you occasionally can discover that having access to kindness and inspiration gives you a little extra time each day. Whatever the case, you can always start being more aware of how busy you are and how you choose to handle and respond to the different situations in your daily life.

You find that when you can take a vacation, a break, a retreat, or even simply some time in nature, you come back renewed and prepared to change the world for the better. However, that belief passes quickly. And your current schedule doesn’t typically allow for that kind of needed pause.

Too many people go through life without pausing to enjoy what they have. ~ David Gemmell

An Intentional Pause

So, what are your options? Taking a purposeful pause, or a mini-break from the pace and momentum of your thoughts, is one effective strategy. They provide you with time and space to regroup, and when you do, you’re more likely to make deliberate decisions about your work and activities that are innovative, uplifting, and caring. Most importantly, they don’t take long.

When you’re going through the day on autopilot, a purposeful pause breaks the fog that forms. Creating a breach in the clouds isn’t that difficult, and once you do, you may view every moment from a different angle.

The challenging element is remembering to take a break. You’ll eventually get better at recognizing when you are not present. As your meditation practice develops and you gain greater awareness of your body’s feelings and your mind’s activities, you’ll gradually discover new methods to experiment with using purposeful pauses to support you on even the busiest of days.

Treat yourself with patience and gentleness. It takes some effort to learn how to be more present because the majority of you have lived life filled with so much distraction. Living your best life is the possible reward for exercising your intellect and opening your heart, just like physical fitness does for the body.

The purposeful pause is one mindfulness technique that can help you add some brightness to your hectic, gloomy days. Try putting these concepts to the test and observe whether your days start to feel a little different.

1. Start The Day With A Drink

I get some funny stares when I tell folks about my purposeful pause. I had to make it clear that I was not supporting drinking at breakfast! I do recommend having a mindful cup of coffee or tea for the first purposeful pause of the day.

Start with the goal of observing the experience. You can begin by paying attention to how your coffee or tea is prepared, whether you make it yourself or purchase it. As you warm up and sip your beverage, pay attention to what your body senses: the room’s sounds, the aroma, the warmth of the cup in your palm, the taste as you take your first sip, and the warmth you get when you swallow it.

Avoid multitasking by using devices or reading during this time. Simply enjoy the moment while holding your beverage, and bring your focus back to the act of sipping your drink whenever your thoughts wander, as they often do when going over your daily to-do list.

By starting your day with this purposeful pause, you are consciously practicing mindfulness for a short while. You stay rooted in the here and now by using the feelings in your body. When you’re done, your attention is rested and prepared to work, instead of letting the drink cool while you’re preoccupied or forgetting the entire experience and wondering if you had a cup of coffee. You can do this with anything you drink during the day, as well.

Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy. ~ Guillaume Apollinaire

2. Use A Door As A Cue

Mornings at work can be quite busy. There’s always something, even if you’ve had your purposeful morning beverage: a sick child, a car that won’t start, an unforeseen phone call. There’s no way to know what traffic conditions will be like even if your mornings are free of emergencies. You might arrive at work feeling stressed out. Use the door to pause.

Assess yourself as you get close to the door. As your body prepares to move into a new environment, bring your thoughts to that location. Use the door handle as a cue. As you are about to grab the handle, allow it to prompt you to take a moment to check if you are truly present in this moment of your life.

Focus on the physical sensations in your body, such as the feel of the door handle, the tenseness in your muscles as you try to open the door, the sensation of your breath in your body, the sounds in the lobby or on the street, and the variations in temperature between inside and outside.

If the door is automatic or revolving, modify the exercise by timing your entry as it revolves or by keeping an eye out for the instant when you set off the opening mechanism.

You can feel more grounded as you start your day by using these brief moments to intentionally pay attention to your experience of getting to work and to observe whatever is there for you to notice.

Take a long pause …breathe and know that things are happening for you, not to you. ~ Ashton Kutcher

3. Pause To Stop Rumination

A Monday-morning quarterback is a person whose evaluation is based on the past. How often do you find yourself ruminating after a run of busy days full of meetings,

wondering how the time flew by while you took care of the loudest cries and never got around to what’s important?

A strong quarterback uses foresight more than retrospect to understand the big picture and determine the best approach to distribute resources in each action. You must develop and pay closer attention to the details of each day and maintain an eye on the wider picture. A person who wakes up every morning makes deliberate decisions about how to start their day.

Before your first appointment, take a moment to intentionally pause. Spend a few minutes looking at your schedule. Is there enough time in your day to take care of the essentials? Have you set aside time to look after your physical and mental well-being?

You cannot attend to what is vital if you spend most of your time-fighting flames. It’s ultimately unsustainable and draining. Furthermore, a lot of fires extinguish themselves naturally without any help.

Try modifying your calendar every day if you haven’t been scheduling time for the things that are essential to you. While it’s simple to just go along with the madness, this may require some daring stewardship for your self-care. Maintain discipline in this behavior until it becomes second nature. And never undervalue the impact those little pivots can have.

When things begin accelerating wildly out of control, sometimes patience is the only answer. Press pause. ~ Douglas Rushkoff

4. Have A Power Lunch

When you hear the term power lunch, you might picture men in pricey suits getting together at a fancy restaurant for a drink, lunch, and business talks. But developing the ability to live a more purposeful, transparent, and caring life requires more than just enjoying a different kind of power lunch. The key to this meal is to make time for yourself to eat healthfully, socialize with coworkers or friends, and break out from the never-ending rush of the day by intentionally pausing. The goal of today’s power lunch is to empower your body, mind, and heart with a deliberate decision.

First, look at your calendar and set aside a time each day for lunch. This may be the hardest step to do. Whether you are too busy or someone else has scheduled a meeting during lunch, you frequently skip lunch. Decide to give your body the fuel it needs. Without fuel, power is impossible!

Then extend an invitation to friends or coworkers to join you. You are fueled differently when You spend time developing relationships with others; your hearts and minds are nourished. You can escape your excessively active, thinking minds when you converse with others and experience their connections. You can utilize this purposeful pause to eat lunch slowly, savoring the flavors, aromas, textures, and colors of your meal. Additionally, you will have time during the day to get off the thought treadmill and recall the importance of maintaining relationships with others and yourself.

Something precious is lost if you rush headlong into the details of life without pausing for a moment to pay homage to the mystery of life and the gift of another day. ~ Kent Nerburn

5. Take A Walk

When you feel the familiar tightness in your shoulders and neck returning, or when your pulse starts pounding and your mind starts racing with worries and judgments, you know the day is almost over. Now is a fantastic time to walk it off, just like athletes do.

Here, however, you make the act of walking—to the restroom, the break room, or even your next meeting—a purposeful pause rather than standing by and waiting for your physical pain to go away. Spend some time in a mini-practice, simply act as a prompt for mindfulness, and explore again, like you did over your morning coffee, what it feels like to nurture your body and mind with a routine.

Just start walking and put your phone away as you go. Take note of the sensations of your feet on the ground, the air against your skin, the sounds of machinery or voices, the looks on the faces of those you pass, etc.

Simply identify the thought and shift your focus back to your body’s experience of moving through the hallway whenever you find yourself thinking about something that was said in the previous meeting, planning what you will say in the next, or replaying something that was said in that previous meeting. You can interrupt the pattern of never-ending contemplation and anxiety that exhausts you by grounding yourself in the moment of strolling down the corridor.

It’s a transformative experience to simply pause instead of immediately filling up space. ~ Pema Chodron

6. Pause And Breath

When you’re in a scenario where you can’t physically leave, like in the middle of a crucial meeting or a business presentation, it might feel particularly difficult to take a break. However, pausing for a moment to breathe can have a profoundly positive effect, calming your anxiety and re-establishing your sense of being in the here and now.

One of the hardest but most helpful breaks is taking a few minutes to yourself during a heated discussion or disagreement with a loved one or coworker. You may clear your mind and respond to the issue more thoughtfully and less regrettably when you take a step back from the heat of the moment.

A brief respite simply won’t cut it sometimes. Taking a lengthier break can be healing for your body and mind, regardless of why you’re doing it—you can be seeking time for self-care, needing distance from a challenging relationship, or being burned out from your work.

Consider your present capacity if you’re beginning to feel overburdened by a certain circumstance or element of your life but aren’t sure if you need to take a longer pause. Consider this: What is my capacity? Can I handle this at this moment? Look for methods to back off, whatever that may mean for you if it’s evident that you can’t handle the situation.

Practice the pause. Pause before judging. Pause before assuming. Pause before accusing. Pause whenever you’re about to react harshly and you’ll avoid doing and saying things you’ll later regret. ~ Lori Deschene

Pause And Move Forward

It’s simpler (though messier) to plow ahead without pausing. Everybody has been there. The worst things I’ve ever said or done have come from moments when I was too preoccupied with my feelings, defending myself, or my beliefs. Pure, dramatic reaction—no hesitation, no calculating, no forethought. It’s quite the scene, and stopping the train while it’s moving is no easy task.

I’ve found that the best way to improve the capacity for pausing and taking a step back is to experiment with mindfulness training at less emotionally charged moments by practicing meditation.

The most important life skill is the ability to pause. The act of pausing creates a mystical area in which your current course can unexpectedly improve. It might completely alter the course of events. But it’s not something that comes easily.

It takes sufficient mindfulness to be able to discern when a pause is necessary. Then, in order to notice where you are and decide how to move forward, it requires even more mindfulness during the stop.

This is the key to life: the ability to reflect, the ability to know yourself, and the ability to pause for a second before reacting automatically. If you can truly know yourself, you will begin the journey of transformation. ~ Deepak Chopra

Do you need help to deal with intrusive thoughts? Are you looking for ways to live life with more clarity?  Are you feeling a bit lost amidst all the self-reflection? Do you wish for a helping hand to guide you through this process and keep you on track? Don’t worry, I’m here to assist you! Just reach out to me at TerriKozlowski.com and we can create a plan for you to empower you to intentionally pause and respond from a loving place.

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Empower Your Life With An Intentional Pause, It's Easy

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When you intentionally pause, you gather your thoughts, see the bigger picture, and get clarity, so your response is proper and kind.

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Terri Kozlowski

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Kozmic Soul Solutions LLC

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