Episode Transcript
Welcome to Episode 3 of "A New Leaf" I am your host Carl Tambeau.
Todays episode "The Pause That Heals" is from our book "The Attitude Shift"
A Motion by the Ocean original.
There's a moment ... right before the day begins.
The world hasn't asked anything of you yet.
The phone is still quiet.
The tide is still low.
And in that moment - if you let it - healing begins.
We live in a world that glorifies motion.
Scrolling. Working. Producing.
Our calendars overflow, but our hearts run dry.
Everyone wants to move forward - but few remember the wisdom of standing still.
The truth is, stillness isn't the absence of progress.
It's the reset that makes progress possible.
I have learned this lesson the hard way.
When life gets heavy, I used to outrun the noise - working longer, saying yes to everything, pretending burnout was purpose.
But eventually, even the strongest swimmers have to stop and float.
That's when I discovered the power of the pause.
Not a grand retreat or a week away.
Just the small pauses - the breaths between sentences, the silence after a deep sigh, the moment you choose not to react right away.
Those pauses?
They're tiny doorways back to yourself.
Mindfulness isn't complicated.
It's not incense and mantras, or an app that counts your breaths. It's noticing. Noticing what's here, right now.
The taste of your coffee.
The weight of your hands resting on your lap.
The sound of the tide behind my words.
That's all mindfulness is - the gentle art of coming home to the present.
There's a phrase that I hold close:
"When you slow down enough to listen, your life starts to speak."
That voice doesn't shout.
It doesn't demand.
It whispers things you've been too busy to hear ...
the truth that you're tired,
that you miss someone,
that you need a drink of water,
that you're already doing better than you think.
Sometimes, the greatest act of healing isn't doing something.
It's allowing something - allowing silence, allowing rest, allowing peace to catch up with you.
So here's your invitation right now.
If you can, and if you're in a safe place, close your eyes just for a moment.
Take one slow breath in through your nose ...
and let it go.
Notice your shoulders.
Notice your jaw.
Notice the rhythm that never stopped - your heartbeat, your breath, your tide.
Every part of you is still here, waiting patiently for your attention.
That's the pause that heals - the one where you stop judging yourself for needing it.
You don't earn rest by exhausting yourself.
You deserve it because you're human.
Tomorrow, when the noise returns ... and it will...
try to find one small moment to stand still.
Maybe it's watching the light shift through a window.
Maybe it's a deep breath before answering an email.
Maybe it's listening to the sea, even if it's only in your mind.
Whatever it is, let that pause remind you that you're not falling behind.
You're simply catching up with your own soul.
"Stillness is not a break from life - it's where life begins again."
Take that with you.
Breathe slower.
Speak softer.
MOVE WITH PURPOSE!
Because sometimes, the most powerful thing you can do... IS PAUSE!
