For all of us life is a game of seesaw, at time we remain up for a long time and even before we realise, life takes down turn unexpectedly. For some life becomes monotony, for some the most happening time, for some puzzle, but people who learn to take seldom a pause travel the journey effortlessly. We are running, life is running. But, we don’t understand we are running behind what? Is it money, status, competition, fame, acquiring more and more material, more homes, and more cars, more gold? Running makes us tired, and hence a pause is required. Sometimes that pause consists of moments to smell the fragrance of flowers, sometimes watching good movies and hearing good music, sometimes that pause is time spent with family, sometimes that pause becomes travelling light and sometimes just lazing in bed. Sometimes that pause consists of days spent pursuing a hobby, and sometimes that pause is a longer one, to heal the wounds we have sustained on our journey of life.
So when you have anger take a pause to resolve the anger within, it is destructive to your mental state. When you have doubt, do not rush; take a pause to think pros and cons. When you are tired, take a pause to refresh. If it is physical tiredness, it can be tackled by resting but it’s the mental tiredness that impacts both body and mind. When you are stressed, pause. The reasons for stress are different for everyone: students stress about studies, businessmen about profits, a person in job about performance, a housewife about house management, a sick person about sickness and after effects. Stress needs a longer pause to resolve the inner wound. And, even when then things are fine learn to take a pause. We take our strength for granted, our inner strength is so important, it should never be overlooked.
Pausing increases productivity, it does it miraculously. We feel fresh; we feel vital and beam with confidence after a good pause. Listen to the whispers of the soul, when it asks for a pause, take a pause. Sometimes you need to stop in order to get ahead. Pause to ask yourself what, how, when, whom, and why you are doing things; these questions can be tell exactly what you need in order to continue your progress. Other times, you may simply need a break to recharge and prevent exhaustion. If that occurs, you are going to spend a lot more time recovering than if you had taken a break in the first place.
So whenever you lag behind, press the pause button. If you are all times working on yesterday’s work, you will never be able to give time to today’s work, it’s time to take a pause and catch up. If you are experiencing monotony and feel your quality of work is reducing, pause.
Stephen Covey says in his book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” that sharpening the saw is an ongoing process of personal change. You need to define your own strengths and limits in life. We all have busy lifestyles; therefore it’s no surprise we have to insert a pause often to sharpen the saw. Time Management is the most required practice; we must make it part of our life. Our future success depends on how refreshed we feel to take up personal and professional responsibilities.
Learn to enjoy life and time with others: attend those functions where you can catch up with your friends. We cannot force quality time with our loved ones until we really pause mentally and physically. Learn to pause to enjoy the time together. Put other things on hold while you spend time with your family. Most important take a pause before it becomes inevitable.