Pause - and then Pivot

"Every pause is a field of transformation" - Richard Rudd

About a year ago, I took a big pause for a new cause. I’d been blogging for more than a decade about my own personal growth journey and it dawned on me that maybe it was time for something new. Admittedly, I launched the blog after a painful relationship breakup to hold myself accountable to work that clearly needed to be done. If you are familiar with that old line “It’s not you, it’s me” - well, that was my reality check.

It was as if I woke up one day and could see so clearly that my pattern of rescuing people and attempting to fix them was the foundational issue that could no longer be ignored.

So, when I left that draining relationship, I made a commitment to work on me. I had no idea that taking a giant step in the right direction would transform my life in such positive, beneficial ways. Yet, it did. I only wish that I had learned earlier in life to focus more on rescuing and fixing myself. The transformational work was my own to do.

About a year ago, I was busy tapping out yet another blog post when I suddenly stopped and asked myself — where are you going with all of this? Is there a much better way to impart knowledge, skills and tools for self-discovery? I stopped typing.

I took a pause for the cause.

My own personal transformational work had brought me to a new place. Something inside of me was saying “Enough with the blog already - it’s time to develop a dynamic resource center for others to pick and choose what works best for them.”

If you had told me that I would create a fresh, upbeat website over the course of the coming week inspired by the intuitive nudge, I would have probably laughed and said “get real”. But that is precisely what happened. It was a culmination point. A brand new trailhead for me to explore. I cannot explain where this came from - but I was compelled to name my new website, Trailheads and Pivot Points.

Instead of blogging about my own self-discovery, sharing snippets of my experiences and food for thought from the self-help books I read, I wanted others to have easy access to all kinds of knowledge, research, tools and skills to help them do their own self-discovery.

Once I launched my website, I found myself in a continual state of the psychological phenomenon known as the “frequency illusion”. I saw references for trailheads and self-exploration nature metaphors everywhere. Each time I heard or saw words that dovetailed into my theme of trailheads and pivot points, I felt like I was plugged into something larger than just me.

When Jim Collins published his book, What to Make of a Life, a few months ago and the cover seemed like a mirrored reflection of my website, I had to catch my breath. The synchronicity seemed surreal. His book is full of the same metaphors, mental images and reframes that I have built into my website, Trailheads and Pivot Points.

As a side note, I will share that a few years ago, I read The Creative Act by Rick Rubin. It is a book I refer to quite often. In his book and also in podcast conversations about his book with folks like Andrew Huberman and Malcolm Gladwell, Rick reminds us that when the universe wants us to know something, the ideas get tossed out far and wide - readily available to any of us to catch them, work with them in unique ways and share them with the world. This is precisely how we get songs that speak to us about our current social cultures; how we get art that becomes timeless and leaves indelible imprints on us. Elizabeth Gilbert one shared that she had an idea that came to her for a book, but didn’t heed it right away. She later discovered that someone else had written that very book. She laughed — this is exactly how it happens. The idea is universal - who runs with it is the one who is the most inspired to create a ripple effect in that very moment.

Well, dear friends, this morning I had one of those Rick Rubin moments. I was reading Contemplation by Richard Rudd and came across a contemplative technique that took my breath away: Pivoting

I knew at once that what I was learning in real time had to become a significant part of my website. After all, the word pivot is in the title. Now I have more meat on the bones thanks to Richard Rudd for what pivoting not only means, but how it can be transformational in our lives.

Richard reminds us that harvesting pauses throughout our day helps us to cultivate greater awareness, to be more present in the moment and pay close attention to what is unfolding. The pause is a slowing of time, giving us a little more space and breathing room, to assess and observe.

And today I read this:

“Perhaps you already see and feel the benefits of the first technique in a contemplative practice - that of pausing. If such a simple technique can have such profound effects in our life, we may wonder what might happen if we go a bit deeper into those gaps and pauses? Let us contemplate the following sentence: Every pause is a field of transformation.”

Richard then goes on to describe that the pause is the cornerstone of the second technique of contemplation - pivoting. He shares that pivoting is a practice derived from Eastern traditions; an act of will, that in the space of a single second, changes the direction of our energy from a downward arc to an upward spiral.

As I read about the technique of pivoting, I naturally paused. It’s remarkable isn’t it, how a single sentence can take you so deep and invite you to linger there?

At a surface level, I was using the term “pivot” much like a basketball player does. When in a split second, they pause and pivot. They can shoot the ball or pass it. An agile and keenly observant basketball player makes game-changing decisions in a split second. The more they practice pivoting, the more skillful they become.

Initially for my website, I wanted to use the pivot as that marker where we catch ourselves just before we act - often out of habit. Another place I wanted to use the pivot was when we stop to ask ourselves if we are really headed in the right direction in our lives? All too often, we have our head down and just plodding through each day without stopping to ask ourselves - I am working hard to get where I am going — but where the heck am I actually headed?

Today, I am dropping deep into another monumental pause - thanks to Richard Rudd. HIs words of wisdom are coming at just the right time when Jim Collins is urging us to build a working self-knowledge. Jim says it is imperative that we know ourselves well.

I do not think that it is by accident that the idea of pausing and pivoting is out in the universe right now. I think it something the universe has cast out far and wide - eager to see who runs with it and what we make of it. Richard Rudd felt called to write about with great care and put it in his latest book.

I am curious and fascinated about Richard’s concepts - and I will now play with it and find a way to plug it into my website.

Is it “frequency illusion” or is it the right time for something that would greatly benefit all of us in our own self-discovery and lifelong personal growth?