Shownotes
What if the breakthrough you’re chasing isn’t in doing more—but in finally stopping? In this episode of Soul Sparks of Healthy Mind by Avik™, we explore the quiet power of intentional rest with Brett Coleman.
This conversation is for anyone feeling stretched, overwhelmed, or quietly exhausted inside. You’ll hear how stepping into silence, solitude, and structured pauses can bring clarity, emotional reset, and deeper connection—with yourself and something greater.
About the Guest:
Brett Coleman is a faith-based leader, former hospital CEO, and author. He has spent over a decade practicing intentional sabbaticals focused on rest, reflection, and spiritual alignment.
Episode Chapters:
00:00 – Why real rest isn’t collapse but choice
03:40 – Vacation vs. true soul rest
08:10 – The 60-hour sabbatical practice
14:25 – Solitude, silence, and clarity
20:50 – Regret, forgiveness, and healing
28:30 – Making better life decisions through pauses
35:10 – How to start your own intentional break
Key Takeaways:
- Rest must be practiced, not postponed
- Solitude reveals clarity you can’t access in noise
- Small, intentional pauses can prevent deep burnout
- True peace becomes your internal guide
- You don’t need perfection—just a starting point
How to Connect With the Guest:
Website: https://www.sabbaticaltaker.com/
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Transcripts
00:00:08 Nazish: welcome to Soul Sparks, part of Healthy Mind by Awake Network, where we explore small truths that quietly change everything. I am your host, Nasir, and today I have been. I have with me someone whose wisdom I have been genuinely looking forward to share with you all. Brett Coleman is a faith based leader, former hospital CEO, and the author of The Wisdom That Lands That Leads to the Soul Rest and more than a decade leading to hospitals. Brett developed something rare in our always on world, a rhythm of intentional sabbaticals, where he steps away to fast, seek and truly listen, not to strategy to God himself. Today we are talking about what it actually means to rest on purpose and why the most important thing often come not from pushing harder, but from finally stopping. So welcome to Soul Sparks, Brett. I am so glad you are here.
00:01:11 Bret Kolman: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm excited about meeting with your listeners.
00:01:17 Nazish: Wonderful. So before we go ahead, listeners, some statements reflect personal belief and experiences and are presented as individual views, not medical advice. So listeners should consult qualified professionals for medical conditions.
00:01:33 Nazish: So, Brett, before we step any deeper into our conversation, I'd love to start with something simple. So when did you first realize that rest wasn't just what you needed, but something you had you had to be intentional about? Like, was there a moment that made it so clear for you?
00:01:54 Bret Kolman: You know, it's interesting because I think everyone has went on a vacation at some point, and at the end of the vacation, they come back more tired than they were when they left. And so you start to realize that a vacation won't fix what's tired inside of you. And so you take a nap. And it really, you feel great for that day. But then two or three days later, you're wore out and you realize that you're running on adrenaline. You're running on caffeine. And that you need just sort of to schedule into your life intentional pauses. And so I started doing that about ten years ago. And so three times a year, I take an intentional pause. It lasts sixty hours. I do actually a sixty hour fast. So I appreciate your warning that this is not medical advice, but for most people, they can fast. I do I fast food and I still drink, um, water and coffee, but I totally fast food for sixty hours. So your body gets into, um, the hormones and the chemicals that changes that happen when you do a longer fast, not just twenty four hours are very helpful to your body, to resetting your mind and your, um, appetite, your appetites for thing. It's, it's a self-control thing. And so it's a discipline thing, all things that we can benefit from. And so while I'm doing this fast, I'm also in total solitude and silence. For the majority of the time, there's about three hours each night that I meet around a campfire with some friends. And we talk about problems and we talk about challenges, we talk about opportunities, we talk about dreams, hopes, disappointments. We cover it all. And during that time we talk. But the rest time I'm really in solitude, which I think the one thing that we most of us don't get a chance in terms of rest is true solitude, where you know exactly what true peace means. There's a saying in the US that we use, and it's that bank tellers, the person that hands out money at the bank, they don't study. Fake money. They study real money. That way when fake money comes through, they know the difference. And the point is this when you go on a sabbatical, when you go on a retreat, when you take solitude and experience true peace, then when you ask God, Lord, what should I do in this situation? How should I decide? How should I make the next move? You know what true peace feels like. So if you start going in one direction and you experience true peace, you're like, that's the direction to go. But if you start going in another direction and you feel fake peace, like counterfeit peace. You know, that's not the direction to go. And so I think that's one of the big things that happens when you do an intentional pause that you can't really get any other way.
00:05:04 Nazish: Right. So it turns out that rest, it turns rest into a practice, not just a reaction to burnout. Like, you know, to get that consistency C to make all that difference over time.
00:05:20 Bret Kolman: Yeah, three times a year. So I've done thirty one of them. So I've been doing this now for over a decade, which even kind of surprises me. And every single one of them is different. And sometimes your soul needs rest at the physical level, but sometimes you need rest at a spiritual level. One of the times I went on a sabbatical, I was sitting around the campfire during those two or three hours where we talked with each other, and one of the guys said, you know, there's a lot of sacrifice that you have to make to be here. Your time, your money. Pay for your room. You know all these things that you sacrifice to be here. But what God really appreciates is the obedience of what he tells you while you're here alone. So when you go there and you say, what should I do? What should I do? And he gives you something to do. Don't just say, wow, I spent one hundred dollars to be here. Follow through on what you feel like you're being told. And there was a time where I went to sabbatical, and I felt like the Lord told me to write a nice note to my mom and my dad, thanking them for raising me and for, you know, all that they have done and just saying, you know, apologize for anything I've done wrong. And, you know, the things that you should do in relationships. Our relationships should be healthy. And the way that we make sure they're healthy is that we stay humble and we give our parents credit and we apologize for anything we've done wrong. Well, as it happened, I got busy during that sabbatical, and for whatever reason, I didn't write it. And I got back to my house and I still didn't write the notes. And it was about a year later that my dad passed away and I still hadn't written those notes. And you can imagine one of the things when you're going on sabbaticals, you have to deal sometimes with the past. You may have past hurts, past guilt, past shame. You have to deal with that. And I felt a lot of guilt and shame. But, you know, I said I felt like the Lord released me from that. He said, yes, you made a mistake. And yes, you should have obeyed right away. And there's a lesson learned in that. But you know, you're going to you're you're going to spend eternity with your dad. You know, it's, it's not the last time you'll see your dad. And so I felt like he gave me permission to forgive myself, you know? But I think when we go on a sabbatical, we have to spend time alone. We have to spend time, um, repenting of things we've done wrong to ourselves or to other people. Um, I spent some time listening to music and praying. I usually spend some time sleeping because as unlike a vacation where it's go, go, go, go see the next exciting thing. Go see the next exciting thing. The sabbatical is a time where you actually don't have to be anywhere. You can actually just relax. And that's probably the biggest thing. That's the difference between a sabbatical and a vacation, and why it's so much more relaxing, because very few people would want to fly to another country and spend twelve hours, sixteen hours sleeping. They would be like, this is a waste of time. This a waste of money. Why would I do that? Whereas on a sabbatical. You're there to spend. You can spend time with God, and in fifteen minutes, hear from him something that will change the rest of your life. And physically, you may be so exhausted you're not going to hear that until you recover physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally. And so you're, you're working on all of those aspects of your life so that when you do have that fifteen minute encounter with God, you're ready.
00:09:15 Nazish: Yeah. Yeah. It, it's almost like you're creating a space to actually recharge and not stop.
00:09:24 Bret Kolman: Yeah. I think that's the key is because a lot of people talk about slowing down, you know, and maybe like, instead of having three Cokes have two Cokes, instead of having two, two have one or one cup of coffee instead of two cups of coffee, all these things are like nuanced ways of saying Don't change yourself, just kind of tweak yourself. And I think that what, what a true sabbatical does is it creates an opportunity where you can actually change. It's, it's a total stop. Um, your hormones and your food and all the things that are keeping you stressed out and maybe not getting sleep and anxious. It's a time to lay them down. It's a time to talk to other people about them. It's time to talk to God about them. It's time to listen. How many people have time to just sit and listen? I mean, you're so caught up in Facebook or social media or TV or anything else that is in putting into your mind making noise. And there's all these ways that we try to cover up our pain and cover up our unhappiness or whatever's going on in our life. It may be drugs, it may be, um, bad ways that we try to cover it up. And these intentional pauses. It's like pulling back a bow bow string. When you're pulling back, you're intentionally pause. And when you leave there, you actually go further than what you know. It starts here when you pull back. But when you release, it goes flying. And your new creativity, new ideas, new, um, just experiences and wisdom and discernment that you would not have had if you didn't spend time seeking the Lord, meeting with other wise counselors. Um, and these are the ways that I think you can, you can grow in your relationship with God. You can grow in your faith. You know, I've grown in love and joy and peace and patience and kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and my self-discipline, my self-control. All these things grow when you spend time and you Intentionally, you know, write them down, make notes about it. Look back on your old notes. Dream about the future. Have faith for the future, but don't live too much in the past or too much in the future. You want to live in the present, but sometimes you have to deal with the past. Sometimes you have to ask God, what is my future? How should I spend my my energy, my time? So this is an intentional pause. And the more you do it, the more you'll stop making big decisions right before you go on sabbatical. So if I have a big sabbatical in two weeks, I'm not going to make a big decision two weeks before sabbatical. And if I just got back from a sabbatical, I know that I I've made all my big decisions. So there's nothing to be made for a couple of weeks. And if a decision comes up that has a big financial, a big emotional, a big relational cost, um, moving, relocating, something like that, Anything that would involve a lot of money, a lot of stress. I don't have to make it a loan. I can wait two or three months, and in two or three months I'll be on sabbatical again. I can run it past otherwise, counselor, other people that would pray with me. And then I'm living from sabbatical to sabbatical. And that's a beautiful place to be because over the course of ten years, imagine how many mistakes I've avoided by seeking wise counsel and by spending time with God and by, um, hearing the voice of God, writing down notes and just intentionally pausing so that I'm not wore out. I'm not. I mean, I think we can get so I, I call it soul spent. And it's the combination of the word soul and spent. Um, I call it soul spent because we get so wore out that we're not just tired physically, mentally, emotionally. We're tired in every area, physically, mentally, socially and spiritually. And it can affect every area of our life and it just wears us out. And so I'm a big proponent of intentionally pausing so that you can avoid becoming sole spent.
00:13:51 Nazish: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, I'm curious, did any of this come from what you saw growing up? Like maybe your father, like, is there something you want to share about us with that on that perspective?
00:14:05 Bret Kolman: Well, my dad was a great guy. He, um, you know, unfortunately, literally like for us, uh, I was the hospital CEO, my dad got Covid and, um, I couldn't even go, I couldn't go visit him in the hospital. I couldn't go to his funeral when he passed away. No one was allowed at the funeral. It was very bizarre, um, because it was very, very early in Covid and we didn't know how bad it was. And, um, I had, I have brothers and sisters. He's a very kind man, very wise man and a very patient person. He always, you know, taught me to be very conservative with my money. Uh, I kind of I, I laugh because when I was in college, I had, um, thirty, I think it was thirty five dollars a, a a month to for all the things that I wanted above and beyond food. So, I mean, you know, I had food, so it's not like I was, I had a place to stay. My dad's like, well, that means you have a dollar a day. And I'm like, dad, I, I, I think I, the math was not that complex. I understand that. So it was always very conservative financially. He always said, um, he always gave me advice about, you know, you don't have an, you don't have an income problem, you have an expense problem. Um, he looked, he saw, uh, he would be the kind of guy that would go out on the farm and see God in the animals. You know, he would enjoy spending time in in the nature. And so our our vacations were fishing trips and were, um, family vacations. He felt family was super important. And um, I wished he could have went on a sabbatical with me. I want to I'm actually invited my son to go on a sabbatical. He's now old enough. And so I actually invited my son to go on my first sabbatical with me, um, coming up in, in, uh, June. So I think it's something that it can be passed along. It can be part of your legacy. I do believe legacy is important and that we can give to the next generation, um, and invest in them. So thank you for that question.
00:16:18 Nazish: I'm glad, you know, this was something that was very important for all my listeners because this is such a beautiful reframe, reframe, because what I am hearing it is that it isn't about stepping away from your life. It is about stepping back into something more essential.
00:16:36 Bret Kolman: Yeah. No you can't. I mean, let's be honest. We have a lot of responsibilities if you got a little kid. There is no like, hey, I'm going to. I'm going to just step away from my life for two days. I'll come back. And just however little Johnny is, that's just, you know, we'll just figure it out from there. You know, we can't really do that. I was CEO of a hospital. I had a bunch of people reported to me. I was on call. Um, I had, I had a lot of responsibility. And so it's a matter of creating the structure. You have to have people like at my job or at my house or wherever. It's like you have to plan. If it's like you want to have a babysitter, you want to have a pet sitter, you want to have not be on call that weekend. You want to, uh, save the money for the hotel room or the retreat center. You want to do all that? Well, that may not be something you can do with just last minute. You may have to plan that, and you may not be able to do three a year and do vacations. I probably, I don't think I could have done three a year and vacations when my kids were little. Don't feel like there. There is like my journey is my journey. Your journey is your journey. But you can learn from my journey and you can adopt things in my journey. And so yeah, maybe you can't do three times a year like I was able to because it doesn't work with your time or your finances or some aspect of your life. You can do it once and you say, well, I can't do it every year. Okay, do it one time and then pray and say, God, if it's your will, show me a way that I could do it twice. And if it's your will, show me a way that I could do it three times. I'm a big believer in challenging God. I believe God likes to be challenged, wants to be challenged, and I'm the kind of person that's like, God, you're a big God. You know, if you created the heavens and the earth and the universe like this is this is no step for you. You can do this very easily. So, you know, I asked God to do things. I, I asked to see his hand move in my life, but I also asked to experience his heart in my life because I believe God is love and joy and peace, and he wants the best for us. And so he doesn't want us to be like a child who's constantly going up and tugging on their parents. Can I have a dollar? Can I have a dollar? Can I have a dollar? He wants a hug too, just like we want a hug from our kids. And so he wants a relationship with us. And going to the intentional pause, taking time for the intentional pause gives you. Time, gives you space to give the intentional hug that is part of relationship between you and God. And then if you want something out of his hand, he's going to be like, yeah, why didn't you just ask? You don't have to steal it. You don't have to. You don't have to beg. You don't have to borrow their God will help you when you seek him and your faith will grow. Because as you go on these intentional pauses, if you go with the right people, which going with the right. The more you're around the right people, the more your life will be elevated. When you go with the right people, you're going to see God answer their prayers. They're going to see God answer your prayers, and you're elevating your faith, and they're elevating your faith. And so you're growing in your relationship and your confidence as they are and vice versa. And so it's win win. And this is something you don't have to shut your life down. You don't have to to this is something you have to do, but you have to structure it. You have to plan it a little bit. Do the fast if you can. You may not be able to, but it's so good physically. And if you go to the right location, there's where there's no food around. It won't be hard. Bring music so that you can listen to something you can worship. Bring paper and pencil so you can write down anything that your questions. You have answers you think you hear. Meet with people that you can sit around a campfire, or you can sit around a table and just talk about hopes, dreams, disappointments, and things that get you excited. Things that recharge you. You know what makes you tired? What recharges you? Answer that question. Everyone at the table can answer that question. What recharges you? What brings you energy? What brings you joy? And so when you do this and you plan it, and maybe you can't do sixty hours, maybe it's like, bro, I can't do it. I can only do forty eight, then do forty eight. Well, I can't do forty eight. I can only do thirty six. Then do thirty six. Don't say don't. Don't let perfect be the enemy of action. Take action. Do something. Don't let this be something where it's like, yeah, I know I should. I'm going to have regret if I don't. I wish I would have wrote that letter to my dad. Oh well, no, I wished I would have wrote the letter to my dad. You should want to go on sabbatical. You should want to take an intentional pause. And when you fill that peace and you experience that genuine peace, when you're totally alone in God's presence seeking him, you'll make so much better decisions the rest of your life and the rest of the areas of your life who you marry, who your friends, who your kids are friends with, who your kids aren't friends with. And these are the things that can really have, you know, you can have a lot of regrets. Regrets if your friends have the wrong. If your kids have the wrong friends or you marry the wrong person. Thank God I did really well on both those accounts. But you know, these are the things that I wish someone would have told me when I was twenty, twenty one, twenty three, twenty four, twenty five. But I didn't start until I was about forty six, forty seven. So it's never too late to start. I have guys that's their first sabbatical is sixty, sixty five people that are very young right out of high school that do it. It's never too early and it's never too late to do the right thing. And I think this can be a difference maker in your life.
00:23:00 Nazish: Yes, I completely agree with that. You know, it's never too early and it's never too late. Late it is. It's not about, you know, planning everything. It is just about trusting the process. Like you take the first step and then allow the things to unfold for yourself, because I myself is a very big believer in God and this faith that I have. I believe when he when that power is there with you, you have to challenge that power and you will get the better from there.
00:23:32 Bret Kolman: Yeah. That's awesome. I'm, I, I love that and I think people who live their life that way always end up happier and more fulfilled. I tell you what, if you go through life negative, unhappy, mad, sarcastic, uh, disappointed, you're going to attract that same thing to you. And when you, when you go through life, thankful to God, appreciative of God, and you're not thankful to God because you had a perfect life, because no one's had a perfect life. You're thankful to God for what he's provided for you, how he's helped you, how he's answered prayers in the past, how you know he's going to answer him again. And you you know, David said, I encouraged myself in the Lord, I encouraged myself. Sometimes you have to encourage yourself. Sometimes you may be a little down. You may be a little disappointed. You. Maybe life didn't work out exactly the way you thought it was going to. Yeah. That's okay.
00:24:34 Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:24:35 Nazish: Absolutely. That is okay. Because something better is there in the store for you, which is going to come to you, and that it is all about growing and becoming better. And that positivity, that belief that you have, it makes you go a long way rather than attracting all the toxicity, like you said, that that negativity you, it just keeps on going in your head that stuns you in so many aspects in your life.
00:25:02 Bret Kolman: That's good, that's good. I think your listeners, I hope they, um, I hope this is something that you really grab a hold of and, um, get an idea of how to do it. Um, I think we've talked about it enough, but the benefits are just, it's the kind of thing you can't exactly put your hands on and you can't exactly measure. You have to some things have to be tried. They can't be explained. They can't be some things fit things of faith, spiritual things, things that reach into your heart and into your soul, not just to your body. They there, there the come and see moments. They can't be. You can't just, you can't have one hundred percent proof. It's impossible. You have to you have to do some of these things with at least a little bit of faith because God responds to faith. He doesn't respond to certainties or threats or must haves.
00:26:01 Nazish: Absolutely. And I am pretty sure this is gonna land to a lot of listeners, and this is going to feel home to a lot of listeners as well. So, Brett, before we wrap up, I want to ask you for people who want to connect with you, who want to know more about your work, where can they find you?
00:26:20 Bret Kolman: Yeah, it's, uh, sabbatical taker dot com, S a b b a t I c a l taker dot com. So it's, uh, it's my website I got you can my books on Amazon. Uh, I'll have the audible up there in a, in a few days. So I'd love to connect with you.
00:26:38 Nazish: Wonderful. I will make sure to include all these details into the show notes so that a lot of people can reach out to you. Brett. Thank you so much for such a meaningful conversation. And truly, this is the kind of conversation that stays with a lot of people.
00:26:54 Bret Kolman: Thank you Nazish.
00:26:56 Nazish: And to everyone listening, if something in today's episode stirred something in you that's worth paying attention to, maybe the invitation is simply this. Find five minutes of silence today. Not to fix anything. Just to be. That's where it begins. This is Soul Spark's part of Healthy Mind by Awake Network. And if this episode touched you, share it with someone who needs a reminder that rest is not a reward. Rest is the work. Take care of yourself and I'll see you in the next episode.
