Breathing Space

by Lauri

“Between stimulus and response there is a space” Viktor Frankl

I’ve always loved this quote. And it took a pandemic for me to really sink down into its full meaning.

On March 6th 2020, My now husband worked from home.

At that time, our home was MY office.

Let’s just say, I was not my highest self that day. 😜

While I consider myself to be a highly adaptable person, my soul suckers sometimes get the best of me. I spent the entire day getting triggered and taking things personally. Then, at the end of the day, he received an email from his company instructing all employees to work from home through the end of the month.

My souls suckers went into a tizzy.

My Soul, on the other hand, was calm, still, and grounded.

I didn’t respond right away. I took a moment to notice the parts inside of me. The soul suckers tizzy expressed itself and died out. Like a match being struck, burning, and then fading again.

That “work from home until the end of the month” instruction turned in to “work from home indefinitely” which eventually led to my husband dancing around the house, practically singing “I’m never going back to the office again.”

Once again, parts of me felt hot and fiery, spun out, and then settled again – all while my Soul held space and noticed.

Over the first few months of the COVID shut-down, this happened again and again. My husband and I would have an interaction – my soul suckers, inner child, inner teenager, inner protector, and all my other parts would fire up like that match flame – and my Soul would watch and let them do their thing until that passed.

Only then would I respond.

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space.”

One day I realized, “That’s what’s been happening for me. I’ve been stretching time in that space.”

While I did not suppress any of my parts in that space, I also did not let them speak from their reaction.

I would simply b…r…e…a…t…h…e…

That breathing gave my Soul enough space to enter.

Then I would let my Soul drive my response.

If this speaks to your Soul, try it. Let me know how it goes. 😉

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