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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

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


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