Sep 22, 2026 · 24 min · 9 segments
When we talk about good thinking, we often point to highly purposeful attitudes and strategies like using thinking routines, taking an inquiry stance, or being actively metacognitive. But good…
Shari TishmanHost
David PerkinsHostJordi OaklandHost
Now maybe the first thing to say is that we're talking about relatively short pauses, coffee break type pauses, or setting something aside for a couple of days, or maybe a week.
In contrast, say, with a longer term life pause, like a period of unemployment between switching jobs, or a gap year between high school and college.
There are lots of metaphors and figures of speech we use to acknowledge and name the kind of pauses, and that's a sign they're important to us.
Well, with that focus in mind, instead of offering a definition of pause, let's try to characterize what these kinds of pauses feel like.
For instance, the first thing that comes to mind for me is that they feel like a bracketed experience, something that kind of happens inside the two sides of the parentheses, so to speak.
There's a flow of experience before a pause and a flow of experience afterwards, and pause happens between the brackets.
Often, a pause is not intensely effortful, especially not in the sense of trying very hard to plow directly ahead on something, and not in the sense of just switching back and forth between two things that are just as hard.
There is a freedom and spaciousness to a pause that just isn't present when we shift quickly from one effortful activity to another.
Along the way, we will try to take a look at three big themes, why pause, when to pause, and teaching and pauses.
Now maybe the first thing to say is that we're talking about relatively short pauses, coffee break type pauses, or setting something aside for a couple of days, or maybe a week.
In contrast, say, with a longer term life pause, like a period of unemployment between switching jobs, or a gap year between high school and college.
There are lots of metaphors and figures of speech we use to acknowledge and name the kind of pauses, and that's a sign they're important to us.
Well, with that focus in mind, instead of offering a definition of pause, let's try to characterize what these kinds of pauses feel like.
For instance, the first thing that comes to mind for me is that they feel like a bracketed experience, something that kind of happens inside the two sides of the parentheses, so to speak.
There's a flow of experience before a pause and a flow of experience afterwards, and pause happens between the brackets.
Often, a pause is not intensely effortful, especially not in the sense of trying very hard to plow directly ahead on something, and not in the sense of just switching back and forth between two things that are just as hard.
There is a freedom and spaciousness to a pause that just isn't present when we shift quickly from one effortful activity to another.
Along the way, we will try to take a look at three big themes, why pause, when to pause, and teaching and pauses.
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