An Hour of Pause vs. a Day of Stress
What’s the first thought that comes to mind when you consider pausing for a full hour? Not just a 5-minute micro-rest, but a full 60 minutes with no agenda, no productivity, and no external input.
If your mind immediately races with a list of all the things that would go wrong, you’re not alone. The resistance we feel to stopping is often the very proof that we need to.
This is the hidden physics of our inner world. The energy you use to suppress feelings, to resist rest, and to anxiously push forward is immense. When you pause, you aren't losing an hour of productivity, you are stopping a major energy leak.
Hit Pause: What One Hour Really Does
Clients who practice this pause often make a powerful discovery, just like one who shared: “I use lots of energy to suppress… and I have more energy for myself right now.” This is the tangible shift from resistance to energy. This shift isn't just theoretical, it's something you can experience directly.
This newfound energy comes from a specific kind of acceptance, which isn't agreement with your situation, but simply allowing things to be as they are, without immediately trying to fix them. It is the act of turning off a draining engine.
This demonstrates a fundamental truth: "What you resist, persists" (a concept often attributed to Carl Jung). But instead, what you pause with can begin to transform.
So, let's experiment. Let's quiet the "what ifs" and explore what truly happens on the other side of a conscious pause.
Your Invitation to a 60-Minute Experiment
This is your open invitation to discover what a pause can reveal to you. I’m not asking you to clear your entire schedule forever. Just for one single hour.
Your only task is to stop. To put down the to-do list, close the tabs, and simply be. Notice what comes up, the restlessness, the guilt, the boredom, and perhaps, eventually, the quiet. There is no right or wrong way to feel. The goal is not to achieve a state of perfect tranquility, but to simply observe what is already there when you stop running from it.
If this resonates…
I invite you to be curious. What is one thing you might discover if you gifted yourself a single hour of pause this week?
If you try it, I would be genuinely curious to hear what you noticed. Did you find a moment of quiet? A surge of restless energy? A surprising sense of relief? Share your experience in the comments below.
And if the idea of learning to pause feels both scary but deeply needed, this is the work we do together. You don’t have to figure it out alone. Send me a message, I’m here to listen.
Your Path Forward: The Relief of Letting Go
The other profound shift that can occur in that quiet space is a liberation from the stories we tell ourselves. A pause creates a gap between you and the swirling “what ifs” about the future or the “if onlys” about the past.
In that gap, you can practice a powerful skill my clients learn: not giving high importance to the things that didn't happen in reality. The catastrophic email you imagined, the disappointment you predicted, the mistake you feared, in the quiet of a pause, these mental fabricated scenarios often lose their power. The relief that follows is profound. It is the relief of returning to what is real, right here, right now.
A conscious pause isn't an empty space. It is a fertile one. It’s where you reclaim the energy spent on resistance and find relief from the weight of hypothetical problems. It is a practical, powerful act of tuning back in.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. I do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of this information. It is shared to promote awareness and understanding, not to replace professional medical or psychological advice.
