Equinox Practice - Cultivating Balance through Threshold Pauses

Have you found yourself feeling the impulse to say,

• “Can I have a moment?”
• “Give me a second?”
• “I need to pause and reflect.”

Phrases or requests like these are invitations from our Heart and Soul to seek pause and check in so that you can both be within yourself and others rooted in inner balance rather than reacting from habitual protective programs. 

The problem is, even if we do give ourselves a moment to pause most of the time we are skipping the step of contemplative reflection about what is up in that moment, so instead of responding from a balanced place after the pause, we are right back in the old grove of reaction losing the full healing and empowerment of these invitations. 

Take a moment and really lean into a moment where you felt an invitation like this bubble up in you. 

Most likely in those moments, some Parts of you were feeling:

• Your preconceived plans or choices are struggling to match, meet, or work with what is actually happening in that moment, 
• You were being asked to work with new information or a soul level insight/guidance that was challenging the status quo,
• Or the realization that the events of that moment are going to have ripples that will create larger changes that will collide with your plans and expectations. 

The guidance to pause and tune in is our Heart and Soul’s way of helping us become aware that we have an opportunity to either create more balance within ourselves or another or if we stay on automatic response mode our well-meaning, well-worn pathways of problem-solving based on logic and reason are going to take us down a wrong road faster. Pushing back and drowning out our inner guidance. 

A Personal Experience of Ignoring Inner Guidance 

Here is an example of this that just happened to me.  

I was walking up to the barn to do pm feeding and as I entered the barn my eye looked at the rain sheets that were hung up. I had a thought, “Put those on the old guys tonight.”  I paused at the sheets and my logical brain chimed in. “That’s a great idea for tomorrow night because that is when it is scheduled to rain. Tonight is scheduled as all clear this evening and for tomorrow morning. You can put the sheets on at lunchtime tomorrow no worries.” I silently agreed with my logical part and moved on. I’m a little embarrassed to say my Heart and Soul tried at least 3 more times than I consciously know to get my attention toward the sheets. Each time I mentally repeated back - noted I’ll do that tomorrow. 

When I woke up this morning it was already set in with a light rain that had them too wet to put their sheets on now without drying them out first. While it wasn’t super cold and the old guys will be fine overall, it isn’t idea.

When I realize that I have blown past guidance I don’t beat myself up, instead, it is a que to me that I’m out of balance somewhere and it would be wise for me to reflection on what was happening that caused me to blow past my guidance, especially because I know that guidance is not based in logic.

As I tuned in I quickly found a protective part of me that was stressed and worried about all the different work tasks, personal tasks, and so on of my to-do list. It viewed the 3 mins it would take to put the sheets on as a threat to my own ability to bring those pressures to a close. And it used the savvy tactic of logic to do it!  

Ironically I teach a whole approach to avoiding tricky traps like this through a simple practice I call “Threshold Pauses.” 

Threshold Pauses are intentional short pauses and alignment checks that I invite clients to enter into in between moving from either “space” to “space” or task from task. 

They are pretty simple.

1. Mentally Close out and reflect - As you close out from one block of time be that work, personal, or recreational, take a moment and tune in to see if any parts of you are holding on to something and what is attached with that. Honor that part, and give it your plan for coming back to their concern - such as writing down a punch-list of outstanding to dos. 
2. Emotional check in - are there parts of you that have a high emotional charge with any experiences associated with what happened or didn’t happen in the space that you are closing out. If you have time to compassionately inquire more about that response, great do it, if not making a note of it and make a commitment of when you are going to circle back to do a deeper level of reflection on that charge and the protective or wounded part of you it is associated with. 
3. And intention setting - what space or connection are you about to move into and how / who do you want to be in that space. Inviting your system to call forward those energies to be with you. 

So for example, as I turned off my laptop and was walking up the hill, instead of continuing on a running to-do list and mentally writing my reply to the emails I needed to respond to, I could have practiced a threshold pause. I could have taken a few moments to write down what I need to do with my next work block of time list. Honored the worried parts of me that want to clone myself but can’t. And invite them to remember that even though I feel alone to climb this mountain I’m not - to welcome support energetically, and invite support where appropriate externally, and believing in my ability to walk through the to-dos.

Next, invite myself to be present with my own body and breath as I walked to the barn, maybe do a little 5 senses check in, and remind myself I have the ability to connect and be with the horses and donkeys, not just “feed” them but be with them fully in that 15 minute window. From that place I would have easily heard and seen the logical protective voice, smiled at it and let it know it is okay, no harm in putting them on and we are good, we will work through our punch list during our next block of time and see how far we get.

Threshold check-ins can take as little as 90 secs, three rounds of breaths, or it can take up to 3-5 minutes with writing down key bullet points to help my system feel seen, felt, and heard. 

Let’s Practice

This week I invite you to join me in calling on equinox energy to help remind our systems that even in the different busy rhythms of our day to take mindful pauses or threshold check-ins: 

I set the intention to give myself the gift of space and reflection on how I want to leave one “space” and enter the next. 

I ask for Reiki energy to help guide my Attention to moments when:

• I can connect with my heart and soul for insights and guidance as to what is happening within me as I close out one activity and open to the next.

• I have a hidden protective program and their voice speaking in my head so that I can better understand what and who those thoughts are linked to.

• My system is inviting me to pause and remember who and how I want to be with myself and others as I move forward into the next moment. 

Invite the awareness you gain from those moments to guide me in engaging with myself and others with more choice and therefore acting in alignment with our true self and not our unconscious fears and worries spurring us on without our knowledge. 

And so it is.

I also recorded a short energy work practice based on the five elements model in episode 32 of Soulful Practice Podcast that matches this practice which you might find incredibly helpful to partner with this intention. You can watch the episode on YouTube or Spotify.

Offering light, love, and JOY!
Michelle