Sometimes just stopping makes space for something new to show up

Sometimes just stopping makes space for something new to show up.

—Calm App Reflection

Image from Unsplash by Joshua Hoehne

One thing that stood out on our recent return from Florida was the reckless drivers we saw everywhere. Among their most notable traits was how rarely these motorists ever came to a full stop at stop signs on side streets.

Perhaps they saw the red hexagons as mere suggestions, and rolled right through.

Stopping completely has considerable value in both driving and in life. It gives us time to not only look both ways but to also look within.

Assessing our realities, clarifying our intended destinations, and then proceeding with care seems like a wise way to go.

EXERCISE:

Where in your life and world do you roll through the stop signs?

How would applying the brakes more often — and more fully — create a space for something new to show up?

Space is where miracles happen

“Space is where miracles happen.”

Rich Litvin, co-author of The Prosperous Coach

Image from Unsplash by NASA

If you happen to be a fan of Star Trek you may have always believed that space is the final frontier.

Keeping your feet planted here on earth, where are you present to the space between things in your life?

How much physical space do you have in your personal and professional environments to breathe and be your best?

How much head space is available to do your best thinking and most creative work?

EXERCISE:

What wonderful things might happen in your life if you made more space for the miraculous to occur?

Where do you need and deserve this space the most?

I love a broad margin in my life

“I love a broad margin in my life.”

Henry David Thoreau, in Walden

Image from Unsplash by Raivis Razgals

What kind of driver are you?

To what degree do you see the speed limit as only a guideline for your consideration? What is your opinion of tailgating and passing on the right?

I am usually a very cautious driver, using the Waze app for directions, to confirm the speed limit, point out delays, accidents, police, and of course, watch for other folks in too much of a hurry.

I prefer to think of my driving efforts as similar to an autonomous vehicle constantly checking my surroundings to maintain the greatest possible safety margin to protect myself and others.

EXERCISE:

Where in your life do you have or need a greater margin?

What will be the benefit to you and others when you give this broader margin a road test?

“Children are the living message we send to a time we will not see.”

“Children are the living message we send to a time we will not see.”

—Neil Postman, 20th Century media theorist

Image from nasa.gov

How familiar are you with the 1977 Voyager interstellar Missions to the planets of the outer solar system?

One of the unique aspects of these pioneering space probes was the inclusion of a 12-inch gold plated copper disk containing sounds and messages selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, should some other intelligent beings discover it.

Voyager 1 moved into interstellar space in August 2012, Voyager 2 in November 2018. Today, they are far beyond the boundaries of our solar system, speeding through interstellar space into unknown parts of our Milky Way Galaxy, still sending scientific information about their surroundings back to Earth.

EXERCISE:

Take a few minutes to consider children and grandchildren—whether your own or part of your extended family—as golden discs you are sending out into the world. What living messages can and will you teach and share with them to take into a time you may never see?

Not enough people in the world

“Not enough people in the world, I think, carry a cosmic perspective with them. It could be life-changing.”

—Neil deGrasse Tyson, American Astrophysicist

Image of Neil deGrasse Tyson

Image from mountainx.com

Perhaps no single person since Carl Sagan has excited the public more about the wonders of science than Neil deGrasse Tyson. His recent work as host of Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey goes steps beyond Sagan’s 1980 version, Cosmos: a Personal Voyage.

Learning about how our universe works and taking a cosmic perspective has me appreciate equally my smallness and my connection to the whole of everything. This perspective has given me a passion for learning and self-development. That, in turn, has provided me much joy and satisfaction, and permits me to embrace the impermanence and the miracle of being alive.

EXERCISE:

How would taking a far more cosmic perspective of your life provide you access to living an even more extraordinary one?