About the 1:05 Pause

Pause alone, pause with friends, pause with the world

What is The Pause? “Pausing” is simply sitting (or standing or lying) wherever you are comfortable, with your eyes open or closed, for five minutes. While pausing you listen with simple awareness, see (if your eyes are open but don't stare) and sense--both externally and internally. Pausing does not require intense concentration. No internal visualization or focus is necessary. It is sufficient to simply sense and be aware—of yourself and your surroundings. Every day, at 1:05* in the afternoon, find a comfortable position and take a pause for five minutes. You and many others in your time zone will be pausing at the same time. And in time zones around the world, others will also be pausing at 1:05*  in their afternoon. *13:05 by the 24-hour clock

When you pause... STOP what you are doing and just sit...or stand...or lie. LOOK at the world around you. LISTEN to the sounds around you. FEEL, with all of your senses, the presence of the world around you. EXPERIENCE the totality of the world outside, and the quiet serenity of your world inside

Why pause at 1:05* ?   It is a curious quirk of the human memory that we often tend to remember appointments and other scheduled times that are not on the hour or half hour better than we remember those that are. In other words, we are more apt to remember 1:05 than we are 1:00. 1:05 was also chosen because for many people, it is a time just after lunch when it may be convenient to take a five-minute break. *13:05 in 24-hour time     Why pause at all? Because we all need a break. Even five short minutes gives our body a break. More importantly, it gives our psyche a break. Most of us are so busy, and our minds are so busy, that it is easier to run on automatic, to let our minds and bodies perform as they did yesterday, and the day before, and as they have for years. So we often act with mechanical actions and think mechanical thoughts and feel mechanical feelings--frequently with little or no awareness of the world around us, and our position within that world. Pausing does more than give us a rest. It provides the opportunity for senses to surface that we do not normally use. Our body can sense objects and movements around it. Our eyes can notice objects that we seldom have time to notice. Our ears can hear sounds that we are usually too busy to listen to. Our minds can think original ideas that we seldom have time to think. And we can be open to feelings that we are seldom open to receiving. Pausing can allow our cognitive, analytical mind to take a break. Just as you've likely often “slept on” a problem and come up with a solution in the morning, pausing allows a brief respite from thinking so that you can simply be aware. Out of that awareness can arise new ideas, new answers, new appreciations of the world around you. Pausing can be seen as a very brief form of meditation. It is a meditation on your senses and on the external world that those senses perceive. It is a meditative rest. It is a time to escape from responsibilities, from worries, from concerns, from the past, from the future. It is a time to just...be.

Why pause at a certain time?  When a number of people come together to do any activity there is a synergistic effect. That is, the energy produced is more than the sum total of each individual energy. It is a multiple. The more the better. Have you ever been to a sports event, concert or political demonstration with tens of thousands of people? If so, you know what it feels like.   The interesting thing is that humans do not have to be together to generate such energy. We are all connected. Even though the connection with people all over the world doing the same thing at the same time may be subtle, it still exists. It still produces the same magnified effect as together in a crowd.  In short, the more people doing The Pause at the same time, the more effective it is for each of us.   Because there are 24 separate time zones around the world, 1:05 will only occur at the same instant (not clock time) for people in 1/24th of the world. We chose not to use a rigid time (1:05 Pacific Standard Time, 10:05 Central European Time, 6:05 Japan Standard Time and so on) because it would mean many people having to pause in the middle of the night in many regions of the planet. By asking people to pause at 1:05 pm in their own time zone, the energy of The Pause will travel in a wave around the planet.   Remember also, that if 1:05 is an inconvenient time for you, pause at another time. What is most important is that you pause. The group energy is secondary.   We also encourage you, if you wish, to additionally pause at other times throughout the day, at convenient times of your own choice. However, including the 1:05 Pause in your day will establish a routine and put you in synch with others pausing in your time zone at the same time, and in concert with the Wave of Pausing as it moves around the world at the speed of global time.   What do I do while I pause? (long version) The simple answer is nothing. But the simple can perhaps take time to achieve. Pausing is a skill you will enhance over time. Initially, use all your senses to perceive your surroundings and everything within those surroundings. Most of us are visually focused, giving little attention to what we hear. So, we suggest that at times while pausing you close your eyes, and simply listen. Listen to the sounds around you. At first, try to identify the sounds you hear and their source. Then, as an experiment, try to not identify the sounds but simply hear them as sounds, not the sounds of something in particular. This is easier said that done, but worth trying. Finally, just listen, with no judgment. There are intriguing reasons for truly listening to sound. Renown media expert of the 1960s Marshall McLuhan stated that the Roman definition of a healthy natural state--sensus communis—was when “all the senses, such as seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touch, were translated equally into each other.” He cautioned that the emphasis on the visual placed the emphasis on the analytical, quantitative left brain to the detriment of the intuitive, qualitative right brain.  As McLuhan said, “Western man thinks with only one part of his brain and starves the rest of it. By neglecting ear culture, which is too diffuse for the categorical hierarchies of the left side of the brain, he has locked himself into a position where only linear conceptualization is acceptable.” The first step to restoring full access to the right brain and its qualities   may be by restoring our ability to truly listen to our sonic environment. In short, we favor our eyes and neglect our ears. It's time to restore the balance. But mostly, when you pause, use all your senses, simultaneously if you can, and simply feel the presence and see the presence and hear the presence of the world around you, as you remain peaceful and quiet internally. Pausing is a way to separate yourself from the frenetic activity of the world around you. Yet, paradoxically, it is also a way to put yourself in complete contact with the world around you.  You not only pause, you are The Pause.