"Instantaneous decisions are not in our best interest and can lead to bad outcomes. Waiting gives you the opportunity to learn more about the situation at hand and to process it in a more nuanced way." — Frank Partnoy

You know when you get an emotionally charged email or phone call that causes your heart to race and you feel compelled to respond immediately ? You want to say something — now. Well, don't. Pause. Take 10 breaths before hitting send on your computer. Consider sleeping on it before opening your mouth. Take the time to assess what is going on. Why are you so triggered? How can you stay grounded and respond without reacting? Make sure you understand where the other person is coming from. Don't personalize it. Most things have nothing to do with us. Remember that the only person you can change is you. Once calm and centered, decide if you need or want to take action. At the end of the day, you don't want to make a situation worse and have to apologize for your behavior at a later date.

"That the birds of worry and care fly above your head, this you cannot change. But that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent." — Chinese proverb

Ever find yourself ruminating about something, perhaps something you fear happening in the future or something you fret that happened in the past? Stop denying the rumination. Instead of suppressing or denying  the thoughts, designate 15 or 20 minutes per day to pure and unadulterated rumination. Imagine every possible scenario, every possible outcome and then when the allotted time is up, cease permitting such thoughts in your mind. If you find your mind returning to the ruminations, gently remind yourself that you already had time to obsess so it's done with and over until the following day.

"The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out. Every mind is a building filled with archaic furniture. Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it." — Dee Hock

We may be adults, but we still carry wounds from the past. They can rear their ugly heads in strange and unexpected ways. Take the time to address these stubborn habits and patterns so they don't rule your life now and in the future. 

Make a list of your old ideas (ways you think of yourself, like, "I am dumb"). Make another list of your grosser handicaps (labels, not specific behaviors, like critical and self-centered). Then make a list of your more specific harmful behaviors (like, you talk negatively about person A to person B) associated with the grosser handicaps. 

"Now we need more action, without which we find that 'Faith without works is dead.'" — "Alcoholics Anonymous"

If we believe in some kind of Higher Power, whether we call it God, Goddess, Spirit, Universe or Higher Power, we may expect that being or entity to take away all of our troubles while we rest on our laurels. But we need to take action (although sometimes that is in the form of in-action) while we let go of the results. For example, we cannot keep stuffing our face with chocolate while asking a Higher Power to remove an addiction to chocolate. We need to first put that chocolate down and then ask for help. It is in that space that miracles can happen.

"Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows, by itself." — Matsuo Bashō

We are such a busy society, running from activity to event to commitment, making decisions on a whim, talking without much thought. But at times we feel perplexed about what to do or feel like we are just moving too fast. Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing. This is not a pass to not doing something ever, it's just about not doing something right now. Allow yourself the time to pause. Generally things aren't as pressing as we make them out to be. Relax, breathe, give yourself some space, then make a mindful decision.