This week at I Am Here, we’re asking: What is Orange October, and why are we doubling down on the Power of the Pause?
- What would it look like to build a ten-minute pause into our day?
- Why, before we halt and act, does noticing our own reaction matter?
- Is there one moment this week where a pause could change how we respond?
Every October, I Am Here workplaces across the globe mark Orange October, a month dedicated to raising awareness of mental health and wellbeing.
Last year, we built our Orange October around one idea: the Power of the Pause.
This year, we’re returning to it. We could have picked something new but instead, we’re doubling down, because a pause before we react feels just as relevant now, maybe more so.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing practices, events and conversations built around this one idea: that a pause, however brief, can change how we show up for ourselves and for each other.
Visit our events page to see what’s happening near you and to save your place.
What Are We Watching This Week?
This week, we’re watching Orange October: Connect with Self, an online session led by breathwork expert Johannes Egberts. The session is from Johannes’s Orange October appearance with us last year, and it’s every bit as useful revisited now.
Johannes has spent over a decade studying what breathing well can do for our health and resilience. He trained under figures like Wim Hof and Patrick McKeown before founding his own breathwork and adventure practice, Breathless Expeditions.
Here, he guides us here through a set of breathing exercises which help us to ‘reset’, manage stress, navigate daily challenges, and connect mindfully to oneself. They help us find balance and create a pause before or within the day.
If you have ten minutes today, it’s worth setting them aside to follow this session.
Watch the video here (1o-minute watch)
What Are We Reading This Week?
This week, we’re reading Power Of The Pause, written by Tracy Kennedy for Forbes Coaches Council.
Kennedy says that pausing—stepping back and staying calm under pressure—is a critical yet often overlooked skill, both in leadership and personal life. She shares a very practical and effective tool, the AHA method, which uses three steps:
- Awareness: Notice the early signals that we’re not in the best place to decide, whether that’s due to frustration, a racing mind or a tightening in the chest.
- Halt: Stop to breathe and step back before reacting, sometimes by picturing the situation from the outside, like a fly on the wall.
- Act: Respond with intention once we’ve had the chance to think your reaction through.
She’s clear that pausing isn’t the same as doing nothing. Even in a crisis, a pause can be as short as one breath or as simple as saying “Let me think this through and get back to you.”
It’s a simple structure, and one that fits neatly into what the power of the pause means to us this October.
Read the article here (4-minute read)
Who Are We Quoting This Week?
“Practice the pause. Pause before judging. Pause before
assuming. Pause before accusing. Pause whenever you’re about to react harshly and you’ll avoid doing and saying things you’ll later regret.”
– Lori Deschene
Deschene’s words capture what Orange October and the Power of the Pause are about at their core. A pause creates space between what happens and how we respond to it. That space is where we get to choose, rather than react on autopilot.
At I Am Here, the pause sits close to what being Real means to us this season: responding with honesty rather than letting pressure or frustration speak for us.