Pausing is a superpower

Pausing before reacting is a superpower.

I think most people will agree that it’s easy to stay centred and calm when you’re not triggered or emotionally activated. But staying centred while you’re experiencing intense emotions, especially fear or anger, is hard. It’s not just a little harder to stay centred. It’s much, much harder. But pausing amidst these extreme emotions can be extremely beneficial.

A pause can sometimes be just enough to disengage from the emotional wave. A tiny pause can say, Wait a minute. I’m falling into old patterns, or You know, this doesn’t matter that much. A short pause might just be enough to make you realise that some of the assumptions that are driving you might not even be true.

Also, reacting from fear or anger rarely brings out the best in us. Acting from anger often just makes us feel regretful afterwards. A momentary pause can prevent the reaction-regret cycle.

So, pausing can be a superpower.