This article introduces principles and tools to help you navigate through uncertainty. The feelings, thoughts, and behavior we experience are a direct reflection of the decisions we make in response to the environment around us. Before reading the rest of this article, take a minute to reflect on your response to COVID-19. Which zone were you in five weeks ago? Which zone do you find yourself in today?
No matter where you find yourself in this graphic, just understand there is a progression from the Fear Zone through the Learning Zone and Growth Zone. How much time you spend in each zone is entirely up to you.
Viktor Frankl, a well-known Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, and Holocaust survivor, is famously quoted for saying:
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
Not only the freedom to choose, but also the freedom from negative pressures of stress, anger, and other destructive thought patterns.
The best way to Create Space between stimulus and your response is to be present. By disassociating from your thoughts and feelings, you take the emotional charge out of them, which gives clarity to your experience. Therefore, it allows you to reconnect to the present moment. In essence, you give yourself time to process events that influence your surroundings and the subsequent thoughts and feelings without judgment.
What does it mean to process your thoughts and feelings without judgement? Well, two analogies come to mind:
1) Observing logs floating down the river while sitting peacefully on the river bank; and
2) observing clouds floating on by while looking up at the bright blue sky.
Think of all your thoughts and emotions coming and going in the same fashion as those logs and clouds. It is important to note, those thoughts and feelings are not you, but rather a condition of your mind. In order to Create Space between stimulus and your response, you must acknowledge your thoughts and feelings but in a non-judgmental way. Do it in a way that does not tie you to those logs or clouds.
For instance, if you are feeling anxious, acknowledge it to yourself, “This deadline is making me feel anxious.” Deliberately stay with the experience of the emotion in the Present moment. Be aware of it rather than reacting to it and getting swept away.
Creating Space requires you to notice your own mind and what’s passing through it without identifying personally with those thoughts and feelings. Once you are able to do this, whatever negative thought pattern or distraction you might feel will have less influence. You will have better control of your responses to things around you – be it a sport-related deadline, or an emotionally charged conversation regarding COVID-19.
The benefits of Creating Space include:
- Heightened Focus and Concentration
- Clarity in Decision-Making
- Reduced Stress and Anxiety
- Improved Personal Development
- Overall Higher Performance
Creating Space is the basic human ability to be fully Present. The more we practice this concept, the better we get at it. Creating Space allows us to be aware of where we are and what we’re doing. We are not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us