The Pause You Didn’t Plan For (But Might Need)

Core Article: The Pause You Didn’t Plan For (But Might Need)

Paragraph I’m Pondering: “How different would the world look if people spent as much time”

Powerful Affirmations to Inspire: “I release all resistance to receiving.”

Cool Stuff: Do you know what a Bumbershoot is? Try this fun quiz

AI Info & Resources: The next war is coming and it’s not what you think…

The Pause You Didn’t Plan For (But Might Need)

It was an ordinary Sunday, or so I thought…

After my walk with the dog, I came back home, did my morning pages, and wrote in my gratitude journal.

The weather was amazing—still spring-like, breezy 70s. So nice I opened a bunch of windows to air out the house…

I ended up grabbing my iPad and keyboard and headed to my new favorite area in the house—our new built-in kitchen banquette, right next to the big windows where you can see the trees waving in the wind.

I love sitting there now and looking outside while I write. Occasionally, a hummingbird perches onto our feeder for a quick drink and buzzes away…

Lately, I’ve been fascinated by this class I’m taking—where I’m learning how to connect with AI and train it to be a coach and mentor. I know that may sound a bit out there. Yet it’s giving me some deep insights into my work and how I show up. It’s helping me see patterns in my behavior that I didn’t know were there. Ideas are flowing in unexpected ways. And it’s guiding me on how to overcome them.

So I was deep in thought, writing and answering questions for this AI class, when my iPad gave me an internet error. I didn’t think much of it. Out here, the internet drops out now and then. I just turned on my iPhone hotspot and kept going.

It wasn’t until my spouse came home and flipped on a light, and nothing happened, that we started to realize something was off. We fiddled with the internet and checked the breaker—still nothing.

Because I had been so focused on working on my iPad, I hadn’t even noticed how quiet the house was.

No hum from the fridge. No AC turning on and off. Just silence and stillness

And what struck me wasn’t the inconvenience… it was how quickly the quiet felt kind of comforting.

It’s strange to lose power. It’s never happened here before—maybe a flicker now and then during a storm. But this time, there was no storm.

Dinner time came, and we had to pivot. No stove. No microwave. Thankfully, we’d planned something that didn’t need to be heated. And since it’s staying light until after 8 pm, we didn’t need candles or flashlights either.

We were forced to create a different kind of Sunday evening. One without electricity.

So we sat at the dining table where we always have the latest puzzle we were working on, and worked on it while we ate.

Something about that felt so… grounding. Present. Peaceful.

There were some quiet conversations, requests for help finding certain pieces…

No electronics. No scrolling devices. No distractions. Just us and a shared stillness.

It felt like the kind of calm you usually have after a storm. Except there was no storm. It was more like “the quiet power-outage storm,” that gave way to calm and connection.
No devices keep us separate.
No need to “Google” something, scroll, or look something up.
Just an unexpected invitation to slow down, be present with each other and ourselves.

It made me wonder…

What happens when you’re faced with quiet and stillness?

What gets revealed and uncovered in the quiet?

When the usual distractions fall away—are you okay being with yourself in the stillness? No electronics buzzing, beeping, almost begging you to answer and look at it.

And maybe even more than that… what would it feel like to choose the calm over chaos?

I don’t have all the answers.

Yet, I do know this: something shifted for me that evening. I’m taking it as a quiet sign to pause more often. To plan for the stillness—not as a retreat from work, why not make it a part of the rhythm of it.

Maybe this wouldn’t be a one-off. Maybe planning for this kind of pause could be something regular.

Maybe you’ve felt that too?

Maybe your version of the “power going out” isn’t literal—but a burnout moment, a creative stall, or a wave of “I can’t keep doing it this way anymore.”

If so, I see you. My hands are at your back. I’ve been there too.

And maybe, just maybe, the reset you’re craving isn’t in the next breakthrough or tool…

It’s in the unplugged moment that reminds you who you are when everything else powers down.

What would happen if you gave yourself permission to pause—without waiting for a “storm” to force your hand?

If this stirred something for you, I’d love to hear about it.

Leave me a comment and tell me—how are you making space for stillness and quiet?
Or what’s one tiny shift you’re craving right now?
xox
Shannon

Paragraph I’m Pondering

“How different would the world look if people spent as much time listening to their conscience as they did to chattering broadcasts? If they could respond to the calls of their convictions as quickly as we answer the dings and rings of technology in our pockets?”
― Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key

Powerful Affirmations to Inspire

“Every action I take is aligned with divine strategy and leads to exponential growth.”
“I release all resistance to receiving. I am open, worthy, and richly blessed.”
“I trust the timing of my life. I am always in the right place, doing the right thing.”

Cool Stuff

Curious how the discount stores started? This is an interesting read.
If you like words like I do, this Definition Detective Quiz is definitely for you. It’s a multiple-choice quiz that gives you words like “bumbershoot” and you have to guess the correct meaning. 🙂 Go on, give it a go. I will tell you my score if you share yours! 😉
Here’s the list of the most valuable companies in 2024. Not what I would have thought. Some usuals in there and some interesting ones… I like how they group them in categories

AI Info and Resources

Ok, so don’t make fun of me yet… I keep hearing about “LLM” all the time, and I’m kind of tired of it. Yes, I know what it means, finally. “Large Language Models.” Yet, what the heck can it do for me? Please explain it to me like I’m a fourth grader. Curious to find out? You know what to do –
If you want to be in the know of what an “AI agent” really is, well then, yeah, you got click here. Everyone’s talked about these, too. It’s interesting, and where I think the future is heading.
Yeah, the next war is coming. AND, it’s not the war you might be thinking – it’s the AI War between Google and Peplexity. You see, Google’s losing traffic cuz everyone’s sick of seeing all the ads and not ever seeing what they’re searching for. And well, Perplexity gives you the goods with no ads… yeah. I think I know who has a good chance of winning this war. 😉

Weekly Photos

Here’s a view from sitting at our kitchen banquet table with Emma, the lap dog.
Love these roses that grow right out of our front door. Smells sooo good and ends up in our house.
Yep, I think the wild turkeys are taking over the neighborhood!
Yeah, Emma finds all sorts of comfy places to nap, including on my sweatshirt.
Strawberry season is the best ever here in May – so many strawberries, so little time. (The Strawberry Festival is this weekend.)
Check out the wild clouds surrounding Mt. Shasta. Such a magical mountain.
This’s what Mt. Shasta looks like without its clouds. The way I used the zoom on the camera makes it more like a painting…

P.S. If you missed last week’s blog, or maybe you forgot to click on the link… If you’re longing to be around like-minded people and want to move through your fears to create an even more successful business built upon your purpose and values and based on authenticity while attracting your dream client and more success... Welllll. you know what to do below. 🙂

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1. Make Money Now Sheet – It’s one of the bonuses in my 7-Step Soulful Marketing System. I wanted to give it to you for free to help you create more success.

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