Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Spaces

On my way to work this morning, I felt like I needed to be watching traffic. Not so much for safety but for a pattern – aka life lesson. So I did (while I basked in the greatness that is Jill Scott). Once I began to pay attention, it didn’t take long for me to notice the spaces between all of the vehicles accompanying me on my commute to work and noting how quickly they were being filled and how people were protecting the spaces in front of them while they dodged in and out of traffic. So that’s what I’d like to talk about today. Space.

I noticed as I was driving this morning that in order to move forward in traffic, I had to fill an empty space. Sometimes that meant moving forward and filling a gap that was already there. The easiest method by far – and a crowd favorite. Sometimes, though, it meant creating a space to fill which the more aggressive among us are so skilled in doing. If there’s space you’d like to fill and there’s not enough room, I’ve found that nosing the front of your car in is an effective way to get to where you’d want to be. But in order to keep anyone else from pushing you back to where you were, you need to protect your space. You keep the distance between you and the car in front of you small and tight, then you mirror their driving style in order to maintain your position. This keeps people from inserting themselves into your “way” and delaying your commute in any way.

I’ve been learning that in order to draw new things and people into our lives, we have to create space for them. Sometimes, we decide that we want something and there is already room in our lives for that thing, life situation or acquisition. That’s the crowd pleaser. The easy way, if you will. And then there’s the life that is full. To the brim. But you want more. You want better. But it’s just not coming. Whether it’s in a form that works for you or at all. You’re not seeing whatever you’re searching for manifest within your life. You know what you need to do? Make space. Nose your way in there and protect your space.

Creating space in your life (the nose-in) seems so difficult but it’s so simple in theory. It’s the action that’s so difficult. It’s a practice of putting yourself first and deciding to get rid of anything within your life that looks like or impedes the pathway of the thing that you’ve been yearning for. Simpler way of putting it, you have to put away the things that no longer serve you. Get rid of that man who only calls when he’s bored. Let go of that job that sucks up all of your time with nonsense. Let go of the self-doubt that says that you’ll never realize your dream of running a marathon. And watch the universe converge to bring you the desires of your heart. Watch the laws of attraction bring you a husband, your dream job and help you to run that marathon. It’s that simple. But you have to really want it. There’s power in creating space for the things we want.

Second part to the “nose-in” is protection. Be protective of the time that you devote to acquiring the thing that you’re yearning for – as well as the space, once you’ve created it in your life. In traffic, "safe" people tend to leave a lot of room between their car and the next but they have a hard time protecting that space when they see someone trying to come in. So it's best to keep these things close. You can't protect anything from a long distance. So maybe that looks like keeping things tight to your chest and making it sacred. There will be things/people that will come to distract you and try to fill in the gap for you with themselves and their “stuff”. Take care not to allow people to cheapen this experience through their opinions, guilt-rendering and gossiping tongues. Just sit back and watch the universe rush to bring you all that you’ve been longing and asking for.

The start and stop of traffic can be a painful thing to endure, especially in inclement weather where it feels that your life is on the line. But moving forward, I think it will be a constant reminder to be vigilant of the spaces in life that we squander and fill with unnecessary clutter. Keep yourself open to what you’ve been waiting for and create space for it. It’s coming.