Powerful Pauses

Today I have an unexpected day of freedom from obligations.  A memorial service at the church is replacing yoga classes, which is my usual scheduled activity for Tuesdays.  Strange how much this seems like a "snow day" with no school.  A holiday.  And, so here I sit on the porch watching the birds and the stillness of the lake, hearing a car or two on the nearby road, perusing the Asheville Yoga Center web site and finding a "therapeutic yoga" upcoming weekend in August for which I will register,  answering emails neglected too long, drinking my green tea, and busily not planning my day.  I picked up Richard Rohr's Falling Upward companion journal and finally will order the book I've been longing to read.  But first, I'll take a bit more time to just be and let the cool breeze blowing over the Pond still me.  As a matter of fact, perhaps I'll simply remain stilled all day.  There is truly nothing more important in my life now than stillness.  Several years ago I wrote an essay : Powerful Pauses.  That write has influenced nearly every day since.  I began then my stillness work allowing myself the freedom to go inward to my spiritual voice at odd times during the day when I was captured in a moment of pausing - at a stop light, in line at a grocery store, waiting for a doctor, washing dishes by hand, ironing a couple of cotton shirts, taking a bath.  All opportunities for powerful pauses.  They became so pleasant I learned to create them and extend them even when they didn't occur naturally.  So now, I have an entire day of pausing.  I will not  squander it.