One time, I was working out while wearing my favorite sneakers. Then I noticed that one of my shoelaces got untied. So I paused my routine for a moment, fixed my shoelaces, and carried on. If I didn't pause to knot my laces, I could have slipped or wouldn’t have done my routine seamlessly.
A pause is not about throwing in the towel. It’s about taking a step back to check what’s working, and what’s not. It is about finding the good, the bad and the ugly. This will help us identify what we might have overlooked because we’re too immersed in what we’re doing. We are also at risk of burnout and lose inspiration. We miss the opportunities to admire and see the beauty of our work.
I love going to museums. I would walk mindfully and savor the essence of each masterpiece. But at times, I would still catch myself pausing when one catches my eye, because it connects with me in a different way. I would pause, check the plaque to find out more information about the artist and the artwork. And then I would step back and look at it again from different angles, maybe take a selfie, and admire it even more. This is the way we should treat our lives.
Yes, we have to make sure that we earn a living; we also need time to smell the roses. Without these meaningful pauses, our hard work wouldn’t be worth our while. We need to constantly look around in order to remind ourselves that there's beauty in and around us.
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