By Nils Yogananda
The gap betvin action
The gap between actions is not empty in the sense of absence—rather, it is a field of potential. It is where an impulse has not yet become action, where intention has not yet solidified into form. In that space there is choice, but also something deeper: a quiet witnessing that does nothing at all.
Every breath illustrates this in a concrete way. Inhalation—a brief moment of holding—exhalation. The pause is often unconscious, but when it is noticed, the entire experience changes. It is not the pause that moves things forward; it is the pause that carries both before and after.
One could say that life does not primarily arise in action, but in transition—in microscopic shifts where nothing is yet determined. Where identity, intention, and direction remain fluid. This is why the same action can carry entirely different qualities depending on whether it is born of stress, habit—or from a consciously noticed gap.
If all that is alive is formed from what arises between two gaps, then form is secondary. Relationships, words, movements, decisions become expressions—not the source. The source lies in the quiet zone where something is not yet “I,” “you,” or “the world,” but simply in the process of becoming.
Perhaps this is why presence does not feel like doing more, but like remaining a little longer in what is otherwise passed through too quickly. Not to analyze the gap, but to allow it to be experienced.
And perhaps freedom is not primarily the ability to choose an action—but the ability to recognize the pause where nothing yet demands a response.
/ Yogananda