Make Space...

On two separate occasions yesterday, I had conversations with people in which I said, “The Universe is just making space for you.”

Both of the ladies I was speaking with were discussing scenarios whereby things seemed to be falling away from them, and they both found the whole thing quite uncomfortable. One of them has recently finished an OU Degree and worked full time while achieving it, only to find now that she has all the time in the world and no idea what to do with it, and the other has come through lock down as a self-employed businesswoman with now fewer and fewer clients and a longing to do something different. They each spoke of the discomfort, they spoke of the unknown, they both recognised the fear that was rising up was resistance to the space that was being created, and they both knew full and well that each of them had been through some huge life changing shifts that meant going backwards was no longer an option.

The Universe is making space for them to grow, to change, to step up to the next challenge. You cannot expand into space that is already full, you have to clear the path, you have to create space. The process of letting go is an uncomfortable one though, no matter how much we believe we are ready for the transition. Our comfort zone is exactly that, comfortable. We know what we know and we like what we know, our humanness tries to cling onto what it knows, what is comfortable, because the unknown might not be safe. We try as human beings to push ourselves into growth and forward momentum, but because we fear releasing what needs to be left behind, we try to do it all. We try to expand while keeping small, we try to reach while holding back, we try to call in the new while being committed to the past.

If you don’t make space for that growth and momentum, you better believe the Universe is going to make the space for you, and that will often mean the discomfort of being forced to let things go.

This morning I noticed a funny thing, I noticed that I had lost a few followers on Instagram. It’s not something that I would normally notice, but because when I checked the other day I had 777, I noticed this morning when I had 774. I twitched a little at the possibility of what that meant. I had posted a reel the night before and although it wasn’t anything controversial could that have been what made people unfollow me? It takes some doing to actually go through the process of ‘unfollowing’ a person, rather than just scrolling on by, I must have really offended some people somehow…My little inner narrative had already started and the twitch became a knot in my stomach.

Then I remembered what I had said to my friends…The Universe is just making space.

Hold up, Emma…what if….what if these people just weren’t your people, and the Universe is making space for your actual people? Now, I know it’s not as though I have a maximum limit on followers of course, but do I really want 7000 followers of only 7 of them are my people?

Taking a deep breath and feeling into what it means to have that space created for you, to have things leave, fall away, be let go of, to be unfollowed…I noticed fear rising up. Fear that I wasn’t good enough. Fear that I wasn’t ready. Fear that I wasn’t liked by everybody. Fear that someone thinks badly of me.

My little girl is actually the voice inside that creates this particular fear. I’ve been getting to know her quite well recently and we’ve been working on making her feel safe and enough; so I spoke with her, held her, reminded her of a few important facts…

I am good enough. I am ready. Not everybody needs to like me. And what other people think of me is none of my business.

Moving forward means letting things go. Expanding means creating space for that expansion. Momentum needs a clear path. Never hold onto what’s holding you back. Never cling to that which wants to leave. Never worry about the whys that are external to you; only concern yourself and lean into the whys that are internal to you; Why is this space being created for me? What am I being asked to expand into?

Then go on and expand into it. 

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