Quarantine Chat with Terry Hershey, author of “The Power of Pause” and “This Is The Life”

Terry Hershey
Terry Hershey

Jason Barger checks-in with author Terry Hershey during times of isolation and quarantine in April in his hometown of Vashon Island, Washington. This fun and inspiring conversation focuses on the power of pause, seeing with new eyes, making space, and finding sanctuary in our lives. In the midst of so much chaos, how do we breathe and what difference does it make?

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SHOW NOTES

0:51 – Jason shares his gratitude and thoughts for today’s podcast.

2:15 – Jason welcomes Terry Hershey, author of “The Power of Pause” and “This Is The Life”. Terry shares that he is on an island in Washington and this his internet is not what you might expect.

3:40 – Terry loves the isolation during this time and lives this way usually but does miss church and community but lives life without the hurry to go anywhere.

4:50 – In past lectures, Terry would ask the audience of companies how many of you have felt distracted? Exhausted? Worn out? Overextended? They all raised their hands and say they would love to have a time in their life when I didn’t feel these things. There are gifts in these situations. Instead of talking about what I am missing, I being to talk about what I have that I am missing in this moment.

6:36 – Jason and Terry talk about the power of pause in this moment. Terry tells a story of a successful American businessman who meets with a Zen master. The businessman says, “I want inner peace and I want it now!” The Zen master says, “fine, first, let’s have a cup of tea”. The businessman says, “I don’t want tea I want peace”. The Zen master insists and so they begin to have tea. The Zen master pours the tea and it overflows the cup of the businessman. The businessman says, “hold on what are you doing, I wanted peace and now you’re making a mess here”. The Zen master says, “your life like that teacup is already full. If you want to make space for something you want, you have to let go of something first.”

Pause is important. Once you pause you begin to see things you didn’t before. You will no longer be a puppet to…

10:40 – How do we make space in today’s world? A Japanese saying goes, It was something that my barn burned down, but for the first time, I can now see the moon. It doesn’t take much to breathe. Gardening is a spiritual process. That is something that Terry looks to to find miracles. He says to look in your kitchen, look in your garden, look around you. See Terry’s Garden here.

14:10 – Kids have e-learning, grass needs to be mowed, we need groceries, all are true but what are you choosing to see? Step back, take a breathe, and look at what you see.

16:30 – To be grounded, Terry takes as a gardener very literal to be in the ground, to be connected here. The gifts in the present moment are available to me that we not available to me before.

17:40 – Creating space and taking moments now is what life is all about. Jason shares a story about his son asking to do something so he stopped what he was doing and played hoops with his son outside.

20:00 – Terry goes outside to his garden and asks himself, what did I notice today that I have never seen before? As well to take pleasure and savor it. How can I share these gifts with others?

21:18 – You may say, I understand we need to step back but we have numbers to hit and performance metrics to make in our company. The answer to this Terry explains is that when you step back you find things you didn’t know were there. This makes you even more productive and effective when you step back to see those things you didn’t before that others might have missed.

23:00 – I want you here with me now. I want you to bring your best self to the table. Listening and really here. When you get to the table, you often find, I was measuring the wrong stuff. Terry explains what this means.


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If you like the podcast, have a question, or just want to share your thoughts for about daring to begin please leave a comment below or please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.

ABOUT THE THERMOSTAT

Conversations and micro-thoughts to engage your mind and heart.

A thermostat is proactive. It sets the temperature in a room. Controls the temperature. Regulates the temperature. But in today’s distracted, fast-paced and digital world, it’s easy for individuals and organizations to act more like thermometers, slipping into reactionary thinking, becoming scattered and inconsistent. The most compelling leaders, teams, organizations, families or collection of humans of any kind operate in thermostat mode. They calibrate their mind and heart to set the temperature for the vision and culture they want to create. Jason Barger, globally celebrated author, keynote speaker, and founder of Step Back Leadership Consulting, is the host of The Thermostat, a podcast journey to discover authentic leadership, create compelling cultures and find clarity of mission, vision, and values.

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