~A Bitter Swallow~

pause


My boyfriend hollered this out in his sleep one night while I was tossing and turning. It worked, because I stopped. That word "pause" had hit me somewhere deep in my little brain. It triggered a response; one that made me relax. pause

I started thinking.. what if I could just hit the pause button, and make everything stop for awhile? What would I do with it?

I started thinking of all the things you could do with an ability like that? Have you ever seen the movie "Click"? I wouldn't want a remote like that. I'm not sure I would want the rewind and fast forward buttons. Too much chance for really screwing things up that way. But to just be able to pause once in awhile! Now that would be refreshing.

When things at work or home start getting too much.. pause... and go take a walk outside for a moment. Not quite ready to go in yet, pause.. and capture just one more moment. I know there have been many times when I look at something in Nature, and am just absolutely captivated, sometimes just for a moment while passing through. How uplifting it would be to have the chance to pause and just take in the view.

And then those thoughts lead me to thinking, why do we need the idea of a remote for that? Why can't we just make time for pauses in our life? We all tend to get so caught up in work and bills and such, that we forget to slow down and just be. We forget to take in the sunrises and sunsets. We forget how nice it can be to just go sit in a park and read a book, or watch the children play and the ducks swim by. How rewarding is it to create a pause in your hectic life, to take some time to hang out with your kids? Go throw a ball around, read, or even all cuddle up on the couch with some popcorn and watch a movie.

Life is full of opportunities for pause. I think we as a society have become so fast-paced that we no longer see them. We are so wrapped up in bills that need to be paid, work that needs to be done, appointments we need to keep. We are so focused on the quick now, now, now.. but we don't actually live in the now. We don't pause long enough to feel the moment, to take in that breath and feel alive.

So I ask of you one small favor. Pause for a moment. Feel the breeze on your skin, the breath that you breathe. Listen to the sound of life being lived around you. Capture this one instant of your life and feel it. Live it. Create that photograph in your mind. Pause.