Today I experienced the power of STOP.

Lately I’ve had to deal with a situation where opposing views started to become evident, things seemed unfair and mentalities got narrow, and we were suddenly immersed in a scenario that I like to call “reason fights reason and reason proves wrong to reason.” Anger and frustration kicked in, leading soon after to unwanted consequences for all people and relationships involved.

I felt the pull to stop and I was able to easily let go of my need to feed the discussion any further – which was already turning into an argument. I felt how the other person thanked me deeply for that. We both surrendered and it felt great in our bodies and also in the space we were sharing.

I don´t always choose to stop and I´ve seen many people that find it difficult too, as for example, in our day to day life: 

• When we open our eyes in the morning, we don´t really stop before jumping out of bed. There is already a cascade of thoughts rushing us through our day ahead.

• When we greet others, we rarely stop to connect to them by looking in their eyes and having a feel for who they are.

• During busy days we don`t even stop to eat properly, but do so in anxiousness and in a rush.

• We don´t stop between activities or when we feel tired because there is always so much to do next and we need to get everything done.

• We get annoyed with other people that walk slower, or who are taking longer to pay in the queue. We rarely stop our irritation and keep projecting frustration onto their backs.

• We don´t stop arguing because we don´t want people to take us for fools, and we have a need to put forward our point, avoiding at all cost the possibility of being hurt or humiliated.

• We act in debilitating and sabotaging ways because we are unable to stop our negative thoughts and criticism.

The list goes on and we live in this non-stop vicious cycle of doing and demonstrating that we all have a place in this world through motion, being right and proving our worth through achieving and succeeding.

No wonder why, after so much motion, drive to attain, need to compete and defend our hurts, we people find it difficult to stop.

We are definitely immersed in a momentum that we have constantly fed with impetus, push, drive, force and attack.

• Are we so addicted to the high we get from drama and upheaval?

• Is our need to always sort things out first so insidious, no matter what state of being we are in?

• Why do we want to make sure people never take us wrong or blame us; why do we need to get our point across and have the last word?

• Could it be that on a deeper level we are invested in a goal outside of us, as a way to not feel the amount of self-loathing we carry and how little appreciation we have for ourselves for just being who we are?

Why is it that we find it so hard to surrender and become humble, and much easier to be pushy and disputatious? Why is it that we find it almost impossible and even disempowering to stop?

In my personal experience for example, many times I have found it almost impossible to stop and just recently I have accepted that one of my most painful characteristics was to be `driven´. It has been a way of doing things and going through life in total disregard of my body and others. It has been a poison to my body, and this drive has spoiled several new and old relationships. It has achieved nothing but ephemeral victories that have left me isolated, deeply anxious and disconnected.

Thanks to Serge Benhayon I have been able to introduce a very supportive quality as an antidote to this way of being, and that is gentleness. Gentleness as a bridge to find, feel, accept and experience my beautiful stillness within.

It is this quality that is really missing in today´s society because we don´t really appreciate stillness as much as motion, so we haven´t created that bridge and connection to that place within us – and mainly because we feel incapable to stop.

Why not start by considering the possibility that ‘to stop’ is actually not as difficult as it seems? STOP is a simple, resounding, punchy and powerful expression to bear in mind. It can be both a firm and gentle choice we can make wherever, whenever, as it has no prior requirements, no need to prove anything first or go through struggle, or even use strong will, fall into humiliation, or feel guilty.

If we only experienced more often how deeply empowering, corrective and simple it really is, many conflicts, separations, illnesses, arguments, and spoiled relationships could all be avoided, just by choosing ‘stop’ in an instant and pulling back. It is the door to surrendering which gives us the immediate possibility to feel gentleness in our bodies again.

The more we try it and choose to stop again and again, the more we will get to see the illusion we have created when trying to find our identity, worth and salvation in motion and turmoil. We all come from stillness, harmony and love, and it gets quite easy with time to stop, especially when we start realising that the entire universe really supports us to STOP!

I love the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom brought by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. With deep appreciation and joy for these teachings.

By Luz Helena Hincapié, Bogotá, Colombia

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