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Sometimes life asks us to pause—not because we are giving up, but because we are getting ready for what comes next.

I’m taking a short break from the Big Talk at the Table podcast while I return to Michigan and prepare for knee replacement surgery. But the podcast is not going anywhere.

I’ll be back on September 8 with the third conversation in our five-part series, The Lies We Tell Ourselves. Until then, this is the perfect time to catch up on the first two episodes and think about the lies that may still be shaping your decisions, your confidence, and the way you see yourself.

This next chapter may look different than I planned, but I believe God can use every detour. I’m choosing to take care of myself, heal physically, and keep becoming the woman He created me to be.

Subscribe and stay with me as I share the real journey…knee replacement surgery, recovery, starting over after 50, and learning that it is never too late to choose yourself.

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▶️ Subscribe for more honest conversations about healing, faith, personal growth, and starting over after 50.

I can do hard things…and so can you.

Remember, You Got This

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Thank you for pulling up a chair. I’ll keep saving a seat at the table for the next woman who needs the conversation.

Keep asking, What if? Life is full of Infinite Possibilities

And remember, You Got This.

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Have you ever sent a text and, when no reply came, written an entire story about what it meant? Welcome to Part 2 of The Biggest Lie We Tell Ourselves. Joni Leigh and co-host Bonita Jacque unpack the lie that keeps so many women stuck: if I feel it, it must be true.

Your emotions are real — but the story you build underneath them usually isn't. Joni and Bonita trace the loop from event → story → emotion → reaction, explain what's happening in your body when you spiral (that adrenaline surge is fight-or-flight, not fact), and why simply naming what you feel shifts your brain from reaction to reflection.

Then Joni shares her own "Pause at the Table" framework — four steps to move from the story back to the truth. If you've ever lost sleep over an unanswered message, this is the table where you finally get honest.

Show Notes:

📌 Timestamps (approximate — adjust once chapters are set):

• [0:00] Cold open: the unanswered text — and the story you wrote about it
• [0:45] Welcome + meet Bonita — "Part 2: The Biggest Lie We Tell Ourselves"
• [3:00] Your emotion is real; the story under it usually isn't
• [6:00] The loop: event → meaning → emotion → reaction → "proof"
• [9:00] What's happening in your body — adrenaline, fight-or-flight, and the 2–3 minute reset
• [13:00] Emotional reasoning + affect labeling: why naming it shifts you from reaction to reflection
• [16:00] Old wounds responding in real time — "I feel rejected" vs. "I am rejected"
• [19:00] Naming the emotion points to the need — anger attacks, hurt asks for care
• [22:00] Introducing the Pause at the Table framework (the 4 steps)
• [27:00] Loneliness through the framework, step by step
• [30:00] Bonita's silk-flowers story + the "put it on the calendar" challenge
• [33:00] The closing truths + what's next in Episode 3

💡 Takeaways:

• Feeling something doesn't make the story you attach to it true
• The body can't tell an old wound from a current event pause and ask "is this happening now?"
• Name the need, not just the emotion: stress keeps you pushing, overwhelm lets you ask for help
• One unanswered text doesn't decide your worth and one hard season doesn't decide God forgot you

Here is the link to the Pause At The Table Journal I talk about in this episode, let me know if you download it and use it!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O3FxJFBu8pTDvUZys2KfrxDDb3mJf2x-/view?usp=drive_link

If this episode encouraged you, subscribe and share it with someone who came to mind while you were listening.

CONNECT WITH JONI LEIGH

▶️ YouTube: @jonileighofficial
📸 Instagram: @jonileigh111
🎵 TikTok: @jonileigh11
👍 Facebook: Joni Leigh on Facebook
🌐 Website: https://www.jonileigh.com/
📧 Email: info@jonileigh.com
🐝 Join The Hive Community:
Join The Hive Community search Facebook Groups

CONNECT WITH BONITA JACQUE
👍 Facebook: @awakentopotential
🌐 Website: https://www.bonitajacque.com/
📧 Email: BonitaJacque@gmail.com


#Friendship #HumanConnection #WomenOver40 #PersonalGrowth #SelfWorth #Boundaries #BigTalkAtTheTable #JoniLeigh #AuthenticLiving #Mindset #selfempowerment #selfimprovement #empoweringwomen

Support the show

Stay Connected with Joni Leigh

Subscribe to Big Talk at the Table and keep the conversation going beyond the episode.

▶️ YouTube: @jonileighofficial
📸 Instagram: @jonileigh111
🎵 TikTok: @jonileigh11
👍 Facebook: Joni Leigh
🌐 Website: jonileigh.com
📧 Email: info@jonileigh.com

🐝 Join The Hive Community – Big Talk at the Table on Facebook for more honest conversations, encouragement, and connection.

☕ Support Big Talk at the Table
If the podcast encourages you and you'd like to help keep these conversations going, you can Buy Me a Coffee:

buymeacoffee.com/Jonileigh

Thank you for pulling up a chair. I’ll keep saving a seat at the table for the next woman who needs the conversation.

Keep asking, What if? Life is full of Infinite Possibilities

And remember, You Got This.

Send us Fan Mail

Season 2 of Big Talk at the Table begins with a conversation about one of the biggest lies we tell ourselves:

“I need everything figured out before I can start.”

Have you ever waited to take the first step because you didn’t feel ready, confident enough, experienced enough, or completely sure where it would lead?

In Lie #1 of this five-part series, Joni Leigh and Bonita Jacque pull up a chair and talk honestly about what happens when we convince ourselves that clarity has to come before action.

Joni shares how she sold nearly everything, bought an RV, started a completely new chapter of her life, and still spent months trying to figure out exactly what her next step was supposed to look like before launching her podcast. Bonita shares her own journey from pharmacist to coach and how a series of seemingly small decisions eventually led her somewhere she never could have planned in advance.

Together, they talk about why women often wait for confidence before taking action, why fear of looking inexperienced keeps us on the sidelines, why asking for help can feel so difficult, and what changes when someone else believes in what is possible for us before we believe it ourselves.

You’ll also hear why Bonita suggests giving your inner critic a name, how small steps build confidence, and why the most important conversation you have this week may be the one you have with yourself.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why you do not need the entire plan before you begin
• How fear of what other people think keeps women from putting themselves out there
• Why confidence often follows action instead of coming before it
• The power of asking for help
• How small decisions can completely change the direction of your life
• Learning to trust yourself when you cannot see the whole staircase
• Recognizing the stories you have repeated so often that they have started to feel like truth

Joni and Bonita are both Certified Infinite Possibilities Trainers and draw from the work of Mike Dooley throughout this conversation.

Resources mentioned:

Infinite Possibilities by Mike Dooley
Notes from the Universe by Mike Dooley
Brave Thinking by Mary Morrissey

Before you leave the table, ask yourself:

What have I been waiting to have completely figured out before I allow myself to begin?

If this conversation made you think of another woman, send this episode to her. Sometimes one honest conversation or one new question can change the direction of a life.

Connect with Bonita Jacque

Facebook: @awakentopotential
Website: bonitajacque.com
Email: BonitaJacque@gmail.com

Support the show

Stay Connected with Joni Leigh

Subscribe to Big Talk at the Table and keep the conversation going beyond the episode.

▶️ YouTube: @jonileighofficial
📸 Instagram: @jonileigh111
🎵 TikTok: @jonileigh11
👍 Facebook: Joni Leigh
🌐 Website: jonileigh.com
📧 Email: info@jonileigh.com

🐝 Join The Hive Community – Big Talk at the Table on Facebook for more honest conversations, encouragement, and connection.

☕ Support Big Talk at the Table
If the podcast encourages you and you'd like to help keep these conversations going, you can Buy Me a Coffee:

buymeacoffee.com/Jonileigh

Thank you for pulling up a chair. I’ll keep saving a seat at the table for the next woman who needs the conversation.

Keep asking, What if? Life is full of Infinite Possibilities

And remember, You Got This.