It strikes without warning a sudden, spooky sensation that you have had this exact conversation, in this exact room, at this exact time before. Is it a psychic premonition? A memory from a past life? Or just a hiccup in your brain's wiring? In this episode, we explore the fascinating theories behind déjà vu. We will look at what happens when your memory circuits misfire, and in the process, we will learn ten high-level English words to help you describe the strange and the unexplained with scientific precision. Join us as we explore the mysteries of the mind.

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Hello and welcome back to Word Power. Have you ever walked into a room, looked at a stranger, and suddenly felt a shiver go down your spine because you were absolutely certain you had been there before? You know the lighting, you know the smell, you know exactly what someone is about to say next. It feels like you are watching a rerun of your own life.

This phenomenon is known as déjà vu, a French phrase meaning "already seen." It is one of the most baffling and widespread human experiences. Almost everyone has felt it, but very few people understand why it happens. Is it a glitch in the matrix? Is your brain predicting the future? Or is it simply a filing error in your internal library?

Today, we are going to peel back the layers of mystery surrounding this sensation. We are going to look at the neuroscience that explains why your brain sometimes feels like it’s time-traveling. And, of course, we are going to arm you with the vocabulary you need to discuss these complex mental states. We will learn words to describe things that are weird, things that don't last long, and things that just don't add up. So, sit back—and if you feel like you’ve heard this intro before, don't worry, you’re in the right place. Let’s get started.

The experience of déjà vu is almost always described the same way it is an intense, uncanny sensation of familiarity in a completely new situation. It’s not just that things look familiar; it’s that they feel wrongly familiar. You know, logically, that you have never visited this specific coffee shop in a city you are visiting for the first time, yet your gut tells you otherwise. This clash between what you know (logic) and what you feel (familiarity) creates a mental discrepancy that leaves us feeling confused and sometimes even a little spooked.

For a long time, this phenomenon was the realm of psychics and ghost hunters. But in recent decades, neuroscientists have begun to study it seriously, and they have come up with several plausible theories that ground this ghostly feeling in biology rather than magic.

One of the leading explanations is what scientists call "dual processing." Imagine your brain has two separate pathways for processing information. Let's say you are looking at a red car. One pathway records "red car" and stamps it with a timestamp of "now." The other pathway records "red car" and files it into your memory bank. Usually, these two processes happen in perfect synchrony. You see the car, and you remember the car, all at once.

However, the brain is a biological machine, and like all machines, it can lag. Some researchers believe that déjà vu occurs when there is a tiny, millisecond delay in one of these pathways. Perhaps the information reaches the memory center a split second before it reaches the conscious part of your brain that processes the present moment. So, by the time your conscious mind registers the red car, your memory center has already filed it. Your brain essentially tricks itself. It says, "Wait, I already have a record of this!" You feel like you are remembering the moment because, technically, you are remembering it—from a millisecond ago. It is a neurological echo.

Another theory focuses on the idea of a "hologram." This theory suggests that our memories are stored like holograms, where a single fragment can recreate the whole picture. If you walk into a hotel lobby that has the exact same layout or smell as your grandmother’s living room, your brain might grab onto that one detail—the smell of old wood, perhaps—and mistakenly retrieve the "grandmother's house" file. But because the rest of the lobby doesn't match, the memory doesn't fully form. You are left with a ghost of a memory, a feeling of recognition without the context. Your brain has made an erroneous connection. It has confused a similarity with a memory.

There is also the theory of "attentional slip." Imagine you are walking down the street, scrolling on your phone. You pass a bakery. Your peripheral vision sees the bakery, your nose smells the bread, but your conscious attention is on your text message. You don't "realize" you passed the bakery. Then, a second later, you look up and see the bakery. Your brain feels a shock. It feels like you’ve seen it before because you did see it, just a moment ago, without paying attention. The first perception was subliminal; the second is conscious. The gap between them creates that weird sense of repetition.

Interestingly, this phenomenon is most common in young adults—people between ages 15 and 25. This suggests it might be related to the development of the brain, specifically the frontal lobes which are busy sorting out identity and reality. As we age, our brains settle down, the "wiring" becomes more insulated, and these short-circuits happen less often.

Regardless of the cause, the experience is almost always transient. It hits you hard, lasts for a few seconds, and then vanishes, leaving you trying to explain what just happened. It is a fleeting malfunction. It is a reminder that our perception of reality is a construction. Our brains are constantly stitching together sights, sounds, and memories to create the continuous movie of our lives. Déjà vu is simply a moment where we see the stitches. It is a harmless anomaly in the system, a brief hiccup in the complex circuitry of the human mind.

So, the next time it happens to you, don't worry about past lives or glitches in the simulation. Just appreciate the fact that your brain is working hard—maybe just a little too hard—to make sense of the world around you. It is a reminder of how fragile and fascinating our grip on reality truly is.

Now, let’s pause and rewind—not literally, we don't want to cause any déjà vu—and look at the vocabulary I used to describe this mental phenomenon. Talking about the brain and abstract feelings can be difficult, but these words will help you sound precise and sophisticated.

I started by describing the sensation as uncanny. I said it is an "uncanny sensation of familiarity." This is a perfect word for anything that is strange or mysterious, especially in an unsettling way. It’s not just "weird"; it’s weird in a way that makes your skin crawl a little. If you see a robot that looks almost human but not quite, that is uncanny (we even call it the "uncanny valley"). If you dream about a friend and then they call you five minutes later, that is an uncanny coincidence. It implies something supernatural or beyond normal explanation.

I then talked about the discrepancy between logic and feeling. A discrepancy is a lack of compatibility or similarity between two or more facts. It’s a mismatch. If your bank account says you have $100, but you know you deposited $1000, there is a discrepancy. In the workplace, if the sales report doesn't match the inventory list, you have to investigate the discrepancy. It’s a very common professional word used to point out errors or things that don't fit together.

We discussed scientific theories, calling them plausible. I said scientists have come up with plausible theories. Plausible means seeming reasonable or probable. It doesn't mean it’s definitely true, but it could be true; it makes sense. If you are late for work and you tell your boss you were kidnapped by aliens, that is not plausible. If you say there was traffic, that is a plausible excuse. In arguments or debates, you always want your points to be plausible.

I used the word synchrony. I explained that usually, brain processes happen in perfect synchrony. This means simultaneous action or occurrence. It’s related to "synchronize." When things are in synchrony, they are moving together in time. Dancers move in synchrony. The sound and video on your TV should be in synchrony. If they aren't, it’s annoying. You might hear the phrase "out of sync," which is the opposite. In a team, you want everyone working in synchrony to get the job done efficiently.

When talking about the brain making a mistake, I used the word erroneous. I said the brain makes an erroneous connection. This is a formal way of saying "incorrect" or "wrong." It comes from the word "error." You can say, "The article contained erroneous information." It sounds much more authoritative than just saying "wrong information." If you receive a bill for something you didn't buy, you can call customer service and report an erroneous charge.

I mentioned that déjà vu is transient. I said the experience is almost always transient. This means lasting only for a short time; impermanent. A storm can be transient. A feeling of sadness might be transient. In medicine, doctors talk about "transient symptoms," meaning they come and go. It’s a great word to use when you want to emphasize that a situation won't last forever. "Don't worry about this difficulty; it is merely transient."

I called the phenomenon a harmless anomaly. An anomaly is something that deviates from what is standard, normal, or expected. It’s an outlier. If it snows in the middle of summer, that is a weather anomaly. If a student who usually gets Fs suddenly gets an A+, that is an anomaly. Scientists love this word because they are always looking for patterns, so anything that breaks the pattern is an anomaly.

I also used the word circuitry. I referred to the complex circuitry of the human mind. Literally, this refers to electric circuits, like the wires in your computer. But we often use it metaphorically to describe how the brain is wired or how a complex system is organized. You might say, "We need to change the circuitry of this organization," meaning the fundamental way it operates and connects. It implies a system of pathways and connections.

Earlier in the talk, I used the word subliminal. I talked about "subliminal perception." Subliminal means existing or functioning below the threshold of consciousness. You don't realize you are seeing it. Advertisers are often accused of using subliminal messages—hidden images that make you want to buy a product without you knowing why. If you pick up on a vibe in a room without anyone saying anything, you might be picking up on subliminal cues.

And finally, let's look at manifest. I didn't use this in the main text, but it fits perfectly here. Déjà vu manifests as a feeling of familiarity. To manifest means to show something clearly or to make it appear. A disease might manifest with a fever. A problem in a relationship might manifest as constant arguing. It’s about something internal or hidden becoming visible and real.

So, when you combine these, you can say "The anomaly in my brain manifested as an uncanny but transient feeling, caused by an erroneous signal in my neural circuitry." See? You sound like a neuroscientist already.

So, the next time your brain hiccups and you feel that weird sense of repetition, don't panic. You aren't stuck in a time loop. It’s just your neurons having a little bit of a traffic jam. It’s a reminder that your brain is a complex, biological machine, and sometimes, even the best machines have a glitch.

Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Word Power. I hope you found the explanation plausible and the vocabulary useful. I’ll see you in the next episode—or have I said that already?

Uncanny Strange or mysterious, especially in an unsettling way.

Discrepancy A lack of compatibility or similarity between two or more facts.

Plausible Seeming reasonable or probable.

Synchrony Simultaneous action, development, or occurrence.

Erroneous Wrong; incorrect.

Transient Lasting only for a short time; impermanent.

Anomaly Something that deviates from what is standard, normal, or expected.

Circuitry A complex network or system of connections (literally electric, often used metaphorically for the brain).

Subliminal Below the threshold of sensation or consciousness; perceived by or affecting someone's mind without their being aware of it.

Manifest To display or show (a quality or feeling) by one's acts or appearance; to become apparent.

It is January, which means we have all collectively lost our minds. We are currently under the "Resolution Delusion"—the belief that because the calendar changed a number, our DNA has fundamentally altered. In this high-energy episode, we take a flamethrower to the "props" of the fresh start. We talk about the $40 notebook made from a cow that went to Harvard, the tragedy of the "Gym Tourists" texting on treadmills, and the lie that is Kale. Stop pretending you’re going to be a Navy SEAL by Tuesday. Let’s aim for "Slightly Less Disappointing" instead.

To unlock full access to all our episodes, become a premium subscriber on Apple Podcasts or Patreon. And don’t forget to visit englishpluspodcast.com for more content and learning.

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Executive Producer: Rada Sazhin

Bronze Sponsor: Breno Miranda

You can't add new habits to a cluttered life. Today, we embrace the philosophy of Via Negativa (improvement by subtraction). We use the Eisenhower Matrix to identify time-wasters and learn how to ruthlessly kill "Zombie Projects" that are eating your brainpower. We also cover essential business idioms for efficiency like "Trim the fat," "Bottleneck," and "Low-hanging fruit."

To unlock full access to all our episodes, become a premium subscriber on Apple Podcasts or Patreon. And don’t forget to visit englishpluspodcast.com for more content and learning.

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Welcome back to Day Three of The Fresh Start Blueprint. We are officially in the middle of the week. This is usually the danger zone. Monday is pure adrenaline. Tuesday is steady work. Wednesday? Wednesday is when reality starts to set in.

On Day One, we set ambitious goals. We built a vision. On Day Two, we rebranded ourselves. We told the world, "I am new, I am improved, I am ready." But today, we have to deal with a fundamental law of physics: Two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time.

You cannot bring your new habits into a life that is completely clogged up with old garbage.

Here is a fascinating quirk of human psychology. When we try to improve things—whether it is a company, a recipe, or our own lives—our default setting is "Addition." We think, "I need to be more productive, so I will add a new app to my phone." "I need to be healthier, so I will add a morning run." "I need to sell more, so I will add more meetings."

We rarely think about "Subtraction." We rarely think, "Maybe I should just stop watching four hours of TikTok." Or "Maybe I should cancel that meeting that hasn't been useful since 2019."

Today is about "Cleaning House." It is about Eliminating Friction. In the business world, this is called Operational Efficiency. In your personal life, it is called Sanity. If Day One was about hitting the gas pedal, Day Three is about taking your foot off the brake. Because if you hit the gas while the parking brake is on, you don't go forward. You just burn out the engine. And I don't want you to burn out in January.

Let’s start with a high-level concept. There is a term in theology and philosophy, famously adapted by the risk analyst Nassim Taleb, called Via Negativa. It is Latin for "The Negative Way." The idea is that you can often improve a system more by removing what is wrong than by adding what is right.

Think about a statue. Michelangelo didn't "add" marble to create David. He took a block of stone and removed everything that wasn't David.

In business, we often ignore Via Negativa. We let processes build up like sediment. We have "Technical Debt"—that is when you write quick, messy code just to get it done, and later it breaks the system. But we also have "Organizational Debt." This is the buildup of bad habits, useless reports, and unclear communication channels.

This creates "Friction."

Friction is the enemy of the Fresh Start.

Friction is the 15 minutes you spend looking for a file because your desktop is a mess.

Friction is the hour-long meeting that could have been an email.

Friction is the guilt you feel about a project you started three years ago and never finished.

So, the strategic goal for today is to identify the friction in your life and ruthlessly eliminate it. We are not organizing the clutter; we are deleting it. There is a big difference. Organizing is just shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. Deleting is fixing the hole in the boat.

How do we decide what to delete? We need a filter. The most famous tool for this is the Eisenhower Matrix, named after President Dwight Eisenhower. He was a pretty productive guy; he won a World War and built the interstate highway system, so he knew a thing or two about getting things done.

The Matrix divides tasks into four quadrants based on Urgency and Importance.

Quadrant 1: Urgent and Important. (Crises, deadlines). You have to do these.

Quadrant 2: Not Urgent, but Important. (Strategy, learning, relationship building). This is where the "New You" lives.

Quadrant 3: Urgent, but Not Important. (Interruptions, other people's emergencies, most emails). These are the deceptively dangerous ones.

Quadrant 4: Not Urgent and Not Important. (Doom-scrolling, gossip, busy work).

Most people spend their lives bouncing between Quadrant 1 (panic mode) and Quadrant 4 (escape mode). They get stressed, so they scroll Instagram. Then they panic again.

Your goal for the Fresh Start is to expand Quadrant 2. But you can't create time. Time is finite. To get more time for Quadrant 2, you have to kill Quadrant 3 and 4.

This leads to the skill: The Not-To-Do List.

To-Do lists are dangerous because they can grow forever. A Not-To-Do list is a boundary.

I want you to look at your calendar and your habits. What are the things you are doing out of guilt or habit?

Maybe it is checking your email every 10 minutes. Put it on the Not-To-Do list.

Maybe it is saying "yes" to coffee chats with people who just want to pick your brain for free. Put it on the Not-To-Do list.

Maybe it is formatting internal documents to look pretty when nobody cares about the font. Stop it.

Now, let's get to the language. When you start cleaning house, you are going to upset some people. You are going to cancel meetings. You are going to change processes. You need the language to explain why you are doing this, so you sound like a genius efficiency expert, not a lazy jerk.

Let's look at some powerful vocabulary for "Cleaning House."

1. Streamline.

This is your best friend. It means to make an organization or system more efficient and effective by employing faster or simpler working methods.

"I am streamlining my morning workflow."

"We need to streamline our reporting process."

It sounds aerodynamic. It sounds slick.

2. Bottleneck.

A bottleneck is the neck of a bottle—it is the narrowest part. It is where the flow gets restricted. In business, a bottleneck is the person or process that slows everything else down.

"I realized that my inbox is the bottleneck for the whole team, so I'm changing how I process approvals."

Identifying a bottleneck shows you have "Systems Thinking."

3. Redundancy.

This means something that is no longer needed or useful, usually because there is a repetition.

"We have a lot of redundancy in our data entry; we are typing the same names in three different spreadsheets."

4. Low-hanging fruit.

This is a classic idiom. It refers to the fruit on the tree that is easiest to reach. In business, it means the easiest improvements you can make for the biggest immediate gain.

"Cleaning up our email list is low-hanging fruit; it will instantly improve our open rates."

Now, let's look at the "Idioms of Removal." These are great for being decisive.

"Trim the fat."

This means getting rid of the excess. It is often used in budgeting, but you can use it for your schedule.

"My calendar is too full; I need to trim the fat and focus on the key accounts."

"Nip it in the bud."

This comes from gardening. If you see a weed, you cut the bud before it turns into a flower and spreads seeds. It means stopping a problem at the very beginning.

"I saw a misunderstanding starting in the email chain, so I called them to nip it in the bud."

"Cut your losses."

This is a gambling term, but crucial in business. It means to stop doing something that is failing, even if you have already spent time or money on it. This is hard for us. We have the "Sunk Cost Fallacy." We think, "But I've already written five chapters of this book, I have to finish it!" No, you don't. If the book is bad, cut your losses.

"We spent six months on this prototype, but it’s not working. Let's cut our losses and pivot."

"Phase out."

This is a gentle way of killing something. You don't stop it abruptly; you slowly remove it.

"We are going to phase out the weekly status meeting and replace it with a Slack update."

Let’s apply this. I want to talk about "Zombie Projects."

We all have them. It is that project you started in October. You were excited. You did 20% of the work. Then you got busy. Now, every time you look at that folder on your desktop, you feel a little pang of guilt. It is undead. It is not alive, but it won't die. It is eating your brain.

Here is the Fresh Start application. You have two choices.

Choice A: Resurrect it. Make it a Quadrant 2 goal. Put it in your calendar.

Choice B: Shoot it in the head.

Choice B is usually the right answer. You need to declare "Bankruptcy" on your old to-do list.

Imagine sending an email to yourself, or even to your team, saying:

"Regarding Project X. Given our new strategic focus on [New Goal], Project X is no longer a priority. I am shelving this indefinitely to free up bandwidth for the new initiative."

"Bandwidth." There is another great word. It means mental capacity.

"I don't have the bandwidth for this." It is a polite, professional way of saying "I am too busy and this is not important enough."

Let’s talk about "Meeting Clutter."

The Fresh Start is the only time of year you can cancel recurring meetings without offending people. You can say:

"In the spirit of the New Year and streamlining our operations, let's cancel the weekly catch-up. If we need to sync, we can book a time ad-hoc."

"Ad-hoc" means "when needed" or "for this specific purpose."

You are giving them the gift of time. You are framing the cancellation as an efficiency measure, not an avoidance measure.

The hardest part of cleaning house is saying "No."

We say "Yes" because we want to be liked. We want to be helpful. But every time you say "Yes" to something minor, you are saying "No" to something major. You are saying "No" to your Fresh Start.

I want to teach you the "Strategic No."

A standard "No" is: "I can't do that."

A Strategic No provides a reason based on priorities.

"I would love to help, but I have to say no because I am fully committed to finishing the Q1 report this week, and I can't compromise that deadline."

Do you see what happened there? You didn't say "I don't want to." You said "I am a professional who honors their commitments, and taking this on would make me unprofessional." You made "No" sound like a virtue.

I want to end with a visualization. I want you to look at your physical workspace right now. Or your desktop screen.

Is it crowded?

There is a concept called "Cognitive Load." Your brain is constantly scanning your environment. Every Post-it note, every icon on your desktop, every pile of paper takes up a tiny micro-fraction of your processing power. It is like having 50 tabs open in your browser. Your computer slows down. Your brain slows down.

Cleaning house isn't just about hygiene; it is about performance.

When you clear your desk, you are closing the browser tabs in your brain. You are freeing up RAM.

So, when we talk about "The Fresh Start," I want you to take it literally.

Here is your mission for Day Three. It is called The Kill List.

I want you to find three things to kill.

1. One Recurring Commitment: A meeting, a subscription you don't use, a volunteer task that drains you. Cancel it. Use the phrase "I need to streamline my schedule."

2. One Digital Distraction: An app that annoys you, an email newsletter that you delete without reading. Unsubscribe. Delete. "Cut the fat."

3. One "Zombie" Task: Something on your to-do list that has been there for more than 3 months. Either do it today, or delete it forever. admit you are never going to learn French on Duolingo if you haven't opened it in a year. Delete the app. Cut your losses.

Write these down. Cross them out. Feel the friction disappearing.

This is how we make space for success.

We have now set the goal (Day 1), we have built the brand (Day 2), and we have cleared the path (Day 3).

But tomorrow... tomorrow we face the biggest enemy of them all. The Slump.

The motivation is going to fade. The shiny new year is going to get scuffed.

Tomorrow, on Day Four, we are going to talk about Resilience. We are going to move from "Motivation" to "Discipline." I am going to teach you how to stick with it when it gets boring.

Go clean house. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

We have all been there you are in the middle of a conversation, and suddenly, the words run out. The silence stretches on for three seconds, but it feels like an hour. Your heart races, and you scramble to say anything—even something silly—just to fill the void. But why? Why is silence so uncomfortable for us? In this episode, we dive deep into the social and evolutionary roots of this anxiety. We will look at why we feel a need to fill every quiet moment with noise, and in doing so, we will learn ten powerful English words to help you describe human interaction with precision and grace.

To unlock full access to all our episodes, become a premium subscriber on Apple Podcasts or Patreon. And don’t forget to visit englishpluspodcast.com for more content and learning.

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Hello friends, and welcome back to Word Power. I am so happy to have you here with me today.

I want you to imagine a scenario. You are sitting at a dinner table with a colleague or maybe a new acquaintance. You are chatting away, things are going well, and then, suddenly, the topic ends. You stop speaking. They stop speaking. One second passes. Then two. Then three. You look at your fork. They look at their drink. The air in the room suddenly feels heavy, almost thick. You feel a sudden spike of anxiety in your chest, and your brain starts screaming, "Say something! Anything! Just make noise!"

Today, we are going to talk about that moment. We are going to explore why silence—which is just the absence of noise—can feel physically painful in a social setting. We are going to look at the psychology behind the "awkward pause" and ask whether it’s a cultural habit or a biological instinct. And, as always, we are going to use this fascinating topic as a vehicle to learn some incredible vocabulary. We’re going to learn words that describe hidden agreements, unstoppable urges, and the social glue that holds us together. So, let’s get comfortable, and let’s talk about silence.

Silence should be the most neutral thing in the world. It is, after all, simply nothingness. Yet, in the context of human interaction, silence is rarely empty. It is heavy; it is loaded with meaning. When a conversation hits a lull, we don't just experience it as a break; we often experience it as a threat.

Psychologists and linguists have studied this phenomenon for decades. They have found that in many Western cultures, the tolerance for silence between two people is incredibly low—sometimes as short as four seconds. After four seconds of quiet, the atmosphere becomes disconcerting. We start to project our own insecurities into the gap. We think, "Did I offend them? Are they bored? Am I boring?" The silence acts like a mirror, reflecting our social anxieties back at us.

There is a theory that this fear is evolutionary. For our ancient ancestors, social cohesion was a matter of life and death. If you were part of the tribe, you survived; if you were cast out, you died. In those early days, constant communication—grunts, gestures, sounds—was a signal that "we are good, we are connected." Silence, on the other hand, could signal anger, disapproval, or impending rejection. Therefore, we may have inherited a tacit understanding that noise equals safety. When the noise stops, our primitive brain alerts us that the connection might be severed.

This creates a powerful compulsion to speak. It is an urge that feels almost automatic, bypassing our logical mind. We don't speak because we have something important to say; we speak to prove that we are still there and still friendly. We rush to fill the vacuum. There is a famous saying that "nature abhors a vacuum," meaning empty spaces must be filled. In conversation, our anxiety abhors a vacuum. If there is an empty space, we will throw anything into it—complaints about the weather, observations about the food, or random trivia—just to keep the channel open.

This type of speech has a specific name in linguistics phatic communication. Phatic expressions are words that carry no real information but serve a social function. When you say, "How are you?" you usually don't want a medical report; you are just checking the connection. You are lubricating the social gears. When silence falls, we ramp up our phatic chatter. We create an incessant stream of noise to reassure ourselves and our partner that the relationship is functioning.

However, this isn't true for everyone. The discomfort with silence is largely cultural. In some cultures, particularly in East Asia or parts of Scandinavia, silence is viewed differently. It is seen as a sign of respect, a moment of reflection, or a way to let a thought resonate. In these contexts, answering too quickly can be seen as shallow or thoughtless. But in the fast-paced, extroverted West, we often view silence as a failure. We treat conversation like a tennis match; if the ball drops, the game is over.

This anxiety can rob our conversations of depth. If we are terrified of the pause, we never give ourselves time to think before we speak. We prioritize speed over quality. We seek constant validating feedback—nods, "uh-huhs," and laughter—to prove we are being heard. When those cues stop, even for a moment, we panic.

Ultimately, learning to endure the silence can be a superpower. If you can resist the urge to fill the gap, you might find that the conversation goes deeper. You might find that the other person uses that space to reveal something true, something that requires a bit of quiet courage to say. But until we learn to master that fear, the silence will remain intolerable for many of us, a monster that must be chased away with words.

Now, let's take a closer look at the words I used to describe this invisible tension. These are words that will help you articulate not just what is happening in a conversation, but how it feels.

I started by talking about a lull in the conversation. A lull is a temporary interval of quiet or lack of activity. We often associate this word with "lullaby," the song you sing to put a baby to sleep, because it implies a calming down. But in conversation, a lull is that dip in energy where nobody is speaking. You can use this in many contexts. You can talk about a "lull in the storm," meaning the rain stopped for a bit. You can talk about a "lull in business," meaning fewer customers are coming in. It’s a gentle word, but as we discussed, it can feel heavy. You might say, "We were arguing, and then there was a lull, and everyone just looked at each other."

Then I used the word disconcerting. I said the atmosphere becomes disconcerting. This is a fantastic adjective. If something is disconcerting, it causes you to feel unsettled, confused, or slightly disturbed. It’s not terrifying, like a horror movie; it’s just... off. It throws you off balance. Seeing your strict boss dancing at a party might be disconcerting. Walking into your house and finding the furniture rearranged is disconcerting. It’s that feeling of "something isn't quite right here." In a conversation, when someone stares at you without blinking, that is definitely disconcerting.

We talked about a tacit understanding. This is a high-level word that is very useful in professional and social settings. Tacit means understood or implied without being stated. It’s silent. If you and your coworker have a tacit agreement to cover for each other, you never wrote it down, you never shook hands on it, you just know. It’s unspoken. You might say, "There was a tacit approval in the room," meaning nobody said "yes," but nobody said "no," so you knew it was okay to proceed.

I mentioned the compulsion to speak. A compulsion is an irresistible urge to behave in a certain way. It comes from the verb "compel," which means to force. If you have a compulsion, you feel like you have to do it. You might have a compulsion to check your phone every five minutes. You might have a compulsion to clean when you are stressed. It’s stronger than a "desire." A desire is "I want chocolate." A compulsion is "I cannot stop myself from eating this chocolate."

I also used the word vacuum. We usually think of a vacuum cleaner or the vacuum of space. But metaphorically, a vacuum is a space left empty by the loss of something. When a strong leader leaves a company, it creates a "leadership vacuum." In our story, silence creates a social vacuum—an empty space that makes us uncomfortable. You can use this whenever something is missing and needs to be replaced. "After the band broke up, there was a vacuum in the local music scene."

Then we geeked out a bit with the word phatic. This is a linguistic term, but you can use it to sound very smart. Phatic communication is language used for general social interaction rather than to convey information. "Hello," "How are you," "Nice day," "Yours truly." These don't mean anything literally; they are social gestures. If someone is talking just to hear their own voice or just to be polite, you can say, "Oh, it was just phatic conversation." It’s a great way to analyze small talk.

I described the noise as incessant. Incessant means continuing without pause or interruption, and it usually implies something annoying or unpleasant. You wouldn't say "incessant happiness." You would say "incessant rain," "incessant complaining," or "incessant noise." It feels like it will never stop. If you have a neighbor who plays the drums all night, that is incessant drumming.

I also used the word resonate. I said silence allows a thought to resonate. Literally, this is about sound—like a bell ringing and the sound vibrating in the air. Figuratively, it means to produce a positive feeling, emotional response, or opinion. If a story resonates with you, it means it sticks with you; it means you feel it deep down. If you say something profound in a meeting, you should pause to let it resonate. If you keep talking immediately, you kill the vibration. You want your words to sink in.

We talked about validating feedback. To validate means to check or prove the accuracy of something, but in psychology, it means to demonstrate that a person's feelings or opinions are worthwhile. Validating feedback is when you nod and say, "I understand." You are making the other person feel valid, real, and accepted. We all crave validation. You might say, "I don't need you to solve my problem, I just need you to validate my feelings."

Finally, I used the word intolerable. I said the silence becomes intolerable. This is simply unable to be endured. It’s too much. The heat was intolerable. The pain was intolerable. The rudeness was intolerable. It’s the highest degree of "I can't stand this."

So, when you put these together, you can describe a complex social situation. You can say "There was a disconcerting lull in the meeting, and I felt a compulsion to fill the vacuum with incessant chatter, but I realized I should just let the boss's words resonate."

So, the next time you find yourself stuck in a moment of silence, try to resist the panic. Don't rush to fill the vacuum with phatic noise. Just breathe. Let the moment be. You might find that the silence isn't a wall separating you from the other person, but a bridge to a deeper understanding.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Word Power. I hope these words resonate with you and help you navigate your next conversation with confidence. I’ll see you next time.

Lull A temporary interval of quiet or lack of activity.

Disconcerting Causing one to feel unsettled, confused, or disturbed.

Tacit Understood or implied without being stated.

Compulsion An irresistible urge to behave in a certain way, especially against one's conscious wishes.

Vacuum A space left empty by the absence or loss of something; a gap.

Phatic Denoting language used for general purposes of social interaction (like "Hello" or "How are you") rather than to convey information or ask questions.

Incessant Continuing without pause or interruption (usually regarding something regarded as unpleasant).

Resonate To produce a positive feeling, emotional response, or opinion; to have a lasting effect.

Validating Demonstrating or supporting the truth or value of something; making a person feel that their feelings or opinions are worthwhile.

Intolerable Unable to be endured.

We are told to hit the ground running, to explode into the New Year with resolutions and noise. But nature does not run in January; it sleeps. In this session, we trade the strategy for the soul. We look at the terrifying beauty of the blank page and the field of untouched snow. We discuss the necessity of "Wintering"—the art of growing roots in the dark while the world thinks you are dormant. If you feel a strange sadness amidst the "New Year, New Me" chants, this episode is your permission to be quiet, to grieve the year that has passed, and to let the silence speak before you interrupt it.

To unlock full access to all our episodes, become a premium subscriber on Apple Podcasts or Patreon. And don’t forget to visit englishpluspodcast.com for more content and learning.

SPECIAL THANKS  to my

Executive Producer: Rada Sazhin

Bronze Sponsor: Breno Miranda

We all want the fresh start to feel like a movie montage—explosive, dramatic, and instant. But usually, that desire for a "Grand Gesture" is exactly what keeps us stuck. In this episode, we’re sitting on the porch with The Doorman. He’s watching us hesitate at the entrance of our own lives, paralyzed by the idea of perfection. We talk about the trap of the "Grand Gesture," why new habits feel like breaking in a stiff pair of leather shoes, and why you don't need to kick the door down to get inside. It’s time to stop waiting for the penthouse view and just step into the lobby.

To unlock full access to all our episodes, become a premium subscriber on Apple Podcasts or Patreon. And don’t forget to visit englishpluspodcast.com for more content and learning.

SPECIAL THANKS  to my

Executive Producer: Rada Sazhin

Bronze Sponsor: Breno Miranda

You’ve changed on the inside, but your colleagues still see the "Old You." Today is about Narrative Control. We explore Personal Branding as a business strategy and learn the "Anchor, Pivot, Value" elevator pitch to re-introduce yourself to your boss and clients. Learn key vocabulary like "Shifting," "Aligning," and "Evolving" to sell your new identity without sounding fake.

To unlock full access to all our episodes, become a premium subscriber on Apple Podcasts or Patreon. And don’t forget to visit englishpluspodcast.com for more content and learning.

SPECIAL THANKS  to my