Stop Before You Start – Pause

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Welcome to the Overflow podcast. My name is Craig
Booker. The title of this episode is Stop Before

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You Start. The material in this episode is inspired
by Reset by Debra Fileta. I will talk a lot about

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mental health, but please note that this is not
a substitute for therapy or mental health care

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if you’re digging into our study on Reset or
even just checking it out, chances are you’re

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open to changing something about your life. After
last episode’s intro to Reset, you might be

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excited, pumped, and ready to go. You’re tired of
sitting back, hoping for things to change. In the

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opening of Chapter 1, Stop Before You Start – Pause,
Deborah Fileta sets the tone by describing this

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journey as a race. Maybe the last episode got you
all fired up and ready to make lasting changes in

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your life. You’re standing at the starting line
ready to dig into whatever God has in store for

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you. As you visualize yourself at the starting
line of a race, you hear the announcer say on

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your mark, get set, pause! As you read or listen
to this part of the chapter, it might have you

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asking, “What? Are you serious? Pause?” You might be
asking Debra a variety of questions. You might

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be wondering why you should stop to pause. Let
us take a look at what Debra says. Quote “The

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pause is the start of the work if we really want
to make long-lasting changes in our lives, we have

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to stop before we start. We’ve got to take the
time to hit pause, tune in. We’ve got to stop and

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listen to what God is saying, what he wants to
do, and where he wants to take us. We’ve got to

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stop and make sure we’re in step with him before
we go because he knows best who we are, how we’re

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doing, what we need, and what it looks like for us
to run this race well. We have to stop so we can

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start well. end quote. Tuning out to tune in. As we
continue on with the chapter, Debra tells a story

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about sleep. Not just sleep but also the common
practice of falling asleep while the television

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is on. Maybe you have found yourself doing this as
you lay in bed late at night. The sound of the TV

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is still there, but somehow you manage to tune
it out as you fall off to sleep. Have you ever

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stopped to think about what goes on when this
occurs? When we sleep, our bodies relax, but our

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brains are still active. When we fall asleep with
the television on, our brains still process the

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noise from the TV. The process takes energy and
Debra says it is quote robbing you of a good

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night’s sleep. Let us apply this idea to our lives.
Specifically our schedules and activities. In the

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chapter Debra says there are two types of noise
or activity that prevents us from focusing and

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being attentive. Those two types of noise are
outer noise and inner noise. Outer noise. This

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type of noise is the obvious one. The dinging
of notifications on your phone, music playing

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in the background from your phone, or co-workers
talking near your desk. Some of these are easily

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quieted, while others might take more intentional
effort. Noise-cancelling headphones can help tune

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out the noise from neighboring co-workers or loud
noises outside your window, but sometimes removing

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yourself and relocating to another room is a
better solution. When we take time to pause, we

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are intentionally stopping to tune out so we can
tune in. Inner noise. Perhaps the more challenging

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type of noise to quiet is inner noise. This
can be a variety of things, but can include

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your seemingly neverending to-do list. It could
be a conversation you continue to replay in your

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head. It could be the doubts or worries that you
can’t seem to let go of. Regardless of what type

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of noise you’re experiencing, it is essential for
us to tune out so we can tune in. This practice is

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not just a nice suggestion or a great Instagram
post, it is a necessary practice if we want to

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find healing and change. The power of the pause.
In this section of the chapter, Debra tells the

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story of Job from the Bible. If you’re unfamiliar
with the story, Job experiences great heartache

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and loss from what seemed like one tragedy after
another. What sets Job apart is not that he ignored

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the loss or glossed over the emotions he felt, but
how he continued to trust God through everything.

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Job certainly didn’t remain silent. He did quite
a bit of venting of his emotions before God and

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others before God instructed Job to quote Paul
pause a moment and listen Job 37:14 Good News

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Translation. Debra describes how both psychology
and spirituality confirm the power and potential

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of the pause. Cara Bradley says quote taking
time to just be still and quiet gives your

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nervous system a chance to regain balance end
quote. Debra says that when we take time to

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pause quote, it gives your body and mind a chance
to recalibrate to literally reset. Science shows

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us that when we take time to pause to reset your
brain from all the noise your brain is doing some

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much-needed processing work end quote. This is work
that cannot be done without taking a moment to

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pause. Is it any wonder that Psalms 46:10 tells us
to quote, be still, and know that I am God end quote.

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Debra shares that the Hebrew word used here as
much more than a suggestion. This is telling us to

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stop. According to Reset, the pause is a necessary
action, a prerequisite for change. So let’s take a

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moment to slow down, find a quiet place and pause.
That’s all for this episode. If you like

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the video, please give us a thumbs up and be sure
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