Embracing the Pause: Transforming the Weight of Waiting into a Window for Growth

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:23

Hey there. So I've got something for you to consider today. It's really just one question. I have just one question for you what are you waiting for? I'm going to ask again what are you waiting for? This isn't really meant as a challenge, but rather a check-in to see how much energy you are expending, waiting for things you can't control, or waiting for things that you are withholding. As you consider this question, I want you to check in with the different ways that waiting shows up for you.

Speaker 1: 1:13

There's a daily waiting process that perhaps you're unaware of. For instance, how many times have you found yourself waiting so far today? Waiting for the kettle to boil, waiting for your energy to kick in, waiting for inspiration to strike, waiting for the weather to improve. This daily waiting has the potential to influence our moods and wastes more of our current energy than you can imagine, by dismissing what is and staying in limbo until what might be. This inability to see and to experience what is in front of us right now, in the present moment, is the exact opposite of what mindfulness is. Waiting is wrapped up in expectations and holds us hostage of our own lives. It quite literally means stay where one is or delay action until a particular time or until something else happens. It's dependent. It's dependent.

Speaker 1: 2:30

I think it'd be pretty fair to say that we all experience frustration when we are being asked or, worse yet, told to wait, whether it's standing in a line or waiting for the traffic light to change. Waiting stands between us and what we're trying to do. I get it, but here's the thing. There are so many opportunities to look at these instances beyond feeling angry or resentful or helpless. We can convert them. It's created space. These are moments that have been carved out for us, that we hadn't planned on. If we give in to filling those with frustration and negative energy, then what of the possibility we're letting go of? I read a statistic today that the average person, throughout their lifetime, spends five years waiting in lines and queues. When we spend time reacting to things that are out of our control, like lines and queues, we are sabotaging our own potential to thrive and, quite frankly, simply wasting valuable time.

Speaker 1: 3:44

So when you're faced with a situation where you are required to wait, why not have a list of things that you get to do when the inevitable waiting game begins, when your train is delayed or you're in a traffic jam, why not use that as a cue to choose something from that list and enjoy the created space. It might be listening to a favorite podcast or reading a chapter of that new book. Maybe it's taking time to reach out to a friend or a family member, or maybe you can simply take a deep breath and open your eyes and look for something new that you've never noticed before in your surroundings. Invest in what you can control. Don't spend valuable energy worrying about the things that you can't.

Speaker 1: 4:35

And then there's the waiting that we do that is tied up in hope. Maybe it's waiting for an answer or a phone call or a return email or a call back, a test result. There's no point in waiting around hoping someone will call you or hoping that someone will like you or approve of you or hire you. What you can do is you can trust that you have done your best, because only you can control that. My friends, we give our power over to others when we invest so much in the hope. That is dependent on what others think or say or do. And that time that we spend waiting, man, think of all the energy that we've spent there.

Speaker 1: 5:34

Okay, so now we're going to talk about the waiting that we impose on ourselves, the waiting that gets between us and who we want to be, the self-imposed waiting. Ironically, this is the waiting that is in our control, and it is so insidious. This kind of thinking is so dangerous. Waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting until the time is right, waiting until things change, waiting until you're ready how many of us have felt this way? Where in your life are you waiting? What are you waiting for? Why are you withholding? How will you know? There's no time like the present, my friends. So advance, go, carry on move.

Speaker 1: 6:46

There's a distinction that is worth considering between waiting, which is stagnant and tethered to the expectations of what might be, and patience, which is about faith, faith in ourselves, faith in moving forward imperfectly, by doing the very best we can in each moment. Life is for the living. I can't wait to see what you'll do next. In the words of Barack Obama, change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. I'm Lisa Hopkins. Stay safe and healthy, everyone, and remember to live in the moment.