This is Hello Freedom and I'm your host Terry Cole.

For almost two decades I've been a licensed psychotherapist and transformation coach, and on this show I will bring you simple strategies based on practical psychology, inspiring expert interviews, and my own insights and observations

from my time on the front lines of the fascinating worlds of entertainment,

empowerment, and mental health.

Now let's get going with today's episode. Well, hello and welcome to this week's episode that I want to start with a question.

When you're in a conversation with someone and it gets quiet, do you immediately feel compelled

to jump in to say something when you get onto an elevator and there's other people. Do you strike up a conversation, do you say

hello, do you talk about the weather, or do you just allow the silence? So the question is,

uncomfortable silence or power pause, right? That's what I'm calling it. You know,

there is so much power in a pregnant pause if you know how to allow it to actually be there.

Now anyone who is a storyteller, a salesman, someone who speaks professionally for a living, oh you're well aware of the power of the pregnant pause.

We pause for effect, we pause to like really drive a point home when you're about to when you're selling

something you don't fill that space. You just let it sit because you're hoping it's going to

inspire the other person to fill it by saying yes I'll do whatever it is you're

trying to make them do. So let's talk about why we

feel compelled to fill an awkward silence and how can you transform an awkward

silence into a power pause.

So the first thing is awareness.

You have to be aware.

Some people talk a lot when they're nervous, when they're around people they don't know,

if they're in a conversation with someone who has power over them,

a boss, whomever, in the beginning of a relationship.

...