This blog was written by accident. What I mean by that is, I was thinking about the cost of a new energy efficient air conditioner.  Especially this summer when we’ve had high temperatures and humidity that will knock you down. Trying to measure the areas and calculate the space was required before choosing a unit. The products available are more advanced, but you still have to figure out how much space you actually have. Have you ever considered just how much space you have?

Earlier today, I finished grocery shopping and was grateful I did not have to go back out into the heat. Our street has been under construction for weeks, I had waved to the road crew who looked as if they were literally melting on the pavement. My heart always goes out to people who work outside year round who do not have the option of working from home. And of course, the animals with no choices at all, just trying to survive. We are fortunate to have food and clean water. As well as a place to store and prepare meals. And that is where the accident happened. The space we have, the space we live in, the spaces we take for granted.

I thought how about lucky we are to have separate places to sleep in clean and comfortable beds. We have yet another space to bath, with fresh hot and cold running water and clean towels in a modest linen closet. There are other areas to store clothing and stuff we remember we have when we are looking for something else.

Some of us have an area to pull a car (or two or three) into, or park motorcycles, and let us not forget spaces for lawn mowers and tools we use only when we’re outside. Some of us have additional spaces, cute little sheds to put snow blowers, wheelbarrows and bikes into, to keep them safe and sheltered from the elements.  In our dwellings are rooms to sit. Safe and sound, we rest our rumps on cushions, in chairs, on sofas, stretched out on lounges or piled on pillows as we stare into a screen be it, tv, iPad, iPhone, computer and not into one another’s eyes. These dwellings can be Cape Cod style houses, Colonials, English Tudors, Castles with rooms and rooms of extra space. Or apartments, that never have enough storage space.

For those of us who love to read, we’ve have carved out even more space. We have shelves we carefully place, positioned by size, genre or decor our treasured books. We may not have read any of them, or all of them, or have kept most of them from childhood, as gifts or our beloved book of the month club selections. They look great stacked beside a favorite piece of art, vase, or framed pictures of loved ones that create a special place space just for that moment in time. We have all this space for cooking, working, writing, reading, sleeping, playing, bathing, storing stuff, storing guests, storing more stuff. Areas that hold holiday items, seasonal items, items we want but never use, items we don’t even know we have any more, but we’ve got space for those too!

Yet do we have space in our hearts to include caring, empathy, emotions such as love, hate (hey, it dwells somewhere, if not in your heart where? Your liver? Nah, hate impatiently writhes and slithers around within your heart.) happiness, sadness, contentment, discontentment etc? We also have space in our head, not the sarcastic space between our ears as we’ve often thought of some people having (or lacking?). It is that space in our head that is the hardest to control when we fill it with worry. We may be creatures who love to learn, or who hated school. We search for knowledge or avoid it at all costs. We dream, or wrap ourselves in nightmares, doubt, loathing, and grief. Our mind works overtime. We need to clear our mind and re-evaluate the space.

I am blessed with four children. Two came with my husband. Two my husband and I created together. Each vastly different, yet when we all come together, the space between us dissolves. The air is lighter, love deeper, fondness for one another palpable. I don’t know if it would be the same if we all lived close by all the time. But I do know the times we are all in the same zip code something wonderful happens. Time stands still, and the joy of living in the same space expands.

I know there is a saying of not wanting more, but being happy with what you have. It made me give pause and take time to look hard at what we have and see just how much we surround ourselves with, what we actually use, what we don’t use, what we store in boxes, in sheds, in attics and what we enjoy, and look at every day. It’s not about the stuff, or how big your space is compared to mine, it never was.  It is about the people you surround yourself with and share space.

So do the math, calculate just how much “space” you have. You might be surprised.

Breathe Deep, Think Peace

Patty