Creating Space

One of the techniques used in teaching people to draw is to forget the object. Draw the negative spaces. Don’t draw the chair. Draw the shapes – between, around, above, below. The chair emerges. One of the techniques used in embodied meditation is to dance with the spaces. Let the spaces be your partner. Mental Health is partly about creating space. How do we create space for exercise, healthy eating, breathing, relaxation and positive thinking when we are so busy? Perhaps we are trying too hard to meet expectations? Perhaps we are too focused on success? Part of creating space is just seeing the spaces that are already there. A different perspective. But that is too easy. You are still drawing a chair. You are still dancing. You still want to have purpose. There is still work to do. Do the work. But see the space. Feel the space. Draw from it. Dance with it.

A sketch of a chair by Vincent Van Gogh