In the last few episodes, I’ve been talking about setting up boundaries, whether that be boundaries with social media or with people and saying no, or with the food that you eat. All of these boundaries are really getting to the thing that matters most in your life – space.
Most of us fill our days with social media, news, junk food, caffeine, work, with a side of a constant conversation of self-pressure and doubt. I’ve heard the phrase “Life is made up of moments” and if those moments of our days are what make us up, we’re filled with coffee, wine, and negativity.
What does that leave space for?
Frankly, not much. And for some this is exactly the life that they want, and that is totally fine! You do you!
For me though, I want more. I want space. I want space to decide what i want in my life. And I also what space to see what might want to happen. To allow space to dream. To allow space for to allow things to enter into my life and delight me.
There is something else that happens when you allow space. Information from intuition starts dropping in. Now one of my teachers calls it “Life.” Life starts dropping information in because we are paying attention. We are present in the moment and can hear the whispers of our guides or life or whatever you want to call it. We open up to the collective wisdom instead of information just coming from social media or our friends when we allow space to just be, to rest, we offer a place where information can drop in.
I remember when I first learned about intuition. I thought I wasn’t born with it and I wasn’t intuitive. I started reading about how intuition can be developed and trained. It just isn’t something we are taught to do (at least in this society). Very few people sit down with children (or adults) and encourage us to listen to our bodies and to ask what our inner wisdom is saying.
When I started listening even closer, I realized that I was getting these intuitive nudges, and I also realized I didn’t listen to them. I wasn’t putting any stock in those signs or clues, or words that dropped into my mind. I decided to play a little game where I was going to watch for the signs that dropped in and then keep track of what happened.
There are two instances I remember this happening. My son was young and we were going through all sorts of challenges with him. He was having behavioral and physical symptoms that couldn’t be explained easily. One day, he was having this huge rash on his back and while having snack with him, I was making him something with almond butter and it just dropped in that he was having a reaction to the almonds. It was a word, along with a feeling, but I just knew. When we removed almonds from his diet, his rash went away.
Another time I was struggling to find pants for one of my boys (a really mundane thing, right?). I had ordered this pair of pants online for him and ended up needing to run into the store for something else. I saw the pants we wanted for my son. My intuition dropped in the information to buy those pants and then my mind came in and told me “you don’t need to buy those. You’ve already ordered those.” It didn’t make any sense to buy them, so I put the pants down and went about my day.
The next day, I received an email that the pants we had ordered online (from the same store) were no longer available. I watched my intuition drop in the information that I needed, and then watched my mind talk me out of listening to my intuition! In that moment, I knew that it was possible to be intuitive: it just took practice in listening.
When you make space for yourself, you make space to listen and be present. You make space to hear what is going on around you. You make space to become who you really are, and who you want to be.
So how do you create space?
Making good boundaries for your time is important. You can do a time journal of how you are speinding your day, and what makes up those moments of time. The amount of time you are spending on TV, or your phone, social media, the news, or even email. Less time on social media or the news = more space to do what nourishes you. Time for quiet, for nature, for spiritual connection.
Now if you are like most people I know- my clients or my students- they say “but I’m so busy! How will I make space?” Know that it can be short practices. You are waiting at a stoplight, so take the time to just find your breath and feel your body. Ground into the earth, connect to the sky. You can even ask, “is there anything I need to know right now?”
Another way to create space is making room while you are doing other things. For example, we all eat at some point. You can make eating a sacred time for space. You can practice eating mindfully – stop scrolling and working and watching something while you eat your meal. Just notice the sensations in the body, the taste and smell of the food.
You can also make space on your calendar. It’s one thing that I’ve really appreciated about the pandemic – time and my relationship to it changed. I love doing things. I love being busy with great things on my calendar. I also love not going anywhere. I love having time to see what wants to happen next. To allow space for rest and time to reset.
Now when someone asks me to do something for them, I can look at what is happening in my life and know that it means I’m going to give up the space that nourishes me and be really specific about what i’m saying yes to. I want to only say yes to those things that nourish me or move me forward in my dreams or desires.
You can also make space in your life by decluttering physical objects. My experience has been when there’s too much stuff physically, it can also get in the way energetically. So by clearing clutter it creates not only physical space, but also energetic, mental and emotional space.
When you create space, you start to be able to turn your attention to listening. With space you have the opportunity to let life drop in what you need and listen for what is the next thing in your life. You can pay attention to what you want to have in your life. You can start to see the signs from guides that help point you in directions. You can ask questions and then leave it open to receive guidance- what is the next step i should take? And that space, is where all the magic happens.
