In our coaching engagements, we model and may even teach the power of pause…. a purposeful use of silence and focused listening giving us and our clients time to slow down and hear our inner voice. Even our coaching conversations are structured as a way for our clients to have the opportunity to say what they might not have said, to see things in a new manner, and to say it all out loud to a caring listener…their coach.
Sometimes, we, as a professional listener, facilitator, coach, need to recharge our batteries with a scheduled and purposeful pause. I do that with morning meditations, walks in nature, music, or writing.
And in my life, I have needed to do a Purposeful Pause away from my normal routines and do something truly out of the ordinary.
Big Pauses
At age 27, I did a 21 day Outward Bound course in Canyonlands National Park in Utah….away from TV, radio, news and with basic survival food and water that was carried or waterholes that were found that had to have iodine drops to cleanse the water for drinking. 21 days of hiking, rappelling, rock-climbing, beans and rice and dried fruit and veggies, map reading, sleeping in the open or in caves, and a 3-day solo at the end, with no communication with anyone. (I did have conversations with birds and squirrels). That was a pause that is deeply embedded in my soul to this day.
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