3542: How to Create Space in Your Life by Kathy Robinson of Athena Wellness

[00:00:00] Before we start, please check out our new podcast, Good Sleep. Have you ever noticed how a calm mind can really set the stage for a good night's sleep? That's the idea behind our new podcast, Good Sleep. Greg, our host from Optimal Relationships Daily, is here to help ease you into a peaceful night's rest with some positive affirmations. And these affirmations aren't just comforting, they can help ease anxiety and nurture positive thoughts, setting you up for true good sleep.

[00:00:25] So press play on Good Sleep tonight because a good tomorrow starts with a good night's sleep. Just search for Good Sleep in your podcast app and be sure to pick the one from Optimal Living Daily. This is Optimal Living Daily, How to Create Space in Your Life by Kathy Robinson of AthenaWellness.com. And I'm Justin Malik, your very own personal narrator.

[00:00:48] Welcome to Optimal Living Daily, OLD for short, where I read the best blogs to you with permission from the authors, covering productivity, minimalism, mental health, all that fun stuff. So with that, let's get right to another post and start optimizing your life. How to Create Space in Your Life by Kathy Robinson of AthenaWellness.com.

[00:01:15] Last month, I cleared boxes of outdated financial files. They'd accumulated over the years in my basement, neatly boxed and labeled. I shredded them over a number of days, bagged up the output, and took a carload to the recycling center. When I got home, I was amazed at how light I felt. Why? Because I created space for the new by clearing out the old.

[00:01:40] It took me a while, but I finally realized what I was really sorting through when I cleared those boxes. Old habits, my history, and outdated dreams. It was all a reminder that the past was gone, and I was mindfully creating space to move forward towards something new. It also felt good to feel the positive impact of following my own advice.

[00:02:00] Whenever I began working with a new client or a group of students, we spend some time understanding what an optimal outcome of our time together would look and feel like. And then we set out to design an environment to support the work that we'll be doing together. This is done by creating space in their lives to make room for the transition and hopefully the transformation that they're about to experience. So what does it mean to create space in your life?

[00:02:26] When we're on the threshold of change, it's a natural reaction to try to make things happen, and we tend to add things to our lives in preparation. Let's take a simple example of getting back into a fitness routine after a long layoff. One way of preparing is to research gym memberships or new activities. Buy a smartwatch. Get some new workout clothes and any other gear for the sport of your choosing.

[00:02:52] Another way is to schedule a half hour each day to put on your sneakers and walk out the door. The first example adds things that can feel like supportive actions, but have little to do with our intention. The second clears the space so we can get right to the activity that will make the difference. Walking may not be the ultimate fitness outcome for you, but by moving every day, as Atomic Habits author James Clear says,

[00:03:19] you'll become the type of person who is focused on fitness and then you can evolve from there. Creating space is even more important when we're experiencing a life transition. It gives us room to pause and notice where we're living in accordance with external or outdated expectations and where we can begin aligning with what's true for us today. We make this connection by listening to ourselves, which takes quiet in space.

[00:03:46] This inner path has been called the road less traveled and it's not the path of least resistance. The whole purpose of creating space and reclaiming your time is so you can connect with your still point, a place of spacious calm where you can detach from your thoughts and emotions in a peaceful space of surrender and release. These breaks can act as a place to get quiet and connect with how you're feeling, like a pause from the noise and intensity of modern life.

[00:04:14] In quiet moments, you can more easily identify the causes of tension and stress. And mindful pauses allow you to listen for what's needed to take good care of yourself. In other words, you create space to mindfully connect with how to make the best choices for yourself in the present moment. As you begin to make space in your life, you'll find that you fiercely guard that precious time. And you'll get better at saying no to the things that infringe on that quiet time.

[00:04:43] There's an art to discernment to saying no. The choices available to us are endless, which is why discernment is so important. It's a mind shift. It moves you to a place where you can begin to say no to what you don't want so you can spend more time doing what's fulfilling for you. Developing this mindset takes practice. It begins with saying no to the things that you know you don't want to do. We're taught at an early age to be polite, helpful, and supportive.

[00:05:13] So saying no might not come easily or naturally to you. But as you begin to build this discernment muscle, you'll come to learn that it can be joyful to say no and that you can feel content in the wake of that intentional decision. While it's true that sources of distraction are endless, it's also true that it's up to us to remove the distractions. Depending on your life and responsibilities, it may not be easy to do this for long periods of time.

[00:05:39] But it is possible to carve out pockets of quiet in your day. What begins to fill the space that's created when we say no is a deeper level of living. When we're not scattered, we can experience the quality of our lives through deeper connections with ourselves and others, leading to an increase in overall happiness. We become aware of our surroundings, the changing seasons, and have more appreciation for the smallest things in life, which of course are actually the biggest.

[00:06:09] Writer Charles Bukowski is quoted as saying, the less I needed, the better I felt, end quote. So here are three areas where you can begin to make more space for yourself. Number one, physical. Start with the easy stuff. Toss, recycle, or donate mail, catalogs, anything that has expired, toiletries, clothes, and forgotten things in storage areas. Number two, mental. Reduce the digital noise.

[00:06:39] Unsubscribe from extraneous emails. Turn off phone notifications. Address any habit that keeps you in a never-ending information flow. And number three, boundaries. Set boundaries on your time, commitments, your calendar, and how quickly you will respond to a call, text, or email. Whenever I go through this process, I keep two questions in mind. One, does it serve me today? And two, will it be useful on the journey ahead?

[00:07:08] This helps me say no to the things that move me away from who I'm becoming, and yes to the things that support where I'm headed. It's been my experience that as a result of mindfully creating space, I'm able to integrate my life experience, increase my focus, and improve my productivity. I feel like I have more time and energy, and I can access creative flow. There's more room in my life for being present with those I love.

[00:07:34] And I believe that creating space is an act of loving yourself and others. I'll end with a quote from Danielle Laporte. Danielle has said, Make space in your life for the inevitable arrival of what you want. You just listened to the post titled, How to Create Space in Your Life, by Kathy Robinson of AthenaWellness.com. And I'll be right back with my commentary. You know what I love about optimizing my day?

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[00:09:00] Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more. Thank you to Kathy. I've talked about it before, but something I really believe in is how physical clutter directly leads to mental clutter. And it might go the other way around too, where if our minds feel really cluttered with lots of to-dos or really anything, then we might end up not caring about our environment and let physical clutter pile up too. So I think it works both ways and could create a bit of a snowball effect.

[00:09:30] But starting to declutter, that really does feel like a weight off our shoulders. And again, it could be decluttering physical possessions, but I think also a mental declutter by writing things out, for example, helps too. And another big takeaway is how we tend to add things when trying to make a change, when maybe creating space would help more. I've definitely been caught in that trap of thinking I need more things to start a new habit, when really I just needed to move more, for example, which can be done in so many different ways.

[00:10:01] Adding things can make us feel productive, but it's not really getting us to take a baby step, which is the best thing we can do right now. So good stuff to think about. Thank you to Kathy. Thank you for being here every day. I hope you're having a great morning or afternoon or evening, nighttime, whatever, whenever you're listening to this, that I'll see you tomorrow, where your optimal life awaits.