The EQ tool to help you pause before you react is something most of us wish we had in the conversation that goes sideways, the email sent too fast, or the reaction we can’t take back. This episode is about why that happens, what the science says, and the 3 step tool that starts changing it today.
Sandy Gerber is 15 days out from a 10-day Vipassana silent retreat. No phone, no family, no talking, ten hours of meditation a day. She signed up curious. Then she read three books about what she actually committed to. This is her honest, slightly panicked, completely real reaction to what she found.
You’ll hear about the Stanford marshmallow test, the famous study where children who could wait for two marshmallows instead of eating one immediately went on to have measurably better outcomes in school, relationships, and life. Dr. Paul Fleischman, a psychiatrist who has practiced Vipassana for decades, calls Vipassana the marshmallow test for adults. Ten days of watching, waiting, muting reactions, restraining impulses, sitting with whatever arises without reacting to any of it.
Sandy’s emotional magnets are Experience and Achievement. She doesn’t just want to reach a goal she wants to build it, feel it, and live it as it unfolds. When an idea lands, she’s already in it. Waiting isn’t just hard. It’s counterintuitive to how she’s wired. And Vipassana is asking her to sit still for ten hours a day and watch what arises without reacting to any of it.
You’ll also hear the connected conversation Sandy had with Kris on a beach in Tofino, what happens when two people stop, get present, and tell each other the real thing. And why every single scary thing Sandy has done has turned out to be the thing that changed her most.
You’ll walk away with the EQ Switch tool, 3 steps to help you respond, not react.
This is the inner work that changes how you show up, at work, at home, and most importantly, with yourself.
