LA PAUSE: The art of taking a moment
I would like to introduce you to La Pause.
This is rather a big thing for me, I’m letting you into a few secrets here. You see I have a thing about naming things. I’ve done it for as long as I can remember. Call it whimsy, call it fun, call it anything that you’d like. I think that I do it because it injects a little fun and a bit of me into things and the things that I do. I’ve introduced it to my little ones who have picked it up with glee. You see I even name items of clothing, there is my big faux fur jacket which is known as ‘Big Fluff’ my daughters is called ‘Little Fluff’. I have also given the major aspect of my mindfulness practice a name. I call it ‘La Pause’, because that is exactly what it is - a pause. I have a particular love of France, perhaps that is the reason for the French, who knows, I never spend too long over thinking things, I just run with it.
Giving it a name has given it a certain level of importance, it gives a name to something that I then feel more comfortable talking about and interacting with. I first named my practice when I was giving up smoking and would allow a pause before doing anything. It gave me the seconds that I needed to make the right decision and to let the sensations that would scream through my body a chance to disperse. It’s as relevant now as I was all those years ago. I think that I’ve told you that taking a minute and sitting with my thoughts has been with me since childhood. I honestly do believe that we have an intense need for it. The reason why I am telling you about my naming of my practice though, this is something that I haven’t shared before. I truly want you to know that having a mindfulness practice will not dilute you, your personality, your drive or your feelings. In fact, you may come to find that it makes all of these things more intense. What it does in fact, is it shows you where you can spend your energy.
You can inject fun and humour into the things that you do too. I think that there is this idea that mindfulness, meditation and the like are incredibly serious tasks. Which, yes, they can be. You are often delving down into your subconscious and unconscious mind. Understanding how you act, react and think. These can be very serious things… They can also be funny, hilarious even. They can be very you and offer insights that make you smile and learn to love who YOU are just a little bit more. The point of this post, have some fun, enjoy your practice. No matter what has brought you here and started your journey, having some fun with it won’t take away from your learning. So, make your practice yours. Deeply yours. Mould it and form it into something that you love so it becomes an extension of you. The beautiful rogueness of these practices, the parts where you tap into your authenticity and work out what it is that you really need, they deserve to have some lightness.
Whether you want to name things, give things some humour, some colour, some vibrancy, it doesn’t matter. Learn to make it yours so that you feel it becomes another part of you and easy to be with. You can borrow my ‘La Pause’ if it helps. Have one today in fact. If you are low in credit (I will introduce you to this soon too!) then ‘La Pause’ will absolutely give you a boost.
Share with me how you make your practice your own. I would love to see how you inspire yourself! Throw up a photo on ‘The Gram, message me here or DM me if you have questions!