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July-September, 2020

What Happens When I Pause for LOVE?

by Mary Lenihan, O.M.C., Founder of PauseForInspiration.org

(Receive free PAUSE for LOVE cards by emailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address))

While making lunch I found myself watching the news of all of the protests around the U.S. following the death of George Floyd in police custody. People yelling at one another, screaming, beating on each other — a mad crowd of forgetting. Accomplishing nothing.

I decided to go through the Pause For LOVE practice card while watching the screen and listening to the voices. It begins with PAUSE — I say aloud, “There is a LOVE that loves me” and immediately I feel less anxious. I realize that even amid these appearances, there is a LOVE that is loving all of the police and protesters and me.

“No matter what” is the next line of the practice. Yes, even amid chaos, LOVE is loving. Nothing or no one can undo This LOVE.

“Always ~ Unwavering ~ Forever” is the last line of PAUSE. It becomes obvious to me that what I am observing is happening in time and space, not in eternity. What happens in time and space is fickle and breeds discontentment, whereas this No Matter What, LOVE is safe and tender. This Unwavering LOVE is content, and I am content in it.

Okay, this all sounds right, but what about this current human experience? How do we extend healing? So, now I decide to begin the second section of the Pause For LOVE Practice, RECEIVE.

Watching the violence made it hard for me to breathe, so I say the first line aloud, “With this breath I receive This LOVE.” I decide not to ignore the reality of LOVE just because something else appearing before my eyes gets my attention. It follows “With this breath I let This LOVE ~ love me.” In saying this, I feel without question LOVE is enfolding all those on the news.

Everyone of us is being loved. I continue with, “I receive This LOVE” and as I receive, I refuse to buy into the fear that I can so easily be drawn into as if I must add some fear too, or I will be out of step with the world, and then what? I voice “I let This LOVE ~ love me,” still with full eyes on the TV screen.

It was the only way I could catch a glimpse of the circumstances and stay informed without bolting into anger, grievances, judgment, and pain. And, I do want to be informed of the transgressions that arise from believing that fear is stronger than LOVE. I do want to be aware of the darkness so I can choose to Pause For LOVE and let the light of LOVE dispel the darkness.

In letting LOVE ~ love me, I notice I am less interested in watching the TV screen. I keep hearing journalists and those they interview use the word “violence” and that word conjures up feelings, thoughts and images around attacking and being attacked.

Imagine if we used “lack of LOVE” or “obstacles to the awareness of LOVE’s presence”? How different the newscast would be, how transforming our conversations. Now we would be focusing on increasing awareness that one’s experience of having been abandoned by LOVE is the root cause and its solution is not to abandon one another.

When I Pause For LOVE, I am not only speaking of LOVE, but practicing LOVE instead of practicing defensiveness, instead of practicing violence. I need not ignore the violence or be deaf to the outcry. As I Pause For LOVE, I see the misperceptions, can have them corrected, and respond with LOVE. Love heals what I thought could not be healed; loves what I thought could not be loved.

LOVE MYSELF. This is the third section of the practice. “In this moment, right now, what does LOVE want to share with me”? The first words that enter my mind are clearly from the ego thought system — the part of my mind in fear — I hear, “You don’t matter.” I say to myself, “I know that’s not from LOVE.”

Okay, now that I recognize ego’s unawareness of LOVE and step back, what does LOVE want to share with me? Eyes on the police cars beaten up and bashed in, police striking people with their batons, protesters screaming in their faces, one woman bent over in pain having been struck, a man being handcuffed and arrested, etc. I hear “Be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.”

Do I really believe that or is that just a feel-good thing I read and recite? Do I believe truly that LOVE has already overcome the world and is simply waiting for our acceptance? I don’t think I do! Not always anyway. Herein enters the Pause For LOVE practice because it moves me from mistakenly believing that unawareness of LOVE is stronger than awareness of LOVE, to having a tangible, very real inner experience that LOVE overcomes all that is not-LOVE. That LOVE is all there is. Whether I believe it or not. In fact, it has already happened. I need only put my trust in LOVE consistently!

LOVE OTHERS. The fourth and last step of the Pause For LOVE practice. I say quietly within, “In this breath, as I let LOVE truly love me, I will truly love others.” The emphasis here on truly. Now as I look upon the darkness, I love these people. My mind quiets and I turn off the TV.

So, is that it? Is there action I need to take beyond loving these people? Love is the greatest action. Does this “inner action” now require an “outer action”? The inner action is outer action as the seeming two are not separate. As I experience LOVE within, I am a more loving person; as I love, I am awakened to This Inner Present LOVE.

I have witnessed people, circumstances and myself move from fear to LOVE right before my eyes simply as I choose to Pause, Receive, Love Myself and Love Others. It is so much simpler than trying to control ego thoughts. So much more loving. And it is LOVE that illuminates the darkness. Not my willpower, but my willingness.

When I Pause For LOVE, I am loving myself and loving others in that moment, and this is the greatest action one can take. When I Pause For LOVE, I often find that I am moved to speak and act out of love. Ego thoughts I was trying to control fall away. I love. My words are different, my tone of voice, how I proceed with a conversation or engage in an activity; perceptions shift toward peace; simple ideas enter my mind on how I can be truly helpful; creativity flows; energy is renewed, and my body eases.

Writing this article to share the Pause For LOVE practice is a perfect example of taking helpful inner—outer action. I have no doubt that Inspiration will continue to supply more ways that I can be a healing expression of This LOVE in the world. “With this breath we receive This LOVE. With this breath we let LOVE ~ love us.”