The Sacred Pause is a tool for reaching back into the root of a feeling. It is the master key version of taking a moment, taking a breath. It brings us through the root of feeling into the core of emotion and, brushing ego aside, lets us see what's really going on.
When we are confronted with a strong emotion, we tend to lend that emotion an equally strong response. In fact, we are not responding, but reacting and, if we are to work on developing conscious and mindful social connection and communication, one of the keys to this is learning to respond, not react. The Sacred Pause is a means for doing exactly that.
John has a problem with road rage. When other drivers do something that he feels is "stupid" or "dangerous" or just plain thoughtless, he tends to respond in an overly aggressive manner. Responding with the Sacred Pause for him would mean being with his immediate feeling and voicing it. He is angry - employing the Pause would mean stopping and vocalizing or sub-vocalizing his feeling - "Angry, angry, angry...". This would then lead to a peeling back of the layers of anger over the "next" feeling - "Fearful, fearful, fearful...". And, going into the fear, reveals, "No control, no control, no control...".
