Find space in your day

Every human being needs a little space – both around them and within them.

As the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh writes in his meditation book for children, “If you learn flower arranging, you will learn that each flower needs space around it to show its beauty. Human beings are also like this. All of us need some space inside and around us to be truly happy… Space is freedom, and freedom is the foundation of true happiness.” (From A Handful of Quiet, Happiness in Four Pebbles.)

This week, practise finding some space for yourself in your busy life. It needs only a few moments. Simply give yourself time to pause what you’re doing for the space of three in-breaths and three out-breaths. As you breathe in and out, you might like to try repeating these words in your head:

Breathing in, I feel the space in and around me.
Breathing out, I feel free.