Sunday last. A brief stop for a bowl of soup at The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle.
Absorbed in the drama and costumes, carried away by the poetry of the fine cascade of notes flying up from violin and oboe, the recitation brings unsought emotion and then…. And then the performance is over and for just a brief moment there is silence. A balloon of silence, a moment between ending and the audience responding. Hopefully with cries of appreciation and wild applause. But what of that pause, that pregnant pause so full of potential. A response is in the air.

Apart from the obvious pauses in ones day, week, year and life time there is a natural pause which gets missed in our breathless way of living. And that is the pause, if you bring your mind to it, between an out breath and an in breath. Just wait, pause, at the end of the out breath and with no effort at all the in-breath comes of itself. Sort of snaps in with ones ribs expanding back, sideways and in-front. Try a pregnant pause. Discover that balloon of silence. What comes out of ones mouth, words, might be changed in the process of pausing. Take care not to hold your breath though!