Pause Notice Choose with Carol Clegg

Settle Your Body And Breath

Welcome to Connect Inspire Create. And my next mindset matters. Pause, notice, and choose. Before we begin, I'd love to give you a moment just to get relaxed and a little more grounded. So if you are listening to this podcast seated or lying down, perhaps before going to bed, or just taking a moment to just be by yourself and do nothing else other than take care of you. So I invite you just to take your fingers and rub your thumb and your little finger gently against each other. Just allowing yourself to feel that sensation of touch. And part of the other reason is to just slow down the racing mind. And while you're doing that, you can either rest your hands and your lap if you're seated, or have them alongside you if you are lying down and getting ready to go to sleep. Now, if you can, just let your shoulders soften, just relax them and unclench your jaw. We hold so much tension in our jaw and in our face. And it's so interesting because if you get invited just to focus on that and just relax in your face, and you think I'm relaxed, and then you realize there's a little further you can go. Now let's take a slow breath in. So let's start that. Take a slow breath in for a count of four, two, three, four, and out, two, three, four, five, six, and again. Breathe in for four, two, three, four, and out for six, two, three, four, five, six, and one more time slowly breathing in, two, three, four, and out. Two, three, four, five, six. Let your breathing return to normal. Check in those shoulders. Are they still down and relaxed? Is your jaw relaxed? Let yourself just be right here where you are. And you do not need to fix anything, change anything, or worry about anything. Just notice the space that your body is occupying. And

Why Clarity Starts Quietly

this episode is going to be a little different. It's not a sleep time story. I'm going to just walk you through something that I think can sometimes we want more clarity, and we think thinking harder, making a bigger plan, or finally just figuring it all out is what we need, and we're going to have clarity. But sometimes clarity begins much more quietly. It's that pausing, that pausing long enough to notice what is already there, and just to pause so that you slow down the reaction. So today's mindset matters is about three simple words: pause, notice, and choose. So

Pause To Create A Gap

pausing isn't the same as going, everything has to stop. I've got to move on to the next thing. It simply means that you're going to just create this gap, this tiny gap between what is happening, what you're thinking about, how you want to respond. And a good place that you can use pause. Here are some scenarios. Maybe it's before replying to a difficult message. Just take a moment, pause. Perhaps this isn't the right time to reply. You have another task that you want to add to your to-do list. Is today the right day to add another task? Are you going round and round in circles with the same thought, trying to solve that? Do you find yourself just saying yes to something, to somebody, when you wish that you had taken a moment to pause? So just asking yourself, what is happening for me right now? I don't have to solve it. And the pause might just be a breath, something short, and then you move on to what you need to solve. Or it might involve a walk around the block. I read a beautiful post the other day that said the solution to everything is a walk. And how true is that? If you find yourself working in front of your computer, if you're a solopreneur and you work from home often, we can go down the rabbit holes of all the things we need to do. And a walk changes that. So taking a walk. Perhaps it's just five quiet minutes with a cup of coffee, or maybe just writing a sentence in a notebook, a journal note. And one of my podcasts is going to be coming out soon, is about writing poetry and the benefits of that over journaling, which we will keep for the episode when it comes out. Now

Notice What’s Really Present

I want to move you into notice. This is where you can just bring in the moment to know that we think we notice everything, but do we give ourselves space really to notice? And noticing can include things like so importantly, what feels most present for me right now? Just notice that. Being present, being mindful in this moment. What am I carrying that I may not need to solve today? What can I put that down? Can I notice? Can I notice what matters most in this current season? Or perhaps something as simple as what would make things feel just 10%? It's that baby step, just 10% lighter or clearer. So perhaps you could look at energy. What is draining me? Or what is giving me energy? Patterns? Are there situations that keep repeating themselves or thoughts that keep coming back? So important to feel. Looking at where in your body are you holding tension? For many, that can be the shoulders, the back, but sometimes it's the throat. It can be in the most unusual places. So where in your body are you holding tension? And then let's look at your attention. What keeps pulling you away from what matters? What do you allow yourself to get distracted with? And then the language that you're choosing. Are you saying I have to do something when you really mean I'm choosing to do? So I want you just to remember that noticing to be gentle and have compassion for yourself. This is not a critique and this is not saying that you've got it all wrong. It does not require judgment. It's just observing, noticing.

Choose A Gentle Next Step

And now we could move into choose. And choosing doesn't always mean a huge, big, dramatic decision. Sometimes the choice is simple, send the email. It's done. I love to recommend that when you you know you touch something, how many times are you going to touch it before that task is taken care of? So if you feel you can't send the response to an email, leave it. But when you can choose to send the email, perhaps you need to make an appointment. Maybe something has to wait until tomorrow. Perhaps you need to choose to ask somebody for help. I know that's a difficult one. And people love to be asked to help. So remember that when you stop for a minute and go, I can't ask for help. Maybe it's choosing to spend 15, 20 minutes on something that's important to you right now that matters. The opposite of that, the choice might be to stop checking something repeatedly, especially if it's not changing anything. So what gentle next step are you willing to take? And that's willing. Not that you have to, not that this is the most productive, but what am I genuinely willing to follow through on? So for instance, it could be a simple three-part ritual, something like in the morning, pausing. What do I need to remember today? My day, notice. Where is my attention going? And in the evening, choose. What do I want to carry forward? And what can I put down? So it's pause, what's here, notice what matters, and choose what's next. So

Free Guide And Closing Thoughts

I have created a guide, pause, notice, choose, as a free reflection guide with five prompts to help you explore these ideas a little more deeply. I created it for my podcast and for my listeners, and you can download the guide at my website, Carol Clegg, which is C-A-R-O-L-C-L-E-G-G.com, and take a few quiet moments with whichever of the prompts catches your attention. So until the next time, stay curious, trust yourself, and keep being inspired about creating what comes next.