Spaciousness: A Seasonal Reflection

At the beginning of this year, I chose a single word to guide me,

Spaciousness

After several years of balancing agency work alongside private practice, I knew something needed to change. I felt stretched thin, overwhelmed, and I could feel that I was starting to burn out. There was little room to breathe, to create, or to simply be present with the work that I was doing.

So I made the deep dive and stepped away from the agency work and into private practice full-time.

If I'm honest, I wasn't entirely sure what I was calling in.

I imagined spaciousness would feel cosy, calm, slow. I love slow. Peaceful.

Like slow mornings with coffee. Afternoons with fewer meetings. Evenings without rushing from one thing to the next.

And there have been times where it has felt like that. But there was another side of spaciousness that completely surprised me.

It was uncomfortable.

Creating more space in my life also meant ... there was simply more space.

More uncertainty.

More moments without a plan. I also love plans.

I hadn't realised how accustomed I had become to measuring my days by productivity rather than presence.

Over the past six months, I've had to learn how to cultivate a different relationship with time - not as something to conquer - and not as something I am a prisoner of - but as something to be in relationship with. Learning how to with with time. Some days we move together with ease, other days there is resistance. Like any meaningful relationship, it ebbs and flows, asks for patience and always ready to teach me.

I like to think, somehow, time and I are learning from each other.

Of course, it's still a work in progress.

In the beginning, I thought spaciousness meant having an emptier calendar - I am learning that spaciousness, more than anything, is an inner experience.

It's the space between one breath and the next.

It's a pause before reacting.

It's having a moment to discern what truly deserves your energy.

It's giving yourself permission to leave room for creativity, rest, play and even uncertainty.

Nature, of course, seems to understand this instinctively.

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So here comes the Wisdom from Gaia:

During the height of summer, everything expands. We see trees stretching toward the light, flowers are blooming, rivers meander. The days themselves become longer, offering more daylight than at any other point of the year.

A reminder that we too have seasons in which we are called to expand. Not by doing more, but by becoming more present and in tune.

Look at her go!

In Ayurveda, balance isn't created through force. It emerges through co-creation and being in relationship with the qualities and elements within each of the seasons. Summer carries warmth, movement, brightness, and outward energy. Without intention, these same qualities can leave us feeling overstimulated or depleted.

So here we learn that spaciousness becomes a practice of balance.

Having a tea outside before opening the laptop.

Taking the scenic route home.

Leaving one evening each week intentionally unscheduled.

Putting your phone away while you watch a sunset.

These moments seem small, but they are also a powerful reminder to the nervous system that it doesn’t always need to brace for what is next. 

You don't have to earn spaciousness.

You don't have to earn spaciousness.

You don't have to earn spaciousness.

You don't have to wait until everything is finished.

It can be one, conscious, delicious breath.

One moment of remembering your worth has never depended on how efficiently you move through the world.

As the Earth reaches her fullest expression this season, perhaps her greatest teaching is not simply abundance (although we all love abundance) - but allowance.

May this season invite you to soften your pace just enough to notice what has been patiently waiting with you all along because...

Healing doesn’t arrive because we try harder; it arrives because we make room for it. 

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A Gentle Reflection

So in this season, I leave you with three gentle questions:

What did you call in for yourself six months ago (the Winter Solstice/New Year)?

What has this year taught you so far?

What intention would you like to carry into the next six months?

Until next time,

Remember who you are,

Tamara