The Power Of Pause

Doesn’t it seem like there is noise and chaos everywhere? The truth is that the world is not going to slow down and get less noisy simply because you want it to. If you’re really interested in feeling your best and performing your best you’re going to want to understand how to best recover. You have to commit to taking time to pause.

In this podcast you'll learn how taking a proper break can settle you in a matter of minutes and the two types of noise and two types of silence to consider when planning your next pause. Listen until the end for a short guided meditation practice.

Transcript

Hey everyone,

Thank you so much for joining me.

I want to talk to you today about the power of pause.

The power of pausing throughout the day and how it can help you manage your energy and maintain stability.

I hope that sounds good.

Let's dive right in.

We are starving for silence in our culture.

Doesn't it seem like sometimes that there is noise absolutely everywhere?

The truth is that the world is not going to get less noisy simply because you want it to.

You're going to have to commit to taking time in silence.

I've grown to appreciate that silence truly is golden.

It settles me,

It steadies me in a matter of minutes and I didn't always feel this way.

I used to surround myself with noise.

I actually grew up in a pretty noisy household.

A bunch of Italians,

You know,

Screaming and yacking all the time.

But seriously,

I'd fall asleep with the television blaring,

My little black and white.

I'd have pop music playing in my car and home and I'd talk,

Talk,

Talk,

You know,

Until my throat was sore and is sore because my throat is always kind of sore anyway.

But now I seek silence every day and I really encourage you to do the same.

The power of pausing is well researched.

Not only does pausing promote relaxation,

But taking a break from noise and all the overdoing and the listening and the processing also is refreshing and it's re-energizing.

When we take time to just be still and quiet,

It gives our nervous system a chance to regain balance and coherence.

Our systems are made to be stable,

To be stressed when necessary,

But not to be stressed chronically.

And so by pausing throughout the day,

It enables us to recoup some of that energy that we expend on senseless noise and information processing.

Tony Schwartz,

Who is the best-selling author of Full Engagement,

He's also the CEO of The Energy Project.

He wrote that human beings perform best and are most productive when they alternate between periods of intense focus and intermittent renewal.

So how are you renewing?

What do you do during the day that is renewing?

Or are you just going full steam ahead from the time you wake up to the time you crash?

I mean that's a really an honest question.

How do I rest and renew,

Re-energize,

Recharge during the day?

It's easy to say,

You know,

I turn my phone off or I close my office door,

But I've got to tell you that there's more to pausing than you may think.

In fact,

There's two types of ways that we process noise and there's two types of ways that we experience silence and I want to talk to you about those today.

I write about this in my book On the Verge quite extensively.

I'm going to summarize it here.

You know,

The bottom line is,

Is if you're interested in feeling your best and performing your best,

You're going to want to understand how to recover.

Recovery and pausing is so undervalued in our society.

Let's talk about outer noise and inner noise for a moment.

Outer noise is the stuff you hear in your environment.

It's talking,

Music,

Machines humming.

There's noise almost everywhere we go these days.

There's music in stores,

In restaurants,

Hotels,

There's beeps and gongs and doings and boings and whistles from our devices,

And of course there's the news that,

You know,

You can't escape the news anywhere anymore.

Basically,

We're over stimulated with outer noise.

In fact,

Most of us have been conditioned to require constant music and entertainment.

It's become part of our cultural norm to have something always screaming at us.

How are you with that sort of stuff?

Are you always driving with music?

Are you always listening to something or have your nose in your phone?

I'm not,

I'm not judging.

I'm just asking you to ask yourself.

Then there's inner noise.

Inner noise is this phenomenon of being in a quiet room yet feeling as though there's a crowd of people talking to you all at once.

It's the voices in your head that are continually reminding you to do this,

To figure out that,

To go there,

To buy this,

To lose that,

Or to gain this.

Inner noise is your busy thinking mind in action,

And it's filling your mind continuously with thoughts bouncing around from here to there,

Filling your mind with constant chatter.

So what do we do about all this noise?

Well,

The antidote to noise is silence.

There's outer silence and there's inner silence.

So if we want less noise,

We need to pause and find more silence.

Now it's fairly easy to say,

You know,

To know how to stop the incessant outer noise.

You can turn off the news,

Turn off the music,

Turn off your phone.

You can drive in silence.

I think that's one of the best things and the best ways to start practicing pausing is when you're in your car by yourself is just to throw your phone in the back seat and turn everything off.

And you'll notice a shift in your energy.

I do all the time.

Off the top of your head,

Think about for a moment where you already have outer silence in your life.

It could be working out without music outside,

Taking that quiet walk.

Maybe it's cooking in silence or in your office,

Or a lot of people garden just in silence.

It's a really beautiful thing to do.

How about inner silence?

Inner silence is a little little tougher.

How do we stop or quiet that inner noise?

That takes a little more attention.

And as you've learned in in your practices of meditation or yoga,

When your body is calm,

Your mind starts to calm down too.

So in order for us to access this inner silence,

We need to start at the level of our body.

We need to start by stabilizing our nervous system.

And we can do that with coherent breathing,

Deep rhythmic breathing.

We can do it through meditation,

Through any kind of rhythmic movement.

So rhythm is so powerful for helping us to settle our busy nervous system.

So think about it for a moment.

What do you do to help your body and mind settle down?

Is it taking a walk in the woods?

Is it playing an instrument?

What do you do?

And how often do you find that quiet time long enough that you really settle down?

One of my go-to's is my Sunday evening bath.

Bubble bath.

I love it.

Complete with candles,

Soothing music.

I just I come out of the tub.

I slip right into bed.

I am done.

Today's takeaway is to practice the power pause.

The power pause is two,

One minute,

Two minutes.

It's a two minute break throughout the day.

These pauses can happen during natural transitions like getting in and out of your car,

In between meetings or calls,

Just upon waking up or right before you go to bed.

Can you be still and silent?

At first you may feel like there's anything but inner silence during these pauses.

You may feel like you're hanging out at the train station with people moving and noise blasting,

But eventually,

Eventually and with practice and consistency you start to catch these glimpses of inner silence.

These moments,

I feel them like they're moments of relief when your outer and your inner world stand still.

Moments when time slows down and that mental chatter goes quiet.

Remember that inner silence is it feels good.

It feels really good to be clear,

Calm and stable.

It feels so invigorating and energizing to be in this sense or this state of coherence.

From there you re-enter back into your life completely charged,

Completely ready and more clear and calm for whatever it is that you need to do next.

Noticing outer noise and inner noise and using the power pause to establish some inner silence and outer silence.

I'd like to leave you all with a very short practice.

So wherever you are,

If you can,

Just place your feet on the floor and your hands on your thighs and close your eyes.

And if you're driving then just keep your eyes steady and obviously stay awake and alert.

For a moment bring your attention way down to your feet.

Just notice your feet on the ground.

Notice your seat in the chair.

Notice your hands on your legs.

Now find your heart beating.

Find your pulse somewhere in your body.

Bringing your mind,

Your attention into your body as quickly as possible.

Now just notice your breath.

Place a light attention on the natural rhythm of your breath.

With your mind on your breath,

Resting on your breath,

You may start to notice a sense of ease.

You may start to notice as you exhale fully that there's a little bit less tension.

A little bit less noise.

There's not much to do when all you need to do for the next few moments is notice your feet,

Notice your hands,

Notice your heartbeat,

And notice your breath.

Landing on any one of those areas in your body is just perfect,

A perfect way to take a pause.

Now open your eyes if they've been closed.

Just notice what a few moments of pause can do.

Our bodies are magnificent,

Brilliant,

Stabilizing systems when we give our body and our mind the opportunity to balance and align.

Thank you for joining me.

Thank you and take those pauses,

Those couple of minutes of power pause throughout the rest of your day.

Be well.

Reviews

Beautiful and powerful, oh yes taking a pause is so important . thank you!

Good advice, shared in a positive way. Pausing… to thank you.

This was excellent. Thank you very much for sharing.

I actually was preoccupied and listening to this. But I do know that I will listen to it again with greater presence. Thank you for being here for me

Thank you so much! Wonderful to pause and allow ourselves this gift 🎁

Hello.
Thank you very much
So useful.
And indeed - silence is blissful.
🌀
Orly
Israel

Simple, practical methods to reach that place of calm, stillness and refreshed energy! Thank you! 🙏

Thank you 🙏 I love the simplicity 🦋

One of my favorites! Thank you.🙏

Love your Calming Narration and Instruction. 🙏🏻💕

Wonderful wonderful wonderful!! I am in for pausing and recovering 💛🙏🏻. Thank Cara, I love this simple, yet effective suggestion to bring me back to myself. 💖

Thanks for the insight!

Loved it, great name for it, power pause. Can’t wait to start practicing it! Thank you.

Thank you,felt good will try it through out my day.🙏

So true...environmental noise seems inescapable these days. Good advise, thank you.

Really helpful. Thank you.

Thank you for this Cara! The Power of pause can change the outcome of the day. I look forward to more of your talks & love how this one ended with a short meditation. Namaste 🙏

LOVED THIS! Simple and rich. Thank you!

Great! So simple and so effective- thank you!

Lovely! Thank you. Just the pause i needed for today🌷