Space exploration
The topic today is SPACE, which I love for many reasons. The first reason I love it led me to my career path as an aerospace engineer – I’ve worked for the International Space Station program and the Space Shuttle Program, and now I work for the Dream Chaser Program. Obviously, the exploration of outer space is key to my life and is a passion of mine.
However, today I’m talking about a different kind of space – not an outer space but an inner space. In particular, it’s space for our minds. I want to encourage you to look at how much time in your day you’re allowing yourself to have space – real space. I’m not talking about setting the to do list aside for 5 minutes, I’m talking about giving yourself time when there’s an emptiness of activity, when there’s a pause, when you actually can focus on just being where you are.
This is something I had to learn the value of – I’m more of a check the box, move forward, get going kind of person. But eventually I realized that this approach wasn’t actually taking me to the best places in life and the places I wanted to go.
If you have anything new you want to create in your life – whether it’s a new relationship, a new level of wealth, a new level of health – it will require space, because space is the necessary ingredient for creativity. The opposite of space is only taking things in, filling up our day with action, moving outward with our attention instead of inward.
Much of our time during the day is spent “doing things” – whether it’s tasks for our job, taking care of our family, or taking care of ourselves, there’s a lot of this “doing” that does have to happen. However, at some point during the day, every day, you must find a pause – if you want to be able to create more. My goal is to help you create the future that you’re hoping for. So, for that reason alone, space is something to consider adding more of to your life.
When we’re busy ingesting information nonstop, we don’t give our minds a chance to be creative. With “receive only” mode, we’re reacting to something from the outside versus generating something new from within. When we give ourselves that period to pause, it finally gives our minds the chance to express something. At first, it’s going to be interesting to see what’s there if it’s not something you do regularly! At first, there’s often some trash to take out. You can’t take things in constantly without getting rid of the trash, just like our bodies need to get rid of some of what we eat.
But once they are given the chance to go beyond that, our minds start to generate ideas and insights. If I’ve been busy, and then go for a yoga class or a jog, I make a significant shift after just 5-10 minutes. Giving my mind that pause generates insights that I have been waiting for and answers to questions that I’ve been asking for a while. Whatever that “pause” looks like for you – make time for it in your day.
Often, I’ll notice that when I have a few minutes to relax, I’ll flop down on the couch and start the social media scroll. I’ve stopped keeping my phone on me 24/7 simply to call my attention to this and avoid it. I encourage you to do the same. Simply putting your phone elsewhere will create pause moments for you. Even if you have an intention to scroll less, it can be something we start to do without even being aware we do it if we can grab our phone mindlessly from our pockets.
To create something new in our lives, we need to give our minds that time to expand, and the only way it can expand outward is if it has the space to do so. It’s a great start to use those activities we get absorbed in. Ultimately, I recommend meditation to all those I work with on creating conscious life change. That can mean literally just sitting somewhere, closing your eyes, locking the door, setting a timer for 2 or 5 minutes, and just being with yourself. The harder it is the more you need it.
The more space you have in your mind means more possibilities for creating. If you want something new or different in your life, you’re going to need creative space. The good news is, even a few minutes makes a world of difference!