A Riotous Cessation

A Riotous Cessation

By Carrie Barron

Sometimes just when you think it is time to step it up, it is time to stop. For health reasons.

Instead of dancing as fast as you can, collecting inner quiet and clarity can ultimately take you higher. The moment when stress peaks may be just the moment to relinquish a tight grasp on external demands.  If pressures cause panic, disorganization or despair, pushing on can be deleterious. Maybe not the first or fifth time; but over time. When requests exceed coping capacities and the inner voice is characterized by harsh self-criticism for not keeping up, take note. Step back.  Don’t try tackling more, trying harder, or toughening up. Instead create a Riotous Cessation, for a few minutes anyway.  Prioritize wellness over worry and wait for perspective to emerge. The Huffington Post highlights the value of silence here.

The quiet mind finds calm and useful insights. Sometimes one does not have the “right stuff.” Ok.  What “stuff” do you have? Often one is just in the wrong situation, but somewhere there is a better one. If the culture prohibits self-preservation, it takes massive courage to step away.

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

(Henry David Thoreau)