Creating Space

Space is where expectations are released.

Those expectations of who we should be, how we should respond, what we should accomplish, where we should go.

Space is where pressure, stress, anxiety take a smoke break (of course pressure, stress and anxiety smoke!).

Space is where we can breathe in as ourselves- not who our boss/friend/spouse/coworker wants us to be.

Space is where the answers lie.

For some, this space lives in solitude.

For others, this space lives in connection with a special few.

When we are able to create an environment where we can sit in space, true creativity emerges.

This morning, space took the form of a swim for me- lap after lap where I felt the release of expectations. As my muscles began to ache, my breathing grew more ragged, I felt a loosening- a growing ease. And in that ease, I began to see opportunities- that prospect who had dropped off, that article I was struggling to finish, the conversation I was putting off for fear of how it might turn out, the email I needed to write- in the created space, solutions emerged. As I pulled myself from the water and slowly dried off, I smiled in the knowledge that when I got home, I had some exciting work to do.

So often, when we feel the pressure of our work, relationships and life, we’re quick to do away with space- we fill it with the urgent, loud voices around us. Yet, when the world is crowding in, the greatest gift we can give ourselves (and everyone around us), is space. For space is where miracles occur.