"In many a piece of music, it's the pause or the rest that gives the piece its beauty and its shape." - Pico Lyer
As this quote so eloquently states, the beauty and peace in most things are found in the empty space, in quiet moments, and at times of rest. It is in the times when we stop moving, where there is nothing but silence and open space, that gives life deeper meaning. Taking a step back to pause is a crucial component of good physical, mental and emotional health because it helps us reassess what we are currently doing to determine if we are on the right track in moving forward.
There are times in life when hitting the pause button and taking a step back to assess becomes more beneficial than powering through, and for Living LEAN, this is the time!
Don't worry; it's not a big step but a small one that will provide the time and energy to progress into a more targeted focus. We will continue to be present for our current and future clients and provide ongoing Small Group Training Classes, Accountability Club Meetings, Health Coaching Courses, and Monthly Informational Newsletters. We are pushing pause on new content through every Sunday morning blog posts. During this pause, we plan to free up valuable time to refocus our mission, restructure our products and services, and become even better at what we do!
I have learned about the power of the pause throughout various experiences during my lifetime:
As a professional hula dancer, I continually practiced subtle pauses between motions to allow the audience to feel the story the dance was telling.
As a designer, I learned the value that open space brings to life when decorating a home, designing clothing, listening to music, and carving out personal space.
As a Sales Director, I learned the value of pausing to allow the client time to think and choose to advertise in our magazine.
As a certified health coach, I have found that saying nothing is far more valuable than saying too much, and pausing is crucial for developing clients' solutions.
As a global community, we have experienced the most significant pause of all, COVID. As we collectively hit the pause button, all once, we experienced both beautiful and frightening realities and new unrealized truths we may not even know about yet.
In all these personal experiences, I have learned that pauses aren't always comfortable, maybe awkward at times, and sometimes out of our control. When we pause, whether on purpose or by force, the resulting outcome is most likely out of our control, but it can lead to beautiful things if we try.
There are so many times when taking a pause will benefit well-being. It helps to recharge energy levels, repair our minds and bodies, help us connect with others and nature, and develop clarity and wisdom.
At Living LEAN, we teach our clients the life skill of mindfully pausing before meals and snacks to improve eating behaviors. We suggest taking a purposeful pause in the busyness of life to express appreciation and gratitude to encourage more feelings of joy and happiness. In personal relationships, we recommend the power of pausing before responding to challenging family members enabling a moment to choose more mindful and less reactionary responses.
We typically encourage ourselves to keep moving forward, be productive each day, and take small daily actions to promote healthy outcomes. It is equally important to remember to rest, recover and recuperate. The value of sleep, stress management, and proper recovery are vital to overall health and well-being. We will address more about rest, healing, and stress management in a future post, but for now, let's push pause for a moment.
As Living LEAN celebrates its first full year in business, we pause to self-evaluate, reestablish our mission, fine-tune our message, and better serve our community of members. During this time of reflection, we will continue to send the monthly newsletter with updates and valuable health promotion and disease prevention information and invite you to review one of the 45 posts we have written over the past year.
We are hitting the pause button only on the new Sunday morning blog post but continue to service current and new members through our small group classes, health coaching services, and wellness visits with Dr. Darci.
Please connect with us through email or a FREE consultation request and let us know how we may help you reach your health, fitness, and wellness goals and live a happier, healthier, and purposeful life!
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