Permission To Think

Why August is the perfect time to pause, reflect, and think clearly… especially for leaders

Every August, we shift gear. We move a little slower. We make time for what usually gets squeezed out. And quietly, without fanfare, we think. Because it’s hard to find the time to think in the day-to-day of leadership.

We’ve come to call it Summer School, not in the academic sense, because ‘school’s out for summer!

But in the way it invites us back to ourselves.

We come back to curiosity.
Back to our own attention.

It’s a space we hold for our own learning, but also one we offer to others who are craving that same kind of pause.

There’s something sacred about having time to think, not to react, or perform, or plan in bullet points, but to really think.

Thoughtfully.

Privately.

Without interruption.

Over the years, we’ve noticed that this sort of thinking doesn’t happen on its own. It needs some careful conditions. It needs generosity. And, more often than not, it needs to be invited.

For us, August has become the month of that invitation.
This year, as we continue to celebrate 18 years of our work in the world, Bev is offering 18 one-to-one Thinking Sessions as part of our Summer School rhythm. 

We’re calling them Pause + Think.

These sessions are not a programme. They’re not a pitch. They’re an offering.

These sessions offer calm, structured thinking time for leaders, founders, decision-makers… anyone who carries a lot… to take something that matters and think it through, a chance to untangle what’s in your head and reconnect with what matters most, in the presence of someone who knows how to listen, properly.

What happens in those 90 minutes? A lot, usually. Not because we’re talking. But because you are.

Or you’re not. Because you’re thinking. And when your thinking has room to breathe, remarkable things begin to unfold: clarity, confidence, direction, decisions.

This is a reflection…

…on the value of quiet, on the generosity of attention, and on the hidden cost of rushing past what deserves to be thought through.

And if you’re reading this and you have a sense that there could be a question, a desire, an intention, or a moment you know you haven’t given proper attention to, consider this your permission slip.