The great pianist Arthur Rubinstein was once asked how he
played the notes so differently from other pianists. He
said, “The notes I play like every other pianist. But the
pauses,… ahhh, the pauses.”

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Summer time. Time for vacations, slowing down, staying out of the heat.  The last few weeks I’ve worked part time and made loafing my full time job.

Loafing.  Time to stretch out and do nothing.  When we loaf we trust ourselves to live and breathe and get through the day without a list, a plan or a schedule.  We trust our world to spin on its axis without our daily input.  Doing it right we get up when we feel like it, eat when we’re hungry, and sleep when we’re tired.

When we take the time to slow down and stop we start living from abundance.  Living from the idea that there is enough time, that there will always be more work, that there is value in taking time to just be – sharpening the saw, as Stephen Covey calls it.

Taking time to pause we stop stirring things up.  Life has the opportunity to settle, what’s important floats to the top, we begin to see the bottom clearly, and we have time to get to know ourselves.

Pausing is like brewing tea. Pour hot water into a pitcher with tea bags and let it sit.  Just sitting, it simmers and gets stronger. Pausing allows us to become fully awake, remember who we are, to simmer and get stronger.

We come back from time off refreshed, renewed, with new perspectives, possibilities, and solutions.  Actually, once you experience the benefits you may decide to do more of it.

So:
Take a vacation
A day off
A walk in nature
Read a good book
Putter without goals
Play with the cat
Enjoy a hobby
Lay in the sun
Just be

(Speaking of tea, a refreshing summer beverage is
peach tea mixed with white grape juice!)