I am always delighted to read what others have written. It is creative self-expression that offers a connection between writer and reader. Below is a piece that someone shared with me that I enjoyed reading. I would like to reciprocate the gesture and share it with all of you. Enjoy!

The Pause

A friend, she spoke of the pause,
The space between exhalation and inhalation,
A time of opportunity where a shift can take place.

I’ve been living in a pause, my pause.
Releasing a man, a familiar life, and the safety of mindless repetition.
It has not been without the expression of love.
There are rewards of deepening a mother’s love.
This is not my concern, rather it has been the unbalanced exchange of my partner’s love.
I am emptied.
My breath is spent.
Our relationship is exhausted of vitality.

I have released long enough.
I have lived in the uncomfortable space of stillness.
I have revisited my former life so often,
Wanting with all my heart to believe a different ending is possible.
It is all I have known, why wouldn’t I want to try again and again?
Each time I revisit my breath is weaker.
It becomes an inhalation of old, stale air, choking me of my life force.

My next breath is for me, new life, new inspiration.
My white knuckled grip is unclenched and I no longer need to revisit.
My heart will sing again.
The pause has served its purpose.
No matter the discomfort, I have let go.
I have been still and reflective, seeking to the depths of my soul answers which do not pertain to me, any longer.

The expansiveness I feel in life rebirths me.
I am freed from my idealism; a self imposed imprisonment perpetuating decades of unconsciously adopted roles.
Finally, I see the light.
This has been my longest pause, ever.
I have considered it my work.
It is the undefined space in which I have rested
And cried
And learned
And persevered
And listened
And found myself
And discovered that I have a choice.

My lungs can’t expand enough to hold this excitement, the anticipation of what will unfold.
There is no looking back to rebuild.
It is time to create.
My breath is refreshing.
Layers of old life have been lifted.
I am at peace.
Begin again.