S P A C E Mission 2020
Clearing the clutter for the things that matter.
“When you let go of what no longer serves you, you create space for what’s meant to be.” - Anonymous
BREAKING NEWS!!!
I am on a mission.
I am travelling into S P A C E in 2020!
Calm down NASA, I’m not talking about outer space … I’m talking about a different kind of space.
My intention for the start of this new decade is to make R O O M.
I am clearing space for more living — decluttering the things in my mental, emotional and physical space to create more room for purpose and peace in my life. I have been feeling overwhelmed, crowded and defeated by the effects of being busy — only leaving my life to feel full and chaotic.
I am agitated, and I am exhausted.
Have you ever felt full to the brim with too many worries, stressors, projects, friends, things to do, bills, and more?
We fill EVERYTHING.
We fill our phones, our homes, our cars, our inboxes, our relationships, our minds and everything else in between - often filling these things unintentionally.
We are cluttered.
Not just defined as "stuff," clutter can include the mental, emotional, digital, environmental and social elements that can be all-consuming. We’ll explore more of this together in future posts!
But for the time being, let's talk about general SPACE.
I am focused on removing things in my life that conflict with my intentions for space. The things that are stealing my sense of peace, taking my joy and draining my energy.
And instead of beating myself up about how much I have consumed and filled - I am looking at how I can honour my spaces and remove those things that no longer serve me or bring purpose to my life.
So, what is SPACE?
S P A C E is about allowing ourselves to live without limits, or not feeling confined by our thoughts, our environments and relationships. Space is permitting yourself to live without feeling imprisoned by the things that tend to withdraw from your reserves and collectively create chaos.
S P A C E is intentional and respects how we choose to make room in the many areas of our lives.
And at the core of finding space is lightening up and letting go.
In the process of implementing this change, I have created an acronym, which are values that will help identify and incorporate more room in my life.
I have defined S P A C E as:
Stillness
Purpose
Acceptance
Clarity
Evolution
Let me break it down for you:
Stillness - is a way of reconnecting with ourselves and activates silence for insight instead of impulse.
Photo by Brett Belcher on Unsplash
With constant distractions, noises, stressors, emotions, protective mechanisms, and being too busy, we are easily removed and disconnected from the state of being. Our choices in how we live sometimes takes us away from ourselves. These things become ingrained and habitual, it becomes a part of our daily lived experiences which we then perceive as “normal,” but it is not.
Stillness is a choice and is a source of peace. It can be felt by living in a state of presence where we remain connected to ourselves. Creating space allows us slow down and be present - focusing less on a human doing and leaning more into a human being.
Do your surroundings encourage stillness or are you feeling overwhelmed by external buzz and chaos? Life flows with a simple rhythm — the rhythm of our stillness.
Purpose - represents the Marie Kondo method of discarding things that do not spark joy.
While this method was primarily designed for de-cluttering our homes, I have been using it in other areas of my life. For example, why am I holding on to an email from 2018 that I will NEVER need? Why does it hold space when there is no purpose or place for it?
We often feel obligated to do some things or hold onto things that do not serve a purpose.
Purpose helps identify the value that things or situations represent in our lives. It guides us when we need to decide what is important to us, and if it is valuable, how are we making room for it. If it isn't necessary or of value to us, it is time to let it go (*insert Let It Go song from Frozen).
Acceptance - the opposite of denial. Acceptance is facing reality and choosing not to run from what needs attention. It acknowledges that it took some time for us to reach this point, and it will be a process in removing things that are crowding us.
Acceptance is also an appreciation for the things that no longer serve or congests us; it is showing gratitude for the lessons or experiences it gave us and releasing it provides us with the freedom and space for more intentional things in our life.
Clarity - is getting clear on what matters and getting rid of what doesn't. Clarity guides us with a better understanding of what is valuable and important to us.
Life has a strong tendency to be vague, disorienting and uncertain. Imagine a life with less confusion and doubt. Clarity helps us make better decisions, do more meaningful work and live intentionally.
It helps increase our mental capacity - which enables us to be deliberate in how we use our space instead of just seeking more room, only to eventually and unintentionally fill it.
How will you get clear on what is crowding your space?
Evolution - is the development and progress made by committing to expansion, it is the result of implementing the values above that contributes to overall growth in this space mission. Our capacity to evolve is based on conscious intent. For us to use these experiences for growth, we must be intentional in our actions.
Everything around us is in a continuous state of evolving, improving, elevating, adapting and changing. We were not put on this earth to remain stagnant. We are made to elevate and evolve which requires us to constantly re-evaluate how we are living and understand how these spaces fit into our lives that are continuously unfolding.
How are the actions of finding space cultivating a higher expression of yourself? How does making room benefit your overall existence and how you show up in the world?
These values are intertwined and work together in this space mission. They provide us with guidance when exploring areas that need cleaning up and clearing out.
I recently spoke with my therapist about my desire to make more room for my life. She challenged me with another perspective, as I explained my plan for creating space.
She asked me about how I would grieve the loss that would be required when making more room in my life. Loss? Something I had not thought of while preparing to implement these changes.
Making room means that we are eliminating something. So, of course, it only makes sense that I am losing something or that something is taken away in the process.
What are you giving up if you need more space? It could mean less time online to give you more room for meditation and fewer distractions so you can be more productive in other areas of your life.
Or perhaps it means removing items in your home that you have been holding onto for so long, and you realize that they do not hold significant value anymore.
How will you grieve that loss? Using the SPACE acronym may help you explore not only how you will find more space, but also how to work through the loss of the old and support welcoming in the new.
Space is all about change, and it is a process. Change is a result of an action. And action is the result of a decision. What decisions are you willing to put in motion in finding more SPACE in your life, and move from overwhelm into greater peace.
Life doesn't have to be turbulent, and we don't have to race through life.
Remove the things that distract you from your highest purpose. You will walk into a more prominent expression of who you are if you take the time and “un-clutter” yourself.
Just because the world is busy and chaotic, doesn’t mean we have to join in.
With Love & Intention,
Martina
Martina Kelades, Founder of Life Out Loud
Martina has over 10 years’ professional experience working as a Personal Development Counsellor and Instructor and holds a diploma in Social Services (Addictions Counselling concentration) from the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC), as well as a BA (Hons) in Psychology from Mount St. Vincent University. In addition to her education, Martina is a certified and active Mental Health First Aid trainer, a national, certificate, training course through the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
