Inside My Head – Page 8 – GOOD FOR THE SOUL

A friend and I were recently talking about safe space – you know, that space someone creates for you where judgment is suspended and you can talk freely. I love safe space and try to create it as often as I can. However, my friend was explaining she had just heard the phrase “brave space” as an alternative to safe space. Safe perhaps indicated more passive behavior and more care-taking than brave, which carries with it an expectation of participation. Safe space is created for you and doesn’t necessarily require a lot of you. Brave space requires you to be a part of the conversation, as well as to speak honestly and with a goal. The more I think about our conversation, the more it resonates with me. It’s easy to use safe space as a place to vent and share your frustrations, but nothing has to happen from that. Nothing is required in the safe space. With the expectation of brave space, you can also share your frustrations, while exploring solutions. Being brave implies being bold and being creative to give voice to things you’ve only thought. To me, being brave means having the conversations that worry you. But engaging in those conversations is the first step to freeing yourself from the worry and madness that they cause. Where is your brave space?

Unplugged

There’s something magical about flying at night. Not the battle with TSA, screaming-kids-and-lost-luggage type of flying, but rather, the actual act of being up in a plane at night. It’s quiet since lots of folks are sleeping, the cabin is dark and all you can see are hundreds of thousands of lights below you when you pass over a city. This is my favorite time. Without necessarily making a conscious decision, I usually find myself with my headphones plugged in and letting my mind wander. Sure, I have my book, my laptop or a movie ready to go, but I almost always find myself putting all that down and just being. This is my time to just be in my own world. It saddens me that planes now come equipped with wifi. Flying time is (was?) the last space it’s okay for you to be disconnected. With so many things to do and to distract me from just being, I’m not very good at unplugging and taking time to let my mind wander. This is one of the places where it seems to come naturally, and the soothing darkness and white noise seem to be a perfect combination for me to reconnect with myself. Where are you when you can just be?