Virtual Pause

5/23/2022

Rest is a big buzz word these days. But resting is hard. Relaxation, on the other hand, is easy. But I find relaxation, although helpful at times, to simply be a momentary break, and sometimes just a way for me to avoid the restlessness inside of me.

Today we will try to get to real rest - which is where our worthiness lies - by letting go of the things that we relentlessly pursue to give us a sense of control and power, acceptance and approval, safety and security. We will rest through surrender, receiving love, and trust.

Listen:

wait...

do not run away

do not make plans of your own doing

do not be troubled

but wait

be still

be quiet

surrender

receive

trust

wait....

5/16/22

So much pain, expectations, responsibilities, other’s opinions, etc. get layered upon our true self and cover up who we are designed to be.  These things constrict our capacity to love. In this episode we will be exhaling negativity so that our tent, or the place where our true self dwells, can expand. We will sit in silence using a meditation method called Centering Prayer, and then we will let go of what is keeping our light from expanding. Our listening portion is from Isaiah 54:2-3:

“Enlarge the place of your tent,

Stretch your tent curtains wide,

Do not hold back;

Lengthen your cords,

Strengthen your stakes.

For you will spread out to the right and to the left;

Your descendants will dispossess nations

And settle in their desolate cities."

5/2/22

Our beliefs are important to us and can fuel our passion and action. But when we do all we can to fortify those beliefs, holding armor in our hands ready to fight or flee when our wall of belief gets rubbed up against, we expend a ton of energy -  usually leading to our own unhealth.

In this episode, we will think of a belief we have and a person or situation that rubs up against that belief, and getting curious about our reactions to it and what lies underneath it.

Listen: John Mayer – Belief

Is there anyone who

Oh everyone believes

Belief is a beautiful armor

Some need the exhibition

Oh everyone believes

We're never gonna win the world

Is there anyone who can remember

We're never gonna win the world

What puts a hundred thousand children in the sand?

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: John Mayer

Belief lyrics © Goodium Music

More than likely, you have felt a stirring, passion or desire to be or do something throughout your life. For me, I used to write poetry and music for an audience of one. But we end up giving that passion up because the world tells us these passions are unproductive, or we aren’t good enough, or we need to be practical and focus on building a life that the world says we should live. That passion is like a small flame inside of us, and we build a wall of expectations and agendas and shame and guilt, and the flame barely gets any oxygen.

In this episode, we will identify that flame and imagine watching God crash into our walls to get to that flame and help it grow into a fire that can help bring light and love into the world.

Episode 50: Sight in the Darkness

4/11/2022

These Pause practices are not simply ways of self-care. If that were the case, then when we feel unworthy in our beings, or when we feel a sense of darkness or chaos in our lives, we most often will push self-care practices out of the way. Yet if we practice these pauses as ways of seeing, seeing the light in the darkness, gaining clarity of sight for our circumstances, then we aren’t just getting a “break” to then keep walking, we are “seeing” so we can walk differently.

In today’s episode we will take a look at a place in our lives that feels dark, confusing, or chaotic, and shake ourselves loose and open ourselves up so we can begin to see the light and the way to go.

Please excuse the background noise, I am outside on a beautiful breezy Spring day.

Listen:

John 1:5 “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”

4/4/2022

I just launched a book last week, and it feels like I gave birth to a baby. The problem is I have been so buried in the details of editing and getting it to done, that I didn’t have the time to determine what happens to it when it actually is published. So in a flurry of activity last week, I barely had a moment to celebrate because I was deep in the mire of “ok, now what do I do with it?”

In this episode, we will pause and be present and grateful for a gift in our life. We will let go of what is next, or how we can make the gift last longer or be better and instead just bask in the wonder and awe of the gift. We will attempt to embody this grace given to us.

For the Listening section, we will be listening to the portion of a poem by my dear friend, Angela Griner.

Gratitude is the hard, heavy, way

the muscle-building, aching way-

that clears the senses

opens the wounds

for finished healing

raises up the native joy

to tame the wild beast

Giving Thanks, Angela Griner, Blessings the Waters

Sometimes we don’t know what we need. We are too exhausted, busy, confused, depleted, to even determine what it is we need in that moment to feel a sense of equanimity and wholeness. Our false self, or ego, stands at the top of our castle, in charge, keeping our body from settling, our mind from quieting, our heart from opening. Our true self is hidden in a locked treasure chest, behind a fortified gate and a vast moat. We don’t seem to be able to get to our true selves.

In today’s episode, we will use the analogy of the castle, and tend to our bodies, minds, and hearts to uncover and release that diamond light, or true self, inside of us. When that is free, we will discern what we need to be or do today in order for that true self to expand and radiate throughout our interactions and our tasks.

3/21/2022

There are times when we can be totally consumed and self-absorbed by something. It can be a good thing – a project or task or relationship – but it can consume all of us and effect us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. We can’t always let go of the thing, but we can take a pause and release the grip we have on it and it has on us.

In this episode we will try to counteract the effects that this thing has on us, by settling our bodies, quieting our minds, opening our hearts, and connecting our spirits to God, so we can come back to the thing with integration to our whole being and a sense of freedom.

Listen:

“Be still. Look. Listen. Be present.” -Eckart Tolle

We have a center – our true self that is authentic. When we engage in relationships, projects, goals, etc. that aren’t aligned with that center, we experience chaos, confusion, and depletion. In today’s episode we will imagine our center and the areas in our life that are weakly connected to our true self. We will see if we can make the connection to our center stronger, or if we need to let them go.

Listen:

May you be strengthened through God’s Spirit in your inner being, and, being rooted and established in love, may have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:16-19, the Bible

When we are depleted – physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually – we can feel imbalanced, confused, indecisive, grumpy, and all kinds of things that don’t feel productive. When we can’t take a day off or put aside the tasks at hand, we still can slow down and pause. But regaining energy is not a cognitive exercise – we have to integrate our entire self.

In this episode, we will pause, as we normally do, paying attention to all parts of us. I will integrate a few practices that can help us get into the present moment.

Listen:

-Bayo Akomolafe, “A Slower Urgency: We Will Dance with Mountains”, taken from the book Crisis Contemplation by Barbara Holmes.