The pause is where your freedom lives.
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose.
Most people live on autopilot.
Something happens. A comment. A delay. A tone. And before they know it, they’re already reacting (tight chest, sharp words, mental spirals).
Stoicism doesn’t ask us to suppress that first reaction. It asks you not to identify with it.
The first impulse is a reflex. A spark. A suggestion. What matters is whether we assent to it.
That brief pause (sometimes only a second) is where our character shows up. Not in never feeling annoyed or defensive, but in deciding how we act in response.
We are not our first reaction. We are what we choose after it.
That’s good news. It means freedom is always close at hand.
Stay hungry. Stay wise. Eat brekkie.
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