Deliberately causing silence — technique for getting past blocks

Deliberately causing silence — technique for getting past blocks Guys this is an amazing speech technique and I just want everyone to know about it. This post may be long but stay with me please. So here’s what happens. You’re talking along and then you feel your word catch. All the sudden, you cannot say the word. And the person is looking at you. And you panic. There’s this very particular horrible feeling that we are all very familiar with. The feeling of someone looking at you, waiting for you to speak, and you just can’t say it. Your mouth doesn’t move. You keep trying over and over, and you keep getting stuck at the same spot. It’s like you’re trying to “punch through”, each time you punch harder. And the tension and embarrassment are growing exponentially greater with every second. It’s basically like you’re trapped in a burning building and you’re trying to punch a hole in the wall, every second getting more panicked, punching harder, desperate. So do this instead — 1) talking like normal blah blah blah 2) Stutter! Word catches! Cant speak all of a sudden! 3) Stop. Just do nothing, literally nothing. *Don’t try to speak*. Breathe like normal. — yes it’s uncomfortable, because the person is waiting for you to speak. But get used to that feeling of discomfort. Don’t panic. *Dont try to speak.* 4) once you have drawn out the silence for about 3- 7 seconds, then just say the word. Please realize that doing this correctly IS NOT EASY. Don’t expect to be able to do it correctly on the first try. It really takes practice, to get the hang of *stopping and doing nothing, actually not trying to speak.* *This is NOT a quick and easy fix. It is NOT “just pausing before you speak.” It is a very deliberate act of mindfulness.* I think of it as kind of a “reset.” You stutter, then you panic, then you stutter more, then you panic more, then you stutter more— until finally you break through and say the word. One stutter is enough to trigger many more stutters. Instead— Stutter once. Stop. Reset back to normal. Say the word.