I love this prompt. I first heard it from Claire Alexander at a 5 Rhythms Improv Dance class. As we moved to the music, and found ourselves repeating a pattern over and over we could just stop. And begin. Again.

In dance this process is visible and obvious. I feel the music. My body moves to the beat. Let’s say I’m making a circle with my right arm and a boom, tap with my foot. I might keep that pattern going for a while, as long as the music keeps playing that pattern. Maybe the shapes I make with my body will evolve into something else. Maybe the circle becomes a figure eight and the foot tap becomes a bigger knee bend foot stomp. Maybe I keep that going and it’s fun and feels good. Maybe I keep that going and am bored with it but don’t know what else to do.

Begin again, as a prompt gives me permission to just stop. To not have to have a pattern at all. Begin again means I don’t care if the music keeps going I can start again from scratch. I pause. I watch. I wonder: what new thing will emerge now?

How often do we keep doing something just because we forget that we can begin again?

Begin again is the invitation to stop being a hamster on a wheel.
It’s the antidote to going nowhere fast.
Sometimes we keep doing something because we think we should or we think we have to. Is that true?
What if you don’t have to scrap everything, you can just stop. Listen. Feel the rhythm and see what happens next.

The New Year is an obvious time to begin again. But I invite you to use this prompt to interrupt yourself at any time. In fact, you might want to remember this prompt a few weeks from now. Perhaps it’s a moment of self-doubt. Or perhaps you’re in the middle of a difficult conversation. What if you gave yourself (or someone else) permission to stop? Take a breath. And begin again.

How to begin again
At any time (particularly when you feel stuck or not in the flow)

Allow yourself to stop what you’re doing.
If it’s during a conversation, you might say, “Do you mind if we pause for a moment?” (they’ll likely appreciate this, particularly if you are butting heads or spinning your wheels)

Get really still. More still.
And listen.

Feel your breath move in and out.
Feel the rhythm, the beating of your heart.

What does the rhythm need now?
How does it move you?

As leaders it’s easy to fall into a pattern of reacting and responding to whatever comes our way, particularly in times of stress. Begin again cultivates the space to stop briefly and resume from a more conscious, deliberate place.