Practice the Pause is part of the COPE, CALM, and CARE Campaign for Community Resilience. This campaign is designed to empower people with the behavioral health information and tools they need to support themselves, family members, friends, colleagues, and even strangers in the COVID-19 pandemic and throughout their lives. There are toolkits and resources available in both English and Spanish and for age groups 5-12 years, 13-18 years, and adult.
When we pause a game, a song, or a video—everything stops. Wouldn’t it be nice at times if we could pause or stop things happening around us just long enough to take a big, deep breath?
When our emotions are high, like in times of stress, unhappiness, or fear, we tend to react without thinking. We don’t take the time to consider what we’re feeling or why. We let our emotions determine how we think, act, or engage with the world around us and that can make us feel even worse.
By practicing the pause, we are encouraging ourselves to stop in the moment between a feeling and a reaction to think about what we’re feeling and why. This pause allows us to understand what may be causing our reaction and choose how we want to respond.
Buddhists call it the “Sacred Pause” – exploring the moment between a feeling and a reaction and choosing what comes next.
We say “practice” because stopping when we’re having strong feelings isn’t easy. It takes practice. But when we learn to pause, think about what we’re feeling and why, and change how we think, act, or be, we take control of our emotions and our lives.
And that can make us all feel better.
Visit Practice the Pause for even more information and resources!
