Practising The Pause 2025

Dr Viktor Frankle said 'Between stimulus and response there is a space, and in that space lies my freedom to choose my response, and in that is our power to choose our response, and in our response lies our growth and freedom.'

What we practice grows stronger, in this session, we rewire our brains to be able to pause.

Transcript

We are practicing the pause. Remember Viktor Frankl's quote, Between stimulus and response there is a space, And in that space lies my freedom to choose my response, And in that is my growth and my happiness. So we're going to create a space, Alright? So for this exercise you'll need a pen, Yeah, Or a marker, And your thumb, And I'm going to draw on my thumb. There we go. Pause lines, Just two little pause lines. Let's make it a happy pause. There you go. A happy pause. And we're going to just take a pause and create some space. Good, Let's breathe together, Breathing in through the nostrils. Hold it there for a moment, And then slowly exhaling it out the nostrils with control. A moment just to stop, Get off the hamster wheel. Let's breathe in again through the nostrils, Filling those lungs. Just a moment of gratitude for you taking the time for yourself to pause, And then breathing it out the nostrils with control. That's it, And then one big breath in again through the nose. Hold it there for a moment, Open the mouth, And gently release. Relaxing now, Just on your breath, Breathing at the nostrils, You may feel the air as it comes in is cooler, And then as it leaves, Slightly warmer. Just taking a moment to settle on that. A moment just to stop. There's nothing else to do, There's nowhere else to go. It's just this. And yes, The mind is very busy and wants to do many other things, But now just to stop and take a pause. Now, Remembering your pause lines on your thumb, And resting your hand in your lap. Every time your mind wanders to something else other than your breath, Just push pause. I'm pushing pause on that, I don't need to think about that right now. I'm just pushing pause. So have your fingers ready, And every time your mind makes up a story, Something to do, A memory, Whatever it is that's not your breath, Just push pause. Let's try that. Amazing. If you like, You can push pause and you can carry on, Or if that's all the time you have today to push pause, That's okay. Let's take in one more big breath, Breathing in through the nose, And slowly exhale it out. Great. Well done for pushing pause.