A Perspective on Interludes, Rectitude and Fortitude

Discoveries Within the In Between

Ideas often come when you’re busy creating for you’re in the flow of creativity. But they also come in the pauses and breaks that refresh… in the interludes of life.

With all our consistent encouraging “you can do it” messages and articles, it’s important to put things in perspective. You must ever assess according to the ebb and flow of your life, and to recognize that any generalized advice has to be adjusted according to you and your season of life.

Are you in the beginning, middle, end or interludes of your project or your life? Your next most important steps may well be different than that of your spouse or best friend.

Celebrate and honor each “act” on your stage of life accordingly.

What’s important is to realize that we’re all capable of more flow than we may know, and we discover that by pushing through the hard stuff. But equally true is the importance of R and R, for the flow is fed by the ebbs and eddies too… those interludes of quiet amidst the busyness.

A delightful discovery within the flow of the day inspired this short but profound reminder. At least I found simple profundity in the midst of it, which perfectly illustrated the value and benefit of interludes.

See unavoidable interruptions as interludes of opportunity.

It’s the pauses… that’s where the music resides.
~Arthur Rubinstein, pianist & composer, 1887-1982

The Day is the Way, Come What May

In another article on how what you focus on grows, a community member, Lynn Hundley, shared a wonderful discovery about her derailed day, which is summed up in her quoted comment here.

The detours—and hijackings—in our lives, aren’t detours on the path. They are the path. It’s not interruptions in the day. They are the day.
~Lynne Hundley, artist

Interludes Over Interruptions

It’s SO EASY in today’s world of rapid proliferation of information, ideas and opportunities, to become overwhelmed with all there is to do. It’s hard enough just to keep up with (ahem!) email, let alone clearing the “desktops” of computer, pads, phone, the actual desk (and other surfaces). And then what if something breaks or stops working? That can pile frustration on top of irritation.

Many baby boomers and seniors are especially susceptible to heightened frustration over technology. The same mother who patiently helped me untangle my crochet yarn or embroidery thread years ago, is frustrated in an instant with a smartphone. It’s a new language that she doesn’t understand and “speaks” too fast and yet it’s needed for navigating life in this new millenia.

Embrace the Adventure

For these frustrations we can don the Sherlock hat and simply look at it as a mystery or puzzle to solve. Rub hands together — there’s a tremendous difference in a brisk, eager rubbing together of hands in anticipation —versus the wringing of hands. Don a childlike attitude of eager discovery and embrace the adventure in the adversity. The game’s afoot!

We are the authors of our story and can make the most of any unintended plot twist.

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.
~Gilbert Keith Chesterton, English writer, philosopher, 1874-1936

Interludes create a space of grace that help us reflect on the way for the day, and the cause within the pause.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder iCreateDaily.com®

Discoveries in the Interludes

Yesterday my usual productive morning plan was sidetracked into a couple hours of email tech support. Then the problem returned, and overflowed into the evening. Then there was another few hours on tech support and computer updates and resets the following day.

One of my least favorite things is to have a busy morning derailed for mornings are my most productive time of day. But alas, that’s what happened. I knew that to get irritated or frustrated would help nothing, and in fact it would just make the down time worse.

So what I do is remember to APPRECIATE the fact that we have access to this incredible technology, AND that it’s amazing that it works most of the time. Then, while on the support call to consider if there’s anything I can do to help make that person’s day better by being friendly, upbeat, positive and personable during the call.

Now… I’m suddenly outside of the issue… just a patient observer, in wonderment at how any of it works at all. And I’m in my heart thinking about contributing to another human being.

OH! And it worked!

We reframe our game plan in the interlude between what was to be and what is.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder iCreateDaily.com®

The Good is a Choice

When we parted, the customer support person’s smiling voice matched mine. Though she was also already very helpful, I could tell that she too was more cheerful than when we started. Mission accomplished! All of that was vastly more important in the big picture in my mind than any issue I needed to resolve.

Though I submitted a favorable customer service feedback form on her, I’ll probably never see or speak with her again. But what matters is the positive energy created and sent out into the world. Positivity generated from goodwill and intention via positive intervention.

Consider an Alternate Scenario

If I had been frustrated and terse, it’s probable that my energy would have negatively impacted her morning, and possibly bled into her interactions with the next customer. Me… my energy can set a cascade of negativity in motion. Or… it can elevate any circumstance. We can always find the good in the bad.

Make no mistake, positivity is a super power, and we have that power any time of any day.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder iCreateDaily.com®

A Global Interlude Called Covid-19

The year of 2020, that began so welcomed and eagerly anticipated by so many, has turned into an extended global interlude that has caused the pause of everything, everywhere for everyone.

Never in the history of humanity has there been such an event… such a global interlude. Perhaps humanity needed this, individually and collectively to help us reorient to gratitude for the blessing we do have, and perspectives of appreciation for what we’ve lost.

Beyond that, it has given virtually every adult and young adult, an interlude interruption to the status quo, which is often a mindless barreling toward oblivion. In other words, few people plan, set and track goals. Now might be a good time to start. For one thing is proven: those who set, work and track goals are vastly more likely to achieve them. .

See this extended interlude as a time for reflection, assessment and refreshing of your goals and dreams. We’re all having to reach deep within to find the fortitude to proceed with hope and optimism, versus fear and anxiety.

An interlude is an intervening episode, period, or space, and sometimes it’s an intervention.

Unavoidable interruptions in the flow of life, such as with Covid-19, create interludes for deep reflection.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder iCreateDaily.com®

Imbue the Interlude With Rectitude

Rectitude is moral virtue and rightness of conduct. For those interludes in life, whether intentionally created or unexpectedly inserted into our day, we can seize those as an opportunity to elevate our state of mind and our circumstance.

So whenever you find yourself in that stressful place of tension and frustration, remember to pause. Immerse in positive, inspiring content and sources. Breathe, meditate, walk, dance, sing… to contribute and to take a break that refreshes and restores.

A positive attitude and rectitude during this Covid-19 interlude of solitude will imbue gratitude and fortitude for the multitude of blessings still present.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder iCreateDaily.com®

Fortitude Through the Interlude

Nothing lasts forever. Same for any struggle. Some are longer than others, but ever shall we get to the next act. From the interlude of grace and perspective, we can reorient to the next most important thing and purposefully proceed.

Man is more himself, man is more manlike, when joy is the fundamental thing in him, and grief the superficial. Melancholy should be an innocent interlude, a tender and fugitive frame of mind; praise should be the permanent pulsation of the soul.
~Gilbert Keith Chesterton, English writer, philosopher, 1874-1936

Feature image credit: Photo by Austrian National Library on Unsplash

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
~Viktor Frankl, Nazi Germany prisoner, author-Man’s Search for Meaning, 1905-1997