Introducing Pause Between Prompts
It is possible to engage with AI in ways that honor our humanity
Here’s a 2-min audio intro to Pause Between Prompts if you’d rather listen than read.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is moving fast and breaking things.
If you’re not careful, it’ll make you think you have to move fast too.
Like you’ve got to keep up with every new tool or risk being left behind.
Or, just as quickly, decide it’s evil and denounce it all.
I’m not doing either.
I’m choosing to pause.
And I’m inviting you to pause with me.
What is Pause Between Prompts?
Pause Between Prompts is a contemplative space dedicated to how we engage with AI. It’s where we slow down long enough to ask: What is this tech doing to us? And what do we want it to do for us?
This isn’t about stepping away from AI. I actually love it, it’s changed my life.
I talk to ChatGPT most days. I play with whatever new AI feature pops up on my screen. And I believe it’s going to radically transform how we live, learn, and create.(Yes, even more than it already has.)
But I also believe how we relate to it matters just as much as how we use it.
This space is about staying in right relationship—with the tools, with ourselves, and with each other.
Why We Pause
Because a constant sense of urgency is a feature of white supremacy culture.
Some issues truly are urgent. But rushing to act without taking a moment to breathe can often cause more harm than good.
Certain tech leaders will tell you the pace of development can’t be slowed.
That their vision of the future is inevitable and we all just need to find our place in it.
But that’s arrogance dressed up as innovation.
Other folks will tell you not to touch AI at all.
That it’s too harmful, too extractive, too dangerous to engage.
But refusing to engage won’t stop the change.
It just means you’re unprepared for it.
I believe there’s a third path, one that begins with slowing down.
We pause so we can reclaim our power.
We pause so we can reground in what matters.
We pause so we can respond, instead of react.
The Eight Pauses
In this space, I’ll often reflect through eight core pauses that help me slow down and stay grounded in my humanity as I navigate powerful AI tools.
Each one is a chance to take a breath and move with more intention:
Pause to Not Know
It’s okay not to have an answer for everything. Let curiosity lead.Pause to Choose
You get to decide how AI fits into your life.
Step out of the hype. Set your own pace and priorities.Pause to Consider Harm
Who bears the weight? What’s being lost?
Reflect on the real cost beneath the convenience.Pause to Center Yourself
You are the magic, not the machine.
Be still long enough to hear what’s alive in you.Pause to Dream and Play
Use AI to imagine more, not just be more productive.
Wonder. Get weird. Let it open new worlds.Pause to Embody
Don’t leave insights on the screen.
Let what resonates shape how you show up in the real world.Pause for People
Keep your people close, human connections matter.
Check what AI tells you against the collective wisdom.Pause Together
This isn’t just personal, it’s collective.
Together we can hold the boundary of where AI belongs and where it doesn’t.
Over the next few weeks and months, I’ll be diving into each pause one at a time, through stories, practices, and questions that have helped me along the way.
I offer them not as rules, but as possibilities to live into.
What’s Coming
This space will evolve, but here’s some of what you can expect:
Reflections on how AI is shaping the world, and how we might respond with care
Prompts and practices I use to support my emotional and spiritual growth with AI
Real-time notes on how I’m navigating new tools and current headlines
Stories of how others are slowing down and staying human in an AI-driven world
And whatever else wants to emerge!
Contemplation, to me, is about noticing, listening, and allowing—so I’m excited to see what unfolds.
Let’s Pause Together
Big leaps in technology have always reshaped the world
Sometimes in beautiful ways, sometimes with devastating consequences.
So if we’ve learned anything from history, this isn’t a time to rush.
It’s a time to slow all the way down.
AI is changing everything.
But you still have a say in how it changes you.
Pause. Listen in.
Then use the tools to build a life and a world you actually want to live in✨
I’d love to hear from you—what’s stirring or settling as you read this? What’s it been like navigating AI in your own life?