8 Ways to Create Space
Ever wonder how you can take that yogi’s advice of creating space and apply it to your everyday life? Here’s 8 simple but in depth ways you can carry a mindful and spacious practice throughout your day to day.
1. Clothing
Take a second to think about how your clothing feels against your body. Is the waistband digging in to your stomach? Are your socks too tight around your ankles? Do your bra straps dig into your shoulders or the wires into your sternum? Are you wearing a hair tie thats wrapped one too many times? Often times we forget how important it is to create space with the clothes we wear. Yes, I understand that it can be stylish and cool to wear tight clothing, but have you thought of the repercussions of these trends?
That waist band that’s digging into your stomach is inhibiting proper digestion and putting pressure on your bladder. The tight elastic around your ankles is cutting off circulation to your feet. Your bra straps are pulling down on your shoulders and creating unnecessary tension in an area many of us already hold stress. Loosen your hairband or buy hairbands that do not pull, all of your hair even slightly pulling for a short amount of time can lead to terrible headaches, not to mention it damages your hair!
Noxious stimuli (anything that “disrupts” our nervous system”) on the surface of your skin can be extremely harmful over time, agitating our nerves and creating issues we may not link back to these tight items. Take a minute to think about these things next time you’re choosing an outfit for the day.
2. Driving
Everybody’s least favorite topic and one that stresses me out personally on a daily basis is DRIVING! How does it make you feel when somebody is “Riding your ass” or “cuts you off” while you’re driving? It’s so easy for me to get angry at other drivers on the road as I LOVE to speed. Sometimes I’m not even late or in a hurry, it’s just natural for me to want to get where I’m going faster. When I step back to think about that I realize it’s internal anxiety and anger manifesting in this way. When there is somebody in front of me (already going the speed limit, sometimes even much more than the speed limit) I would tailgate them until they got over or sped up themselves. This is such a selfish act. Endangering other people and yourself for the sake of an extra 30 seconds on the road.
Think about how much space you are giving the people in front of you while driving. You’d be surprised that when you give people 3-5 car lengths of space in front of you (which you’re supposed to do anyway), instead of being less than one car length away from the person in front of you on the freeway your “traffic anxiety” will decrease so much. I practice giving space while driving and it has helped me to become much less angry while on the road, I challenge you all to do the same!
3. Drawers / Closet
You may think that this one is obvious, but I encourage all of us to look at decluttering our clothing in a new light. Are your drawers bursting with clothes? Do you have to smash down what’s in them just to get them to close? Today, I challenge anybody reading this to donate 3 items of clothing or excess items from their closet. No, seriously, actually look at your closet and check in… when was the last time I actually wore this and thought to myself “I LOVE the way this outfit makes me feel”? Ask this question to each one of your items of clothing. It is such a hard question for me because I try to justify each one with saying “Oh I’ll definitely wear this one next summer if I ever go to a nice beach party!” OR my favorite “This would be great for an 80’s halloween costume someday”…. Really?! Can I honestly convince myself that any item of clothing I MAYBE will wear one time a year is worth taking space in my life? Maybe 1 or 2.. But if you find yourself making this type of excuse for 10 or more items of clothing, I strongly recommend reevaluating.
When we rid ourselves of excess in life, it declutters the mind, offering us less stress when making micro-decisions about what to wear. Personally I own 5 pairs of nursing scrubs, this allows me to 1) do laundry consistently and be held accountable for dirty clothes I let pile up and 2) Completely rids my mind of the stress of what to choose to wear each day. If you work an office job, think about how often you actually notice if other people are wearing the same clothing every other week, and if you are noticing, what makes it wrong? Our world’s obsession with “fast fashion”, “retail therapy”, and always having the freshest clothing is not sustainable. Only purchase clothing that adds value to your life. Literally ask yourself “Will this piece of clothing continually serve me? Will this add value to my weekly life? Is this going to comfortable and durable? Or will it break or rip within 3 months?” Declutter your wardrobe to declutter your mind!
4. Chew It Up!
I LOVE delicious tasting food. I’ve been known to “demolish” things while I eat them, literally taking less than 5 minutes to finish an ENTIRE meal. Did you know that it takes your body 20 minutes (often times even longer) for people to begin to release the hormone that tells your brain “I’m full, you can stop now!”. Do you find yourself getting that lump-in-your-throat feeling from swallowing bites that are just too big? Do you need a drink to wash it down? Do you get heartburn soon after eating a meal? These feelings are not normal, and a lot of the time can be prevented from just straight up slowing down! I know that this is something that takes time to learn and re-train our brains to do, but be overly mindful next time you eat. Close your eyes. Really feel the texture of the food. Slow down. Chew 20 times, maybe 30, until the texture in your mouth is smooth, completely smooth.
Your stomach needs to work VERY hard to digest large chunks of food that we swallow, this is especially true for meat products. Fruit and vegetables take less than half the time to move through our digestive tract than meats and cheeses. If you choose to eat meat, chewing thoroughly can be the difference between that 60-120 minute mark of the food sitting in your stomach. Remember, the more you choose to chew your food the less time it will sit, and the less time your body will have time to give you feelings of heartburn, indigestion, and bloating.
5. Conversation
This is one that I probably struggle with more than any other, and something that nursing has taught me the hard way. LET PEOPLE HAVE TIME TO SPEAK. I am a quick fire conversationalist. I interrupt people often and don’t even realize it’s rude because that’s just how I communicate, constantly bouncing ideas off of people and speaking what’s on my mind as soon as I think it. This can be okay with your closest friends that know you are this way and also benefit from quick moving topics, but can be so so harmful to people who don’t know you and for people that are trying to communicate something serious with you. Some of the most meaningful conversations I have had with my clients have been through long periods of silence. Intentionally not responding to a sentence for 10..20..30 seconds or more. Give the person time to process what they just said and the feelings that they are working through. Often times the person needs to work out things in there head, and NOTHING that you can say can help them get to the necessary conclusions, as much as you want to share your opinion or empathy, silence can be so powerful.
Initially when I began to become more mindful of myself in this aspect, I became extremely anxious doing this, fidgeting, and my mind racing wondering if they thought I was weird for not immediately responding. Slowly I’ve learned to be comfortable with it, revel in it, and to let these serious conversations and moments simmer. Finding myself changing what I would’ve said 10 seconds earlier to be more empathetic, more understanding, and less intrusive. Creating space in your conversations allows not only the other person to open up further, but for you to articulate yourself better as well.
6. Living Space
Are you sitting down in your living room, family room, bedroom right now, scrolling through social media? Take 10 seconds to really open your eyes to your surroundings. I mean really open your eyes in a new light. Do you have room to create movement in your living space? What if you tried to lay down a yoga mat for 15 minutes of stretching for that low back pain you’ve been meaning to address? That stack of old magazines and papers shoved under the desk or in a corner… how much of that will you actually take time to read? Can it be sifted through in 5 minutes? Can it be shredded / recycled? Is that box of old items you’ve been meaning to “put away” for months really serving you? How much of it will you use within the next 6 months – 1 year? What about those trinkets on your shelves, the ones gathering dust that you’re for sure meaning to get around to cleaning off, is that enhancing your highest consciousness? Lately I’ve been forcing myself to look at my living space in a new light. If I could design / live in / obtain a dream living space, what would it look like? The best part about this thought is that you CAN achieve that. There is no magic wand that will come in and reorganize you’re living area, remove clutter, and dust off old items to give them sparkling new light.
Take 2 minutes to do this assessment. What is ONE thing you can do right now to clean / declutter / DONATE! What is essential to our happiness. What is essential to us running at our greatest potential. Of course there is meaning to decorations and small amounts of excess in our living spaces. For example, I have 5 throw blankets all with different levels of coziness because I need my snuggles at all times of the year! But, I try to keep them well organized in a wicker basket to add aesthetic to our space. As I move through stages of my life and realize a trinket on my shelves has been there for 5 maybe 6 years and just doesn’t bring me the same positive energy it once did, I will donate it back to Goodwill where it likely came from. This is not easy to do, but once you make it a habit in your life it becomes effortless. Retrain yourself to assess your surroundings with kindness but also with your own personal interest in mind. What is necessary for your space? How can you create more of it to fill with new idea or new concepts? Life is always about evolving. Continue to move forward by creating space to allow yourself to figure out what it is you find appealing!
7. Diet
Have you ever craved chocolate.. Like REALLY craved chocolate. You see the “item” at work one day and decide to say no. Great job! You practiced discipline. Then.. when you get in your car on the way home you still find yourself dreaming of just one bite of the chocolatey goodness.
You forget about it for awhile until you’re laying in bed at night.. Wow.. I could really go for just one piece of that. One week later you find yourself STILL thinking about. There’s a battle in your mind *It has too much sugar! The saturated fat content is too much! Only unhealthy people eat that kind of stuff!*. Then, saturday morning comes around and you’re near the bakery that sells this deliciousness, you enter and buy 3 and finish them all before the night is over. You may not have experienced this exact scenario, but I can guarantee many of you have gone through this inner battle with yourself. This is unnecessary restriction. Had you just cut one piece in half that first day, the first urge that washed over you, you would’ve satiated that desire and moved on. This would ultimately be preventing that binge 1-2 weeks later (sometimes less sometimes more).
This one is sometimes hard for me to grasp, as I often focus so hard on the nutrient content of food and just avoiding “bad” foods like the plague until I can’t take it anymore and binge! This is so harmful to you mentally and physically. When we are stressed, trying to resist something within us that we very much want, our body releases a hormone called cortisol. This is a hormone that is specifically designed for times of “fight or flight”, when our body needs that extra boost of energy to run from danger, or fight off something harmful. When this hormone is released for too long, lots of things begin to go wrong physiologically. Our body hoards fat as energy for later, thinking that it may need it to continue running from this danger. Did I mention this fat is primarily stored in our abdominal region? D: Our digestive system shuts down, sending all of your energy to your limbs to give you as much strength as possible. You may see this in the form of jitters, a nervous tick, numbness / tingling, restless legs.
Now, I could go on about how cortisol is poor for our health long term. I just wanted to drive home the point that putting yourself through this mental battle for days on end over eating a certain food is just as bad, if not worse, than just eating the damn brownie, or ordering those french fries in the drive through! Be kind to yourself, give yourself some wiggle room with what you are eating. Nobody has the perfect diet. Nobody resists all of their cravings all of the time. The healthiest people on the planet practice intuitive eating (eating what your body is craving, often times seasonal foods ex. Warmer foods in winter, cool foods in summer). Allow yourself time to process what you really want. For example, recently I’ve been craving a burger. I’m trying to set up a day where I can go to a restaurant, get a high quality burger, enjoy it with someone I love, and not feel guilty about the experience at all. This is because I know it’s exactly what I’ve been wanting! Allow yourself space to feel what you want.
Tune in to the foods that cross your mind frequently throughout the day. Catch these thoughts and think about how you can satisfy these desires in a healthy way. Moderation is the key to a successful wellness journey throughout life! If you have any thoughts about this concept I would love to hear your experiences. I want to know how you all cope with these feelings too! Remember, you are NOT alone, in fact far from it! Did you know that Binge Eating Disorder is the MOST COMMON eating disorder in the USA?! According to a recent survey, 2.8 MILLION Americans suffer from this diagnosis, I believe that is extremely far off and would probably quadruple that number for the amount of undiagnosed cases out there. There is a way to overcome these feelings. If you find yourself thinking that you might be a part of that elevated number, please feel free to reach out to me so we can discuss. Find your local health care provider to see what the right options are for you. At the end of the day, being mindful of our cravings and satisfying them ENTIRELY before they get out of hand is the key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle physically and mentally.
8. Alone Time
This one is SO hard for me to swallow, but has become so comforting as I get older. Time alone is essential to personal growth. You need to be comfortable by yourself before you can be an effective person. I struggle with this because as a type B personality I thrive on physical connection with people. I find joy in interaction and solace in the comfort of a deep conversation. For so long I struggled even having a day off to myself because I simply did not know how to slow down and be alone. Forcing myself to sit with myself and realize that I am enough has opened my mind to a huge potential that I would’ve never realized without sitting down and thinking about myself and what I want. I am now becoming the kind of person who would rather stay in on a Saturday night and read a book, cook, and go to bed early rather than going out! (which used to be a crazy thought for me not to be without at least 5 people in a squad just a few years ago). As for many type A personalities (I’m sure you know who you are) being along can recharge and refresh you back to 100%, while type B’s need social interaction to recharge.
Whatever type you may be, remember that character growth isn’t possible without self reflection. Give yourself time to sit down and make a list of some goals for the next 30 days. How can you better yourself or your mission? Make these goals attainable, things you can check off a list. For example, take 1 online course about marketing, or get rid of 10 articles of clothing. Maybe your checklist is simplistic and self-care centered. For example, clean the bathroom twice this month. Do a face mask once a week for 30 minutes. Being alone doesn’t mean you have to sit in an empty room with no stimulation or activity. I find a lot of my muse stems from my time in the kitchen and behind the camera. I love letting my creativity flow and just seeing what happens. Even in the last few months since Savoring Health began I’ve grown tremendously. Be mindful of what fills your cup and if you notice your mind isn’t in the right place. Revert back to the basics of what brings you back to your center.
