Why would I need to pause to succeed if taking action is what success is all about?
Throughout our 21-Day programs, we stress the need to take daily action towards your goal, be in contact regularly with your accountability partner and to do your daily forgiveness ritual… all of which seems to be stressing ACTION right? I know.
Taking action is the key to creating a new success habit that helps. No doubt about it!
Here’s the thing: What makes action effective? Obviously, non-stop activity is not smart (think of the logical extension here of going non-stop without sleep and rest…pretty alarming thought I bet!)
To be effective, moments of pause are essential during periods of sustained activity.
Sometimes the thing to DO, the action to take is to PAUSE. Sometimes doing nothing IS doing something.
In the case of the PAUSE, it is powerfully ‘doing something.’
Think about the power of the pause in sentences (imagine a sentence without a period) or in a piece of music (can you just imagine notes without rests in between?)
How about a presentation without those meaningful and power-laden pauses? It’s in the pause during a presentation that listeners get an opportunity to take in what is being said.
In each case above, when pause is not used the meaning is lost. Words, music and presentations have little meaning without effective punctuation, rests or pauses. A person listening or reading would have to work so hard to find the meaning.
Now apply this same thinking to the process of creating a habit. Constant activity is ineffective here as well. The value of consistent action would be lost if you were in non-stop activity.
This does not mean you should take a break from doing what you need to do for 21 days straight. Taking action for 21 days, uninterrupted is required to form a new habit.
What it means is this:
1) Take a break from worrying or talking about the activity or habit being created
2) Put aside 15 minutes to just sit in silence daily
3) Stop the flow of incessant inner chatter – ‘No thinking allowed.’
At the end of 15 minutes, be still some more and this time, listen for inner guidance. This wise guidance will not be heard above the chatter of self-talk and other external noises and distractions. Silence and listening is required.
Like the rest between the ♫♫♫ notes ♫♫♫ of music, these moments of silence will bring power to your actions and greater meaning will come. Try these three “simple” steps; you will not be disappointed.
The power is in the PAUSE.
Be Still and know…
Wishing you Abundant Success.
♥~