Spaciousness

a jumble of thoughts

July’s been a busy month!

Rocky Mountain National Park - July 18, 2024

Four weeks have passed since I posted here. On the last day of June, I wrote Mid-year musings. My hiatus from the newsletter wasn’t intentional. I had a draft for July 7th, entitled “Summer schedule,” a riff on wonder and perspective and posting less frequently in the summer. I was away from home that weekend and didn’t get around to editing and posting. The next Sunday, I thought - why not skip another week? The following week, I starting drafting a post on spaciousness. However, I was out of town once again and didn’t get it done.

Here we are four weeks later. July was full! Programming at work, a family reunion, a family wedding, a trip, an online class, and the Riverwest24. So much happening, so much to think about, so much to see and do, so much fun, so much community, so much love, so much appreciation!

Which brings me back to spaciousness.

I grabbed this screenshot from merriam-webster.com:

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I’m thinking about the words in the definition above: vast, ample, roomy, large, magnificent, expansive. They all have different subtleties, and they all evoke a feeling of abundance. I’m thinking about spaciousness in terms of cultivating an attitude of abundance in my life.

I’m thinking about our recent visit to Rocky Mountain National Park, which is definitely encompassed by definition number two (above) “large or magnificent in scale.” Indeed. The scale is almost unimaginable. I’m thinking about spaciousness in terms of our wide, wonderful, diverse world. And - we can see the wonder of our world right in our backyard gardens or the local park, by the way.

I’m thinking of seasons. We have busier seasons and quieter seasons that don’t necessarily align with calendar seasons, but vary with stages of life or changes in life. Some years we have graduations or weddings or moves or jobs changes. I’m thinking about spaciousness in terms of both the meteorological seasons of the year and the varied seasons of life.

More particularly, I’m thinking about time. Spaciousness of time. Personally, I thrive on spaciousness of time. I appreciate having quiet time mixed in with busy. As a creative - I need time for ideas to percolate, to grow, to take form. However, that’s not always the way life rolls. And, even when I’m not sitting down to write or getting snippets of ideas into my journal, inspiration is happening and ideas are percolating. Life is being lived in fullness. The beauty of the natural world. The joy of celebrating. The love of family and friends and community. So much inspiration.

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To explore the concept further, in the Buddhist tradition, “spaciousness” is more about state of mind. I’m just learning about that and stumbled upon the post Spacious freedom by David Chapman. Here are some quotes from that post:

“Spaciousness” is freedom from fixed meanings. Spaciousness liberates you from automatic interpretations, and from habitual responses.

Spaciousness is an attitude: the willingness to suspend the process of meaning-making. Spaciousness is the willingness to allow unknowing, uncertainty, confusion, ambiguity, meaninglessness.

Spaciousness values astonishment, perplexity, and groundlessness. Spaciousness gives experience a quality of freshness: every situation appears unique, not merely as another instance of a familiar category.

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I’m intrigued.

I’m thinking of all the various ways to cultivate spaciousness.

I’m thinking I could keep writing in a myriad of different directions.

I’m thinking of spaciousness and hope and abundance and how we might each cultivate these qualities in our hearts and in our communities and in our world to make it better and more just for everyone.

I’m thinking this is just enough to write for today.

Thanks for reading!

With care and gratitude,

Mary