Holding Space for the Gap

Hi friends! Well here we are!

Another week and sitting here writing my thoughts to you. Maybe I’ll get to my sketchbook today. If I do, I’ll share it with you too (click right here to see the time lapse from my sketchbook workings.) What I’ve been thinking about recently is what some people call “the Gap,” and I don’t mean the clothing store.

I mean the gap.

The space between here and there.

The space between breathing in and breathing out.

The space between what you’re doing now and what you’re doing later.

It all has to do with meditation. It all has to do with art-making. It all has to do with patience. It all has to do with being present.

Sometimes the gap comes so quickly we don’t even notice it, because we’re so enthralled or so overdependent or so over-involved with what’s coming next. This is all I can seem to write about lately, maybe I need to find some new material??? But, I have learned that my meditation practice has become more of a place of calling, a place of enjoying stillness, a place where we don’t have to worry about whatever comes next. A place where we can just focus completely and totally on the gap.

On the space around our thoughts.

The space in between our thoughts.

And just space in general.

Not even to fill it with this, that, or the other.

It’s become a very interesting form of brain gymnastics, and one that definitely needs practice. I know that when I don’t “sit” (meditation speak) for a while, it’s harder to hone in on that gap. But I do know it exists. And I know I’m getting better at recognizing it.

Now I’m starting to look for it in my artwork, too.

In the gaps between the shapes that I make.

Are the shapes open? Are they closed? Are they receiving? Are they giving?

Without saying too much more, I’ll just leave you here with your own thoughts about what the gap means for you.

And maybe, this week, we can all make a little more time for it.

Share The Sketchbook Diaries of an Evolving Art Therapist

Do you find yourself wanting to find some stillness combined with art making or journalling? No need to pine any further - just join us online for “Be Free Pathways” this coming Wednesday AUGUST 19TH FROM 10 - 11:30 AM EST. All you need to do is send me a message and I’ll send you the zoom log in link. This week - our theme will be - you guessed it - “finding the gap.”

And a quick art update for all of you reading this far. The last couple of weeks I have been working on some new paintings for a show in Sarasota, Florida, this coming November. The theme of the show has to do with shapes and resonance. Here is one of the newest paintings that will be in the show (of course unless it sells first).

Let me know your thoughts about it and it’s title, and if you find any particularly interesting gaps..