In all moments of life, we are offered The Choice: 

* Pursue (Move toward the problem-winning is everything).

* Push Away (Move away from the problem-advocate avoidance).

* Pause (Pause before any movement-sacred pause).

If all we do is Stimulus-Response, then Sacred Pause does not take place. Yet within Pause is possibility and potential for change; for responding in wiser ways that we otherwise would. Why? Because we step outside the Stimulus-Response habitual roles and pause. 

In such a Sacred Pause we can also practice relevant spiritual practices. Prayer. Reflection. Gratitude. Forgiveness. Aspects which immediately change the tone and texture of our choice for responding to stimuli. Why? Because this is where we connect with the Divine. Others say because it gives us time to change our minds and give better responses than we might otherwise have done. I say it is all of these and more. 

Breath, Sabbath, and Breadth

Have you heard of Sabbath? It is a time designated for Pause. Sabbath rest: a time to stop, to cease one’s labor, to spend a day realizing that you do not have to do it all; to realize something besides you is making this world turn. To reengage in humility. You are not the prime mover. This creation will go on without you. And because of this you find life fundamentally as a gift.

And when we see life as a gift, we see a broader perspective, a wider vision. 

Pause is also an ancient place. For when we Inhale, we bring in oxygen and moisture (water) and atmosphere. And as soon as I engage with water this way, it triggers an ancient response. A repose. A way to be with water that is so greatly beneficial. I Inhale moisture (water) and then hold it for a moment. As I do this mindfully, I know I am in ceremony as ancient as the earth. I have invited in that which calms, seeks equality, equanimity, and balance.

This is what I call the Prayer of Waiting with Water. More about that is in a moment. Please push Pause.

Consider this: Fear of Breath. 

When considering COVID-19 or other such viruses, most all of us would fear being on a ventilator! The ventilator breathes for us, and we fear it!

Wait a minute! Since we came into this world something has breathed for us! We did not get fitted with a ventilator after our mother’s water broke. We were fitted with it before then! It came with a life-time warranty. The warranty ends when we take our last breath.

So let us not fear, but LOVE the breath we have, that marvelous breathing machine of our body that is so important to our heart’s functioning.

If we fear plastic ventilators, then we should LOVE the heart, lungs and breath. For breath knows no border. 

“When our borders of belonging are predicated more on defining ourselves based on who we are not, and virtues are presumed present on one side of the border and presumed missing on the other, then our borders speak more of hostility than of any sense of kinship.” Such separation and border ideologies “is nurtured more by ideology – our idea of who we think we should be – than by the infinitely more complicated truth of who we actually are…” From – In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World. By Padraig O Tuama.

So, Lead with Breathe! Partner with your breath by the practice of breath control, so you can celebrate every moment we have, between stimulus and response.

If breathing is Life, then what is Inhale and Exhale? That is 100% of our conscious lifetime.

And what if we consider Pause in the equation? That is 33 1/3 %. So, let’s do the math: Inhale 33 1/3% (automatic/habit yet can be influenced); Pause 33 1/3% (Can be Practiced); Exhale 33 1/3% (automatic/habit but can be influenced).

Let’s celebrate all we can be in the 33 1/3% of Pause between Stimulus and Response. OK? We can celebrate that 33 1/3% of our life! All we have to do is lead with breathing! And pause! No assembly required. Just life admired!

You have learned to lead with breathing. Now to the second wisdom of The Bundle, Waiting with