Space in Between

Living in the age of technology has offered us tremendous opportunity to expand our creativity and education. But this electronic world brings its own set of daily challenges. We scan thousands of messages from a variety of sources — and with each one, we decide how we feel. Keep, delete, save, like, comment. All of it arouses emotion, often before we've had a moment to think.

Information filters in through social media and news at record speed. Our judgments form quickly — offended or pleased, attached or dismissive — before we've even taken a breath.

And yet most of us also carry the full weight of daily life: making a living, raising children, feeding ourselves, maintaining our spaces, continuing to learn. Those responsibilities alone can be an overwhelming combination. When the mind is set at full speed to keep up with the day, our closest relationships begin to strain under the pressure. We rush through what matters most — and still somehow find time to hang our emotions on distractions we never planned to engage with in the first place.

Finding the Gap

For centuries and across cultures, one of the most trusted practices for human well-being has been simple: slow the mind down. To engage with life deliberately. To move with fewer judgments and fewer automatic attachments to whatever happens to filter in.

Much of what we react to throughout the day we wouldn't have given a second thought when we first woke up. And yet by afternoon it's festering.

When we slow down, we find the gap. The space in between. It is where a clear mind and clear heart begin to take shape — where we can keep our relationships with ourselves and others in good order. It gives us the opportunity to choose not to respond immediately. It loosens our grip on an idea before it takes hold.

We start to ask: Do I actually care about this? Is this important to me?

We give so many things energy — even with so little time to spare — that we can easily be redirected away from what genuinely matters. Like wind, we can pick up speed in any direction we focus on. And when we move too fast without intention, we can do damage in our path.

The key to the space in between is this: keep a moderate speed in your thinking, and know which direction you actually want to go.