Taking a pause for my cause 1


Sometimes you just have to take a break from the everyday demands.  Notice I said take a break not a vacation.  One doesn’t always have the time for an extended break, i.e., vacation.  But there are opportunities to take brief respites if you allow yourself to notice them.

Noticing:


Last Friday was a beautiful day in Boston.  After having a late, meandering lunch with a colleague at Toro in the South End, I decided to walk down Washington Street, stopping along the way to check out the wares in Boomerangs Special Edition (where I bought a pair of earrings) and stopping in Garage Sale (a high-end consignment shop where I couldn’t afford anything I wanted).  After making my way to Downtown Crossing, I decided to extend my walk to South Station.


I arrived there at 4:30 and the onslaught of office workers pouring forth from the financial district was in full swing but because it was Friday and the weather was balmy, people were smiling.  I smiled back.  I decided to sit on a bench outside and enjoy the breeze and people watch.


This pause of about an hour rejuvenated me.  I enjoyed seeing my fellow human beings in all their great diversity: ethnicities, sizes, ages, clothes, expressions, and gaits.  This sea of humanity coming and going, separate and connected, and I belonged to them and they belonged to me in those minutes.  I hopped on the Red Line home.


Once home, it occurred to me how important it is to seize moments for respite – planned holidays, meditation, walks, plays, dance, whatever. .. I later announced to my husband that I’d like for us to declare a computer and phone free time once-a-week where we can just be together without these electronic devices that tether us to them and not to each other.  We’ll see how that works out.


I hope you, too, take a pause for your cause whenever you can.  Who deserves it more than you?


 


 


 


 


 


About Candelaria Silva

Candelaria Silva-Collins is a marketing, community outreach and programming consultant; writer; and trainer/facilitator who lives in Boston, Massachusetts. She has designed and facilitated workshops on a wide variety of topics including communication, facilitation, job search skills, team building, and parenting issues. She currently coordinates the Community Membership Program of the Huntington Theatre Company. Her work as Director of ACT Roxbury was profiled in several publications, including The Creative Communities Builders Handbook. Candelaria’s children’s stories, short stories, essays and reviews have been published in local and national publications and she is an active blogger. Her publications include the booklets, Handling Rejection; Pushing through Shyness: Networking Tips when You’re Shy, Slow to Warm Up or Just don’t Feel you Belong; and Real Questions about Sex & Relationships for Teens: A Discussion Guide for Parents. She has served on the boards of Goddard College, Wheelock Family Theatre, Boston Foundation for Architecture, and Discover Roxbury. She is currently Chair, Designators of the Henderson Foundation.

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