When you're meeting with life's demand and at the same time you find yourself feeling something really difficult inside,
This tension between external life's demand and your inner needs can sometimes left you with this sense of stress or an overwhelmness,
This sense of needing so much to do on the outside and yet you don't feel okay on the inside and it's so tiring,
It can drain you.
So in circumstances when you're just feeling so overwhelmed,
Clearing the space exercise developed by Eugene Gendlin can help you to kind of unclutter the present overwhelmness and then that's where you find a sense of inner space where you are more spacious from within and there's a sense of groundedness or a sense of presence that help you to continue to face and handle what's needed in each moment.
So we can begin to enter into this exercise by allowing yourself to find a comfortable sitting position,
Noticing how you're settling into your space,
Perhaps noticing how your body is feeling,
Adjusting,
Finding a sitting position or as you're lying down,
See what feels right for your body to find an alert and relaxed awareness at this moment.
As you do so,
You may find your eyes gently closing,
Your body finding its restful,
Kind of effortless comfort and you notice what's holding your weight,
The contact of what's supporting your whole body.
Take your time to notice,
As you begin to notice your body's sensation,
Perhaps beginning with a sensation on your feet,
Your hips,
Your belly,
Your back,
Your chest,
Your hands and arms,
Your shoulder,
Your face,
Simply noticing what or any sensations that may be present,
Allowing them to be here,
Welcoming yourself just as you are and as you're sitting here noticing your breath moving from the inside,
Noticing how your attention drops inward,
There is this inner space,
Open,
Wide,
Spacious enough to hold anything that is happening in your life and even to hold it gently from a distance,
You can place it in the space where you're able to stand back and observe without it being right at your face.
You can find a spacious distance as you gently ask yourself,
What's between me and being perfectly okay?
Something may come and when it does,
There's nothing you need to do about it.
Just acknowledging what's between me and being perfectly okay.
What may be stirring,
What may feel uncomfortable,
What may doesn't feel alright,
You may quietly acknowledge it,
Allowing yourself to perhaps name it,
Oh,
It is about this,
I shall call it this,
Keeping it simple,
There is no need to go into the story,
Just gently noticing the quality it carries,
This has a sense of an anxious feeling to it,
Or sadness,
Or a sense of tightness or pressure,
Just acknowledging,
Just naming,
And when you're ready,
Imagine you can set this concern aside in a way that feels right for your body,
Perhaps it feels right to rest this sense of something you just picked and placing it on a bench on a sunny day in a park,
Allowing it to just have a space there,
Or place it a little distance even further away,
Perhaps on a beach,
Or on a ground nearby,
Or any sense of safe and comfortable place that it may want to be placed on,
Allowing whatever image that naturally comes,
Some people gently imagine folding it or placing it in a box beside them,
Knowing you can always return to it when you are more spacious and available to connect to it later,
So once you have find a space and have set it aside,
Notice how you feel inside,
When you're ready,
You can ask yourself again,
Besides that,
What's between me and feeling perfectly okay?
Now again,
Notice what comes,
Name it briefly,
Acknowledge its emotional tone,
Without analyzing,
Without fixing,
Once again,
Set it down aside at a comfortable distance in a space that feels appropriate,
And at your own time when it feels right,
You return your awareness back to yourself,
Allowing the breath,
The awareness of the body,
As you continue to ask yourself,
What's between me and feeling perfectly okay in this moment?
Allowing yourself to become aware of what wants your attention,
Giving it a chance to be seen,
To be acknowledged,
And then to be placed in a distant and place that feels spacious and suitable at this moment,
So at this point,
You may find yourself wanting to pause this recording for space,
As you continue to own your process in your own way,
Taking your time,
All the time you need,
To notice what's between me and feeling perfectly okay,
Acknowledging it,
Noticing it,
Setting it down in a space and distance that feels right,
And you continue to do this until you land to a space or a place within you,
That feels spacious and it is,
So you can pause the recording now,
And come back to it when you're ready,
And now sense inside again,
Having your inner space cleared,
Having acknowledged what needs to come and set it all aside,
Notice how you are feeling right now in this moment,
You may discover that for now you're actually feeling pretty okay,
Take a gentle breath here,
Allowing yourself to relax into that possibility,
Even knowing that life can still be demanding or uncertain,
But this practice is always available for you in any moment where you need a little bit more inner space,
Simply allowing yourself to notice,
To acknowledge,
To honor,
And set it aside,
As you welcome your daily life,
And gaining back the inner spaciousness to meet with what has to come,
So whenever you're ready,
Gently bringing your awareness back to your body,
The room you're in,
Perhaps noticing any sound,
Or the temperature,
Or a sense of the things that's in the room,
Noticing what supports your body,
What's holding you,
And take a moment here to notice how you're feeling,
As you take this sense of spaciousness,
This okay place within you,
Into the rest of your day,
This power is within you,
The power of being spacious,
And present,
Alert,
And alive,
Ready,
And available for life,
From within,
To meet with what's expected around you in your daily life.
