When the noise of the mind calms down, intuition appears and compels clear action. Providing space is often associated with stepping back from life to reassess, allowing intuition to emerge. However, space also allows us to step forward in life with calm confidence, trusting what we sense are our next steps. The noise of the mind prevents us from taking a step back when we feel tempted by an inner obsessiveness driving us forward hastily, and it also prevents us from confidently taking a step forward, tempted by an inner obsessiveness mired in overthinking.
The noise of the mind is dictated by anxieties. Intuition, on the other hand, is guided by calmness, and emerges from providing inner space. If we push for action out of a fear of space, much may appear to be created, but such activities are mere paper tigers of no real intrinsic value, for they are not thoughtfully produced. Hesitancy of action also comes from not allowing for the emergence of space. Space means making room for yourself to start what you fear or avoid to do. There may be initial anxiety, but you can trust that if you stay with that space and hold it, intuition will emerge. The more regularly that space is provided, the more likely intuition will begin to show, and anxiety will give way to momentum of action.
When there is noise of the mind, there is a lot of action and there is also a lack of action. This activity or lack of activity is driven by automatic inner reactions we have to the outside world. The outside world appears to trigger inner reactions, which are streams of rippling thoughts that are flowing towards nowhere. When we pause and take slow breaths, acknowledge that we are on these streams, we can gently separate ourselves from the streams over time. We recognize we are not the streams. While breathing slowly, we can imagine that streams are flowing past us.
When I hold space for myself, I no longer am the product of what happens in the outside world, reacting automatically to it with excessive action or inaction. When the noise of the mind reacts automatically to the world, flooding me with streams of rippling thoughts, it thinks it is being in control. But there is no control, for even with all the so-called thinking my mind is doing, I end up acting thoughtlessly. Even with all the so-called action that follows this thinking, I am not in my body. My life is not in control; it is unconscious.
Real control arrives when I ground myself by providing myself with inner space, when I slow down to take deep breaths. Then I feel more fully in my own body, I start to sense my own selfhood more firmly, and I feel at one with myself and my intuition. Space allows me to experience my own sense of agency and autonomy, and thus real control. It all starts with the patience for having space, but if you trust it, there will be more meaningful activity and rest that follows, leading to better outcomes and better quality of life.
