Episode 27: The Power of the Pause with Deirdre Wilcox

Posted on by Wynne Leon

Have you had a joy snack today? It’s when you stop to take in something that might otherwise go unnoticed but when you pay attention, you get a bite of joy. I’d never heard of joy snacks before this podcast conversation I had with meditation and yoga teacher, and massage therapist, Deirdre Wilcox, but tidbits like this are just one reason that she’s one of the people I regularly go to for wise counsel. And in this episode of the podcast, Deirdre and I talk about the power of the pause.

Deirdre talks about the pause she implements when we converse, the moment to let a question sink in so that she can respond in a thoughtful way that is more in-line with her wise mind. We talk about how pauses can help us when our buttons are pushed so that we can work to build bridges instead of walls with the people we love. Or in the cases where building walls is the most appropriate course of action, that we do it intentionally.

Deirdre introduces me to the idea of interosception – the way the mind perceives and gathers all the available input from the body – and how pauses to allow that to work to create freedom from our 1st level reactions into more accurate responses that are in-line with our deeper wisdom.

In this episode, we hear about the breath practices that help us to align with small pauses. In the breath, we can find ways to notice all the pauses in life around us – in the ocean, the lunar cycle, the solstices and find a way to anchor our natural pauses.

At the end of our time together, Deirdre describes a few small pauses she takes in a day to notice and remember what is around and how these short moments of mindfulness can help to slow our race through life and instead enjoy the here and now.

This is a great episode about using an extra beat to access better information, respond with more care, and pay closer attention. I know you’ll love it.

Episode 64: Knowing a Person with Vicki and Wynne – Sharing the Heart of the Matter

In this episode, Wynne Leon is with co-host, Vicki Atkinson, and we are talking about the latest book from author David Brooks, How to Know a Person. We talk about his great encouragement to be vulnerable enough to be seen and his image of each of us as a creative artist who has a unique way of seeing the world. And we dive into the methods that help us listen well. We have a great conversation around what it takes to tell our own stories. Vicki also shares with us the wisdom she learned listening to David Brooks give a commencement speech when she was a faculty member. She explains why his approach was so much more meaningful than many of the others she heard in her 40 years in academia. This is a great episode about how we can be intentional about getting to know others. We know you’ll love it. Links for this podcast: Episode 64 show notes Vicki’s personal blog: Victoria Ponders Wynne’s personal blog: Surprised by Joy Vicki’s recently released book: Surviving Sue Wynne’s book about her beloved father: Finding My Father’s Faith
  1. Episode 64: Knowing a Person with Vicki and Wynne
  2. Episode 63: Keys to Collaborative Success with Vicki and Wynne
  3. Episode 62: The Loop Files with Rick Kaempfer
  4. Episode 61: The Writers Conference with Cheryl Oreglia
  5. Episode 60: The Perils of Prediction with Dr. Gerald Stein

Search (and subscribe!) for Sharing the Heart of the Matter on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or Pocket Casts OR Listen to on Anchor Episode 27: The Power of the Pause with Deirdre Wilcox

Links for this Episode:

Episode 27: The Power of the Pause with Deirdre Wilcox on Anchor

Deirdre’s website: http://deirdrewilcox.com

20 thoughts on “Episode 27: The Power of the Pause with Deirdre Wilcox”

  1. Joy snack sounds like a wonderful concept – and I don’t mean a bag of pork rinds. 😆 I’ll have to think about how I intentionally find the time to do that today – likely a bike ride with our T.

    Have a nice weekend ahead with your family, Wynne!

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  2. I’m with Ab…a ‘joy snack’ sounds yummy…and purposeful! Thanks, Wynne…and Deirdre. I love the reminders to slow things down, take an extra beat…or two…to improve the quality of our responses, our interactions. Listening to you two = joy snack! 😘

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    1. Slow things down, take an extra beat – you’ve summed up so much great wisdom! By the way, I found my glasses yesterday over by the bag of Doritos the kids left on the counter. I’m not sure that it counts as a joy snack but it was evidence I was over there eating something… 🙂

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  8. I haven’t listened to this yet, but I’d better get on with it so I don’t miss out on any more joy snacks. A joy snack in my world today would be making a check beside the items that I’m so far behind on, but that sounds a lot like work! I’m going for a few bites out of a joy-full snack—the calorie-less kind!

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