In this solo episode of the Heal, Nourish, Grow podcast, founder Cheryl McColgan introduces Day 20 of the 30‑day challenge: a habit of pausing for 10 seconds before reacting to any trigger. She explains why a brief pause—paired with a couple of deep breaths—creates space between stimulus and response, reduces rumination, and leads to more thoughtful choices. Cheryl offers concrete examples (e.g., reacting to a comment, an email, or a personal frustration), shares a personal anecdote about her ex noticing her pause, and suggests the cue phrase “Pause, breathe, choose.” She advises listeners to start with a 5‑second pause if 10 seconds feels too long, and to gradually build the habit. The episode ends with a reminder to access research links, join the community via healnourishgrow.com, and standard podcast disclosures.
Hey everyone.
I'm Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal, Nourish, Grow, and welcome to day 20. I call it a practice cuz this one is tough sometimes, and it's something that I have been practicing for a long time in my own life. And that is to today, your habit is to pause before reacting for 10 seconds. So a great example of this is usually that a word triggers you or makes you anxious or makes you frustrated, and you may want to just react in that moment. And quite often what you'll find is if you just take a pause, a couple deep breaths are useful here as well, but take a pause, give yourself a moment to think, give yourself a moment to feel where that comment or conflict or whatever it was, where it landed in your body, where you're feeling it, and just take a deep breath and then respond. And so why this is good and it's going to reduce rumination, which is that idea that you just keep playing something over and over in your head. All of this is going to support consistency and create a space between the stimulus and the response. And this usually leads to better choices or better interactions. Another thing, you know, I'm talking about reacting with someone else, but it could also be that you're alone. It's a personal thing that you're just reacting to in the moment. So that's a time to again take some time, take a deep breath, and just let it settle and figure out what you're really thinking about it rather than just your initial knee-jerk response, because it could come in the form of an email or something that just happens to you and you're just anxious and caught up in the moment, just give yourself a beat. Pause, breathe, and then choose. That's like a cue phrase. So along with this habit today to take that pause, think of pause, breathe, and choose. What I like to do with the pause— and it's funny, my, my ex actually noticed this about me, which I thought was pretty perceptive— because if he would say something that was went heavy sigh, like, and then just breathe a couple times, and then I would respond. So maybe you don't want to make it so audible or so obvious because this person in my life did notice this, but you could even say, you know, your, your thing about pause, breathe, then choose. It could be even a choice to say, I need a moment to think this over, or I may need a moment to process this. Something like that gives you just the time to go ahead and take that deep breath and to give it some reflection before responding. So if 10 seconds seems too long to you, let's start with 5. As this challenge has gone the whole way, make yourself work towards up towards bigger habits, bigger goals, you know, everything like that. The small things will just make it seem more simple and less stressful on you. So if 10 seconds is too long, go for 5. As always, the research will be in the email and in the tracker, and you can join at any time by going to healnourishgrow.com. Habits. So if you find, whenever you find it in the future, please join and you'll get to take advantage of learning all these fun new things that can help you get to your goals. So I will see you again tomorrow.
This has been the Heal, Nourish, Grow podcast. Again, I'm Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal, Nourish, Grow. You can find show notes for this episode at healnourishgrowpodcast.com. If you have feedback on today's episode or questions about the content, please email us at podcast@healnourishgrow.com. We'd love to hear from you. Be sure to sign up for our email list at healnourishgrow.com and subscribe to the show with your favorite podcast player so you never miss an episode. Join us next time for more information that helps you live your best and healthiest life. Thanks for listening. Content on the Heal, Nourish, Grow podcast does not constitute medical advice. Content contained in the Heal, Nourish, Grow podcast is not intended as medical diagnosis or treatment. Neither the company nor its owner, Heal Nourish Grow LLC, nor any of the company's employees, agents, or guest speakers provide medical advice. The content provided on Heal Nourish Grow podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Please consult your medical provider with any questions about what health practices are right for you.
