💡The Gift on the Other Side of Resistance

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Have you ever wondered what might happen if you allowed yourself to truly look inward? What truths might you discover if you moved beyond surface-level engagement with yourself?

During a recent book club gathering for "The Places When There Are Spaces," something extraordinary happened. A participant—someone who confessed to rarely making time for reading and being uncomfortable talking about herself—shared a moment of transformation so genuine and moving that it deserved to be highlighted. This episode captures that powerful exchange.

Working 80-90 hours weekly, this participant had always struggled to find time for reading. Books would sit half-finished for months as life's demands took priority. Yet something compelled her to join this book club, her first ever. As she began engaging with the reflective questions in the book, she noticed herself answering only "surfacely," skimming along the top of her thoughts rather than diving deeper. 

The magic happened when she recognized this pattern and made a conscious choice: "I said well, this isn't going to work, so you better just open up." What followed was a journey into self-awareness that she wished had come earlier in life. She connected deeply with discussions about tolerating things that once brought joy and confronted her fear of not being good enough—universal struggles many of us share but rarely voice aloud.

Her story reminds us of the transformative power of pauses—those spaces between interactions where tremendous growth can happen if we're brave enough to listen to ourselves. If her journey resonates with you, perhaps it's time to create your own space for reflection. What might you discover about yourself in the silence?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there, in this episode I'm sharing a moment
from a recent book clubgathering I held with my book
the Places when there Are Spaces, and one of the participants,
someone who shared that sherarely makes time to read and
doesn't usually talk aboutherself.
Well, she shared something elsethat was so generous,
vulnerable and profoundly humanthat I thought I'd share it here

(00:23):
.
I was genuinely humbled towitness it.
What she revealed may have beendeeply personal to her, but I
have a feeling it's somethingmany of us will recognize in
ourselves.
Let's take a listen.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
I decided for the first time in my life to join a
book club.
I have never had the time to doit.
I've always worked like 80 to90 hours a week.
I would pick up a book, read acouple of chapters, then not
pick up a book for maybe weeks,possibly months, and then have

(00:59):
to reread the chapters overagain.
So it always seemed that ittook me forever to finish a book
.
So I decided that I was going tochallenge myself, and as I
started to read your book and Istarted to answer some of your
questions, at first I was a bituncomfortable.
It might not seem right, but Ido not like talking about myself

(01:23):
and I do not necessarily liketo go deep down inside of me.
So I started to answer thequestions just surfacely.
Then I realized I was doingthat and I said well, this isn't
going to work, so you betterjust open up.
So I started opening up and boydid I learn a lot about myself,

(01:45):
and I should have realized alot of these things at a very
much younger age.
So I'm hoping to get everythingand anything out of it.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
Well, thank you so much for sharing.
That's profound what you shared, and it's profoundly moving and
vulnerable and I just want tohonor you for that, because it's
profoundly moving andvulnerable.
And I just want to honor youfor that because it's and to be
witness and even catalyst inthis case if I own it, you know,
with the book to be involved inthat with you, to have shared

(02:20):
that or opened that up for you,it really means a lot.
So, thank you, thank you somuch.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, the chapter that I really liked was about
tolerating things that used tobring you joy.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
I was like oh man, she must have seen me.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
What you wrote in here is something that impacts
me.
It's the fear of not being goodenough.
I was receiving it for whatevermoment you were in, and so then
it hit me, so I loved it.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
I just love the title of your book because that pause
, that silence betweeninteractions.
So much is happening duringthat time.