Between
there and here, between the past and now there is a choice, a space, a field of
endless possibilities.
The
likes of Frankl’s “Man’s Search for
Meaning” remind us so starkly and powerfully, that choices are available to
us, even when we think there are none.
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our
power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom”.
The
more aware of that space, the potential that exists in it, the expansiveness
that it offers, the more we can lean in to it and sit with the unknown, and the more we can respond mindfully instead of with our habitual automatic ways.
This,
of course, is the exact opposite of what I did recently in a conversation with someone
whom I care deeply for.
Unconsciously swirling
around with fixed beliefs, past hurts, defensive strategies, defined
expectations and strong emotions, I was so cloudy I didn't see the space.
Tara Brach, refers to a “sacred pause” where we release our control and take the opportunity
to clearly see the wants and fears that are driving us.
Useful
when we feel that stimulus provoke us in some way, we literally take a
breather...
And come
to the present...
Knowing
we need to take that pause...
Taking
it...
Breathing
into it...
Following
it back to its source...
Enabling
us to respond with awareness.
Tomorrow
I will be working with a group whose staff survey results have not been so
positive...perhaps there will be some sacred pausing in their conversations.
But
for now, I leave you with Robert Doisneau capturing some sacred pausing in
Paris of his own.
Sources:
Viktor
E. Frankl (2004) Man’s Search For Meaning: the classic tribute to hope from the
Holocaust, Ebury Publishing. (where I can't actually find the exact quote!)
©
image from Robert Doisneau, whose fantastic exhibition “Paris en liberté currently
on in Roma, has just been extended until 10 Feb 2013.
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