If something doesn’t feel right, a short pause can help you recognize why. Then, you can make a conscious decision instead of responding automatically as you normally would. You might have a pattern of walking away from a relationship when it becomes boring to you, or you might leave a therapist or a doctor because you’re not comfortable with them and you don’t quite know why.

By taking a pause to reflect, you can avoid leaving one situation only to find you end up in a similar one, feeling just as uncomfortable as you were the last time and about to fall into the old habit of leaving with fingers crossed that these circumstances won’t show up again. Too often, you’ll find that they will—which is why it’s important to recognize the potential for change in one short pause...