Open Space

Open Space

Last week we received new furniture.  Our old couch and chairs, after years of serving as a cat scratching post needed to retire.  After months of anticipating what the new furniture would look like in our house I anxiously awaited its arrival.  The couch color was orange, so I was nervous wondering if we had made the right decision.  Finally the new furniture did arrive, two chairs, an orange couch and a small table.  I loved them all.

Moving the furniture to its new home was exciting and trans-formative.  Once set up the space in my house magically extended.  My mother and my neighbors commented that it looked open, refreshing and even cheerful.  Even though the furniture was actually larger than what we removed the space became more inviting.  How could this be?

Isn’t this true in life too?  When we have something in our life that no longer serves us, although it was useful in the past, we know it is time to remove it.  Upon the release, we begin to plan for the new.  This can be an exhilarating moment of time.  What will “the new” be?  Can we pick what we want?  Often we are also scared of “what it will look like”.  Will it match our current “home”? Should we be conservative in our choices or pick the “orange couch” instead of the grey one hoping to push the current paradigm? Between the moments of releasing the old and preparing for the new we need to accommodate the “open space”.  This space is where creativity and freedom lie.  This is the space of hope. 

In the “open space” in our life we make room for the new and unexpected.  Once the old has left, wait patiently and breathe.  Without rushing into the next adventure however thrilling it may be, allow for the “open space” to enter in and flow through you.  As the “open space” begins to materialize in your mind, body and soul continue to nurture it and allow your true self to fill up and to grow with the space.      

Love, “with a heart of peace”,

Susan J. McFarland

10/01/13