When we learn to face the fear we habitually avoid, we begin to awaken from a trance.
By pausing and accepting our experience, we free ourselves to respond to our circumstances in ways that bring genuine peace and happiness.

In a pause, we simply discontinue whatever we are doing. We become wholly present, attentive and, often, physically still.

Try it now: Stop reading and sit there, doing “no thing,” and simply notice what you experience.

Taking our hands off the controls and pausing lets us clearly see the wants and fears that drive us. We become conscious of how the feeling that something is missing or wrong keeps us leaning into the future. We can continue our futile attempt to manage our experience, or we can meet our vulnerability with the wisdom of what I call “radical acceptance.”

Tara Brach