On empty?
Does your fuel tank ever run empty? Is your life, like mine, filled with things to do, places to go, people to see, goals to achieve?
Do we cram our schedule, our home, our head and our belly until they are too full? Are we chronically over scheduling ourselves?
If everything seems too full, we need to create more room in our lives. Maybe fill our day only 2/3 full? Not all the way. Maybe creating an empty space in our calendar, in our to-do list, in our lives could bring us some clarity some peace, enable us to breathe.
Some ideas to think about:
The space between stimulus and response can save us from unnecessary pain. Mom did tell us to count to ten before responding in anger! It’s an opportunity to choose our response rather than just automativcally reacting.
The space between the notes is what makes music and not just sound. A note without space is one long sound.
That space between the words when we read aids our understanding.
That space within a vase is what allows a vase to be a vase. The vase is not simply clay or crystal. What we must have in order to have a vase is empty, invisible space surrounded by material. Taking a hammer to the vase, we will still have all the material, but no vase.
That space surrounding the particles that make up the cells in our bodies is what makes us a “vase” or person.
So, today I wish for me and for you spaciousness, emptiness. May we create moments of silence and serenity. May we relish the empty, the not-yet-here.
