Mindful Monday: Relationship Quiz
I’d like to ‘ride the wave’ of last week’s message about space.
Last week I talked about how I love being at the beach. How being by the water and looking at the vastness of the open sky soothes my soul.
As adults we may or may not find ourselves with less space in our mind, body and life.
What is your relationship to space?
Do you find yourself longing for more? Whether it be a quieter mind, more breaks in your daily life or less clutter in your closet.
Maybe you have a lot of space in your life and love it!
Perhaps you have a bit of a push/pull relationship with space, leaving you feeling like part of you longs for it and another part resists it or says ‘it’s just not possible’.
And maybe, you feel an aversion to space. When space does open up it’s uncomfortable, leaves you feeling nervous with the inactivity, or even a sense of laziness for taking some down time rather than being productive.
Whatever feelings or reactions you currently experience with the concept of more space, you’re not alone.
The struggle to embrace space is real!
The ego doesn’t like space and likes to be in control. It does its best to keep us in the confines of our conditioning and the thought of letting go of that control is a threat.
But here’s the thing, our soul longs to be reunited with our true nature. It likes space.
It is in the space where we find nothing and everything.
If I were to reflect on my pre-mindfulness days there was a part of me longing for change. I now know what I wanted was to rediscover my true essence. But there was another part of me that didn’t want to change. I was very uncomfortable with silence and space.
Looking back, it’s interesting how I unconsciously made sure there was always noise in the background.
My schedule was full and although my stress levels and busy mind were painful, I didn’t know how to stop – or recognize that there was a part of me afraid to stop. I was definitely feeling that push/pull.
Then a door opened.
When I first started meditating, I remember telling one of my teachers that I was afraid to go inward, concerned I would be disappointed with what I would find. She talked about peace, silence and space.
It all sounded wonderful but I wondered that maybe it wouldn’t be good for me. I was unaware this was the ego speaking. With compassion, she encouraged me to continue exploring and I’m incredibly grateful for that.
I have had many clients with this same question or concern.
When we live through the lens of our conditioning, we are very confined. We are living in a box with limits, and our soul is waiting for us to wake up. Sometimes patiently and sometimes not so patiently.
Have you ever felt that feeling that your space was being invaded? Like you don’t have enough room to even breathe?
Maybe you notice yourself feeling irritated or resentful and you just want to say ‘Get out of my space!’
This feeling of being confined can create an edginess. It wants to bust out and be free.
When we live on autopilot, there is not sense of a space or a gap. This is when life feels mundane, like something is missing.
What’s missing is our presence, our connection to our true nature.
In a world that feels so full it is still possible to have more space.
Where can you start?
Set an intention to practice.
You can:
· Create a space between your next inhale and exhale.
Try it now…
Inhale. Pause. Exhale. Pause.
· Create space in your day to meditate.
· Observe your thoughts and notice the space between a thought.
· Create space and pause in between each task you do.
· Look up and notice the space in the sky.
· Take a breath and feel the space or lack of space in your body.
· Clear out that cluttered closet and donate to a cause.
When we embrace this practice, we are living in a more embodied way. We are feeling our physicality and awakening our senses. We are present rather than on autopilot, consciously creating more space in our mind, our body and in our life, in really simple ways.
Nothing huge or grand needs to change within our day to embrace space, it may be a similar day to the rest, but when we are present, we are awake.
Instead of our day feeling like a blur of checklists, there will be more moments of awareness and meaning. We will feel more grounded and have a deeper connection to our truth.
We can breathe deeper.
I encourage you to meet yourself wherever you are at with the concept of making more space in your life.
Remember, it’s a practice.
Be well,
Diane