Dear friends,
It's good to see you taking a little time to log into this meditation.
Thanks a lot for checking it out.
We all seem to have so much on hands.
A growing to-do list.
A neglected list of things we feel we should have done.
People we need to see.
Friends and family we might have neglected.
And more mundane things as well.
Places we'd like to visit.
Films we want to watch.
Books we hope to read.
The list goes on.
For a change,
Can we pause?
Can we stop the headlong rush from one minute to the next?
This frantic dash from one activity to another.
And so,
An invitation to you,
Just now.
Even now.
Allow yourself one minute to stop and be still.
A 60 second pause just to rest and simply be.
Welcome back.
I hope you found that short break helpful.
We must remember to do this from time to time during the day.
It's not a waste of time to stop for a minute.
There will be time later for anything of importance.
We can ease the pressure on ourselves by reducing this list of things to be done to black and white.
We can set it out the old-fashioned way on paper.
Or we can keep a list on one of our devices.
The important thing is to be able to see at a glance all these things that have been rolling on.
In the back of our minds.
Get them done in writing.
Each and every one of them.
And take a careful look at the result.
Do all of these things really need to be done?
Enjoy striking out the many things on your list that are of little or no importance.
Your next step is to look at what's left on your list.
And divide these according to urgency and importance.
Urgency,
What does that mean?
Urgency means something really needs to be done and done very soon.
Ease your mind straight away by working on the most urgent task.
And work through the items on your list according to their urgency.
In all our lives,
We come across situations which are important but not urgent.
These less urgent but still important things tend to be put on the long finger.
They can stay neglected for months or even years.
So from time to time,
Remember to look at your list of important items.
And move the most important one to the top of your to-do list.
For attention now.
Otherwise,
Plans and projects of the utmost importance will be neglected in favour of everyday activities that are deemed urgent.
Unless we make time to stop,
We will not be able to gather ourselves together and move forward as we'd wish.
So now another invitation to you.
Give yourself a treat,
One minute,
Just 60 seconds to stop again.
Welcome back.
Stopping or taking a pause in our fast-paced lives is not just beneficial.
It's essential for our mental,
Emotional and physical well-being.
Stopping allows us to live in the moment,
Appreciating the present rather than being consumed by the past or anxious about the future.
When we pause without an agenda,
We give ourselves the space to think and to see things more clearly.
As Blaise Pascal,
The French mathematician and philosopher,
Noted back in 1654,
All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.
In our culture of constant productivity,
Stopping can be dismissed as laziness.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Rest is not idleness.
John Lubbock,
In The Use of Life,
Wrote,
Rest is not idleness,
And to lie sometimes on the grass,
Under trees,
On a summer's day,
Listening to the murmur of the water or watching the clouds float across the sky is by no means a waste of time.
The non-stop demands of life in our time can cause us worry,
Stress and burnout.
There are so many opportunities open to us today,
So many choices.
Not only the many things that we should do,
But so many things that the modern world allows us to do.
It is impossible for us to say yes to everything.
If we accept that,
We can begin to move forward.
By taking time to stop and breathe,
We can mitigate these negative effects.
Nature,
Without even a word,
Advises us to rest.
Remember the Roman poet Ovid,
Who noted,
A field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.
So the message of this reflection,
Give yourself the gift of stopping from time to time.
Remember that taking the time to stop isn't a luxury.
Stopping is a necessary practice for restoring clarity,
Maintaining our well-being and enhancing our lives.
May you remember to take time to pause and stop,
Really stop,
And without an agenda,
Every single day.
Namaste.
