The Power of PAUSING

Pema Chodron’s newest book, Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves From Old Habits & Fears, grabbed me from the very start and wouldn’t let me go. It’s message is still resonating with me and I’ve been telling all my friends about it. Such are the joys of a good book!

What stood out to me at the beginning of Taking the Leap was Pema’s concern for the state of the world – in particular, humanity’s current proclivity towards aggression and self-centeredness. I hadn’t thought about it in those terms, but it made sense. In order for the world to intelligently sort through and resolve the many challenges we face we need to stop arguing with one another and distrusting one another’s motives.

One doesn’t have to look far to find evidence of this impatience with one another (liberal vs conservative political views polarizing families & neighbors against one another; the multiple wars where the United States is currently engaged; bullying in grade school). It’s as if we’ve lost our ability to deal with diversity, that we only value ideas that validate our own, and that we no longer know how to cope with viewpoints that differ from our own.

“Our own awakening is intertwined with the awakening of enlightened society. If we can lose our personal appetite for aggression and addiction, the whole planet will rejoice.”

In order for humanity to find its way out of this frustrating state, Pema challenges those of us who hold aspirations for a kinder & healthier planet to practice a much-needed sanity right in our lives! “This is a time,” Pema says, “when ‘working on ourselves’ is about more than our personal happiness … it may be the only way for humanity to find solutions that address the welfare of all beings and the survival of the earth itself.”

The book is dedicated to helping readers develop a practice to recognize when our own words and actions cause suffering (“when we’re making a mess of things”) and to choose our thoughts and actions wisely. “Taking the Leap” involves making a commitment to ourselves and to the earth itself to –

• Let go of old grudges
• Not avoid people and situations and emotions that make us feel uneasy
• Not cling to fears, close-mindedness, hardheartedness, hesitation
• Develop trust in our basic goodness and of our sister and brothers
• Develop confidence in our ability to drop our old ways of staying stuck and to choose wisely.

The practice Pema advocates isn’t difficult – pausing holds the key. If we pause when tempers flare or when we feel our own energy churning up we can become conscious enough to realize what’s happening. Pausing stops the bad behavior just enough to create space – space for the opportunity of a different condition, and that space empowers basic goodness to be expressed.

Basic goodness. Pema describes it as including three qualities:

1. Natural Intelligence – when we’re not caught in the trap of hope and fear, we intuitively know what’s the right thing to do
2. Natural Warmth – our capacity to love, have empathy, have a sense of humor; gratitude, appreciation, tenderness; natural warmth has the power to heal all relationships
3. Natural Openness – when we are “pre-prejudice,” when our mind is expansive, flexible and curious

What a powerful triad of spiritual qualities. And, how comforting to think that this basic goodness can come to our aid in a moment – in an instant, when we open ourselves in humility and with compassion.

Pick up Taking the Leap and take it to heart. It’s a short volume that will give you several practical tips and approaches to staying sweet!