A Rock in My Sock

I know it’s happened to you, too. It’s so annoying. Your strolling along on a nice hike and you feel it. It’s tiny. You wiggle your toes and let your foot squirm trying to dislodge it from its place of irritation. I mean, you have to get to the mountain top after all. Who has time to stop? It’s just a little thing.

We all know how this story ends. If you don’t pause and take care of that tiny bit of hard earth, as miniscule as it may be, you will end up with a blister, a sore, or a downright limp. You might even have to turn back and not ever see the sunrise you were hoping to take in. It doesn’t make any sense, does it?! How can something so tiny cause such a huge issue? Or … is it an invitation?

I will never stop preaching the power of the pause. The pause is one of the most important moments you take. It’s a breath. A moment of stillness. A moment of healing. In this case, quite literally. It’s not complicated and I’m not going to belabor the point. Pause, sit. Take a sip of water. Take off your shoe and sock. Sink into the invitation to enter into stillness. And apply that method (literally or proverbially) in any area of your life when something starts to rub (irritate, distract, annoy, bother, rile) you the wrong way.

The power is in the pause and the sunrise is waiting…