Slow Dancing in a Burning Room

Contrary to popular belief, more isn’t better…especially when it comes to our health. Our mind-body system needs space to be able to function its best and this applies to all layers of ourselves. When we live without the space we need, we are setting ourselves up for the slow burn of inflammation in the system. Inflammation is at the root of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, respiratory diseases, cancer, and immune diseases.

We may find that we take in “too much” for many different reasons: this is what we have been taught or trained into as we live in a consumer culture, this is how we attempt to distract ourselves from feeling or thinking, this is a way that we fill an internal void, this is how we attempt to feel important, successful, or worthy, and more.

In the physical body, when we take in too much food, the digestive system gets bogged down and cannot process everything efficiently. We may be taking in too much at meals or throughout the day with snacking. Either way, when there is no space for the digestive system to be able to process all that has been taken in, it gets bogged down and cannot keep up. This results in the body holding on to what cannot be properly digested.

In the mental realm, when we have too many thoughts, we can struggle to focus, to make connections, to remember, and to be able to think clearly. There is no room in the mind to process our thoughts or to create order. We are living in a mental world of distractability, confusion, and brain fog.

In the emotional realm, we can fall into patterns of denying, numbing, or ignoring our feelings which leads to a backlog or build up of emotions in the body to process through. We can also find ourselves in long-standing cycles of negative thinking, a powerful vibration shifter in the system, which leads to a buildup of issues as well.

When there is too much information coming in with constant stimulation to the system, again, we are unable to process all that is being ingested and the system struggles with efficiency. This also happens when there is too much on the schedule and we become overwhelmed, overworked, and overextended. The system cannot handle the load and over time it takes a toll.

All of this overload leads to inflammation and a break down in the mind-body system we are living in. So, what do we do? We create space.

Create space in the digestive system by eating only during the daylight hours with dinner early in the evening, leaving 13-16 hours before the first meal of the next day. Sip warm water between meals rather than snacking. Create space in the mental and emotional body by taking time throughout the day to feel emotions that are arising and to sit in quiet stillness to allow the mind to process thoughts. Create time in the evening to review and digest the experiences from the day. Create space in the day by resisting the urge to schedule tasks and meetings back to back. Take a few moments to walk around- ideally outside- and to breathe. Create more space in the entire system by lengthening up the spine and taking a few long slow breaths.

When we create space in these ways, we make room in ourselves and our lives for joy, ease, health, and clarity to come in.

This week, see how you can choose one way to create some space and see how it feels. It may feel strange at first if space hasn’t been built in for a long time, but run an experiment and see what happens.

I will be experimenting right along with you.

Chat again soon,

k