The Power of a Pause

Confession: I have interrupted a lot of people. Sometimes that’s been because I was being insensitive, impatient, or oblivious in conversation. Countless times, though, it has been totally on purpose. (Sounds really rude, huh?)

The Power of a Pause

As a public speaking coach for the last 20 years, I have learned to literally say “pause” to interrupt someone mid-sentence. When I’m coaching someone, I’ll stop them in the middle of their thought to draw their attention to something about their delivery right then.

“Pause…”

Typically, they look a little bewildered (and honestly, sometimes annoyed) that I have interrupted their flow. After all, they were really on a roll and I just “messed them up”!

Here’s what consistently happens in public speaking: we can get so wrapped up in what we’re saying (or trying to say) that we completely disconnect from where we are, what we’re doing, and who we’re actually talking to. We become so consumed with getting our message across or finding the right words to say that we lose sight of the ultimate goal of creating meaningful connection and engagement with our audience.

When I prompt with “pause” as a speaking coach, I’m shifting a person’s attention away from what they’re saying to how they’re saying it and what they’re doing while they speak (such as their posture, pace, or gestures). Sometimes they’re mindlessly drifting from communication skills they already know and I’m helping them refocus. Other times, they’ve never even realized that they’re not connected with their audience in the first place.

The pause is like a gentle invitation to slow down, to mentally and emotionally bring a person back to the room, back to what is really happening in and around them, back to connection and engagement with the people they’re with.

The power of pause is that it invites us to consciously reconnect to the present and to people (including ourselves).

God’s Invitation to Pause

In Psalm 46:10, God invites us to, “Be still and know that I am God.”

I don’t hear this as a scolding demand to recognize His authority (though He does hold all authority). I hear His kind invitation to pause, to slow, and focus our attention on Him, our Present and Loving Lord. Right now, in this moment. The pause opens the door to the deeper knowing, to more meaningful connection.

This kind of pause, even a short one, connects us to the security of our relationship with God in the present moment. We pause and slow, enough to direct our thoughts and attention to meaningful connection and engagement with God, Who is with us and for us.

The pause also invites us to become more aware of and engaged with ourselves and others in the present moment.

I don’t know about you, but I need regular invitations to pause in my everyday life. Sometimes I need to be interrupted to notice that I’ve disconnected. I need prompts to slow down, be in the present moment, and reconnect with God, myself, or others throughout my day.

You probably don’t have a “rude” public speaking coach nearby to verbally interrupt you throughout your day, so it might be helpful to create small, practical habits or practices to create moments of “pause” on your own.

Ideas to Try

• Choose daily prompts. Choose a sight or sound that’s part of your everyday routine to serve as your “pause” reminders. For example, pause before setting up the GPS and driving off whenever you enter your car. Or pause when you first sit at your desk in the morning or when the kids have finally gone to bed.

• Build buffer time into your schedule. Recently, my friend Olin shared a helpful idea with me—he no longer schedules meetings on the hour. Instead, he schedules them on the quarter or half hour, in order to open a few minutes at the top of each hour to pause, slow, and mentally and emotionally reconnect before moving on to whatever is next.

• Set gentle reminders. Consider setting alerts on your phone at various intervals throughout your day (like every 3 or 4 hours) to prompt you to pause and slow down in the moment you’re in. (There’s actually an app called The Pause App by John Eldredge that is made specifically for this.)

Purposeful pauses throughout our day have great power to invite us to become noticers, of God, ourselves, and others (more on that in future posts).

It doesn’t have to be complicated, strict, or overly routinized. Leaning into even a short moment of pause can help us reconnect with the present moment and invite us to greater connectedness and engagement with God, ourselves, and others, right now.

When or how do you pause throughout your day? How has it impacted your daily life?

P.S. Great communication supports deeper connections. If you or your organization would benefit from communication or public speaking coaching, I’m here to help individuals, teams, and business and ministry leaders develop their authentic voice.

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