the pause

plus three ways to build it into your life

Last week, my hands were dirty, covered in a dripping slip of red clay. I had been sitting in front of the potter’s wheel for hours, my limbs growing stiff and my mind bluzzy from the wheel turning round, around, around. A piece thrown off center mid-throw, then again. Frustrated, I pulled up on the clay, smashing it in and ripping it off the wheel. I was missing the pause.
Good work is made slow, steady, with care. A pause for a five minute cup of tea, even if those five minutes could produce the beginnings of another pot to be sold, is necessary for loose limbs, an unclenched jaw, a softened outlook, a sharper mind. That moment of pause is gold for my practice.

Thoughts of the pause have been inching into my attention for a while now and I plan to explore it more here in time. But for now, after three months of working every day, I’m taking a brief pause myself. A pause to be with family, to sit on a boat in a lake, to hold my new niece, to watch the sunset over the California mountains. Below, you’ll find three accessible ways to bring pause into your days. I hope they’ll be tools to bring you some peace and clarity, even if it feels like there’s no space or time, especially if it feels like there’s no space or time.

May we all find the space and time to pause, even if it’s only thirty seconds.

• I’m resting before gearing up for the fall and holiday season :)

• My messy studio photo this week is from my brother’s woodshop in LA where we made a few special pieces for our home:

The personal peace toolkit is your own catalog of accessible mindfulness techniques to fold into your life in 30 seconds, 5 minutes, and 10 minutes, bringing a little more calm to your days.

This week our practice is focused on pausing, for however long you have.

If you’re not already a paid subscriber, I hope you consider joining and building some calm into your life with me <3