Meditation teaches us to pause before reacting. What if we widened that pause to life itself? In a culture obsessed with busy, creating space might be the most radical path to fulfillment.
In meditation, they say: put space between the feeling and the reaction. A breath. A pause. A chance to choose.
When my kids were little, that idea saved me. I lean impatient. Sharp. I didn’t want to be that kind of father. Still don’t. Some days I fail. But that sliver of space afforded me the opportunity to trade an outburst for patience as I developed that muscle. Not perfect—just closer to how I wanted to show up for my kids.
And if you widen that idea, it’s not just about parenting. It’s about life.
Modern life leaves no space. We sprint from one thing to the next. Busy gets mistaken for fulfilled. More gets mistaken for better. Perfection is demanded, mistakes unforgiven.
Who taught us to live like this?
Restaurants sit empty because nobody lingers over meals. Try talking to a stranger and it feels like you’re breaking some unspoken rule. And always—always—the phone wins the tug-of-war for attention.
Meanwhile, time slips by. And when it does, what’s left on the mantle of your soul?
Without space, we lose what makes us human: connection, art, family, the joy of being imperfect and still belonging.
I can remember being a kid in a world without phones. I’d find a warm, sunny spot, lie on my back, and just listen to music. Daydream. Drift. Those hours weren’t wasted—they were alive.
The fix isn’t complicated. But it is radical. Make space.
Breathe before reacting. Sit at the table. Put the phone down. Say hello. Choose presence over speed.
The real world is beautiful—if we give it room to breathe.
“Know what’s enough. Build what matters.”
One simple way I’ve learned to create space in my own life is by carving out a short meditation in the middle of the day. It’s not about fixing everything, but about giving yourself a reset. I wrote more about that here:
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