Photo by Jake Melara
Do you ever feel overwhelmed, overloaded, or out-of-synch? Maybe it’s time you for you to create or expand your white space.
So what is “white space” you ask?
White space is simply the quiet time between doing. We often rush from task to task without stopping for barely a breath or pause. By creating or expanding this margin of stillness, we immediately allow ourselves the opportunity to refresh, recalibrate, realign, and readjust to what truly is important as opposed to trivial. This can result in greater satisfaction and efficiency as opposed to increased stress and confusion. In essence, take just a few moments between tasks to stop doing and simply be.
How do you do this? One way is to wake up earlier. Change your habits of reaching for your phone, checking the computer or news or brewing coffee. Substitute just 5-20 minutes of meditation or deep breathing. Close your eyes and take some deep breaths. Don’t worry about achieving any deep meditative state, but just be. Even a one-minute meditation will work.
As you take your break, consider simply how you might want to show up that day – how to want to interface with others, eat, move, focus, and spend your time and resources. New ideas and energies will often present themselves in this state if you quietly and patiently listen.
During the day, carve out several more periods of just a 2-3 minutes each in which you can repeat this. You can do this to celebrate something or conversely to adjust when things appear to be getting out of control. Intuitively we are much brighter and more creative than we give ourselves credit for. Unfortunately, we too often get caught up in the noisy static of others, forget save our “white space,” and never listen to our innate genius.
Remember that you are a human being and not a human doer. Pause for the cause. Seek out this white space to recharge and refresh, and to realign.
