Negative space

Wander into the place between.

Dear you, sweet soul, yes, Y O U:

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I published my first post on Substack, with zero subscribers at the time, on Sunday, October 23, 2022. Yesterday, on New Year’s Eve, I sat down to write my twelfth post, which will reach 65 subscribers by email today! What? Listen, I can’t think about that too much, but I did want to take a moment to celebrate it with you. Happy New Year, friends. Whether you are reading this as a first-time visitor or as one of my subscribers, please know that my gratitude has reached a depth I have never experienced before. Thank you for being here. Thank you for reading what I write. Thank you for any level of engagement you’ve had whatsoever with Seeing Upside Down. You have empowered me in a time I’m calling a homecoming. It has been a season of coming all the way back home to who I am and how I believe I was created to live and give during this lifetime. It’s as if you, my kick-ass Substack fam over here, already knew this was coming. You were just here, right on time, like a soft landing place when I started and then a warm, loving place to return to each week. Y’all are the best. Cheers!

I sincerely pray for and channel blessings to be reciprocated for each of you in 2023. May you continue to follow the path toward the physical and spiritual spaces which make you feel like HOME in your life… the spaces that nurture and celebrate who YOU truly are. If nobody has reassured you lately, that realm does exist for each and every one of us, and it always awaits our presence. There is no timeline. There is no rush. There is no pressure. There is only Love, which never stops beckoning us. It waits, constant and steady, in the open space… the quiet space… we could even call it the negative space.

Photo by Clark Van Der Beken on Unsplash

A quick internet search of “negative space” might land you with a Wikipedia definition: “Negative space, in art, is the empty space around and between the subject(s) of an image.[1] Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, not the subject itself, forms an interesting or artistically relevant shape….”

I guess if we’re talking about wandering into the “open space” of our life, it would be helpful to talk about how we may need to let go, or loosen up in other areas. In 2022, I let go of hyperfocusing on difficulties and challenges. I finally became aware of my tendency to make hurdles and obstacles the main subjects of my life. This is natural and normal as a human. We have this master problem solving brain. We are constantly finding solutions to problems. Enjoyment often only comes into the picture as the end goal. I think I finally snapped (or I just got tired enough). I decided I’m not going to wait until “everything is in order” to sincerely enjoy my life. In fact, I discovered I could have my hardest adult day yet, and instead of going home to ruminate on it, I could go to yoga, for example, and actually find unexpected JOY within the same 16-hour day I’ve been granted to be awake and breathing. Many times I would have my biggest breakthroughs during my hardest days. I will never forget doing a headstand for the first time in Sarah’s class. It was right in the midst of one of the toughest days I remember having in a long time.

Or how about that one Monday night in the Spring? It was Memorial Day. Dom and I were just getting home, tired after a BBQ with friends. To our knowledge, the main events of the holiday weekend were behind us. He parked out front of the house on the street. As we stepped out of the car, we extended a wave and a hello to two of our neighbors who were chatting. It was just a long enough exchange to notice that one of them was holding a tiny, lost kitten. We adopted that kitten. Her name is Athena. She is pictured between the “intergalactic cocktails” in the cover photo of my last post The secrets we find in play. All of that (a new addition to our family!), nestled in a few flash moments of greeting our neighbors.

Or how about that one random Sunday night in October? I was spinning with worry again for a loved one who had been struggling. Instead of creating an errand in my restless state (aka going to the store to get cookies), I decided to sit down long enough to follow a thought. I was revisiting a written offering by

Jessica Dore

, a writer and social worker who my friend shared with me on Instagram. I first discovered Substack through the link on Jessica's Instagram page, which led me to her written posts on this platform. I subscribed to start receiving her "Offerings" by email each week. That Sunday night in October, I did a double take with a link at the bottom of one of Jessica's emails. It was a link inviting me to start writing on Substack. I followed the thought. I clicked the link. I started writing. I shared it. It was not this elaborate, planned out thing. Sometime between dinnertime and bedtime that night, in a small bit of quiet space, I unlocked a way to channel what I was feeling into a creative expression that could be shared with a community. Now, of course, I’ve been writing as long as I can remember- journals, letters, academic papers, personal, and professional projects. But the Substack thing? That part was born in the negative space we’re talking about- in the extra few breaths I gave myself in the midst of some discomfort.

The last example I’ll give is about how this newsletter continues to successfully flow each week. It has been a welcome change in behavior that I do not hyperfocus on it. I do not have a tight grip on these weekly posts. Sometimes I get an idea earlier in the week and can get something going ahead of time. Other times the creative juices don’t start flowing until Saturday, and I choose to trust that inspiration will come just in time. Other parts of my life do not get put on hold for this newsletter. I have felt myself almost going there a few times. Historically I tend to have an obsessive personality. It’s easy for me to get locked on something with my “Jeannie blinders” on. When that happens, I neglect other important things or people around that one thing, which I’ve made the main subject. I’ve seen the damage this can cause. So, in the times when I haven’t dialed in the thought for a Sunday piece, or when I hit a block in the middle of one, I’ve learned to step away. I can sense when it’s time to step into the negative space around it for a little while… to make dinner, go to a friend’s thing, hit a yoga class, watch a movie with Dom, take a walk, do that load of laundry, call someone back. Every single time I have done this (yes, every time), the idea, or the rest of the idea, flows right into my consciousness, without force or struggle. I return to my computer and let the wave come to shore.

nicolajanehobbs

A post shared by Nicola | The Relaxed Woman (@nicolajanehobbs)

The same friend who shared Jessica Dore with me also shared this post to her Instagram story yesterday. I really appreciate it. It’s one you can swipe through for multiple quotes. A couple more of the blurbs say:

Do you really need to work harder or do you actually need to rest enough so you can do your most loving and meaningful work?

Do you really need to get better at delaying gratification or do you actually need to allow yourself to fully experience pleasure, bliss and delight?

Okay, Nicola Jane Hobbs, we hear you! Or I know I do. This is the energy I’m embracing and no longer wasting.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Today is the first day of a new year, 2023. I tend to sit in the middle between the more extreme sides of popular trends, such as New Year’s resolutions or the Happy New (Calendar) Year hype in general. The last couple years if people asked me if I had any resolutions, I would say “to continue.” Bottom line, it is simply yet another new day we have been gifted. In the northern hemisphere, January is still in the middle of winter. For those of us who are more aligned with the cycles of nature: fresh energy, sweet beginnings, and new life tend to come in the Spring anyway. So… here’s your permission to stay cozy and keep eating soup.

Other than that, let’s practice taking our time in the in-between times. I’m going to paste here again what I wrote at the beginning.

There is only Love, which never stops beckoning us. It waits, constant and steady, in the open space… the quiet space… we could even call it the negative space.

The pace of the world we live in always has us in a rush. It is often a rush to achieve, finish, check the box, solve the next thing, get this done, make that appointment, tasks, tasks, tasks. The invitation of creativity* comes like a soft breeze. In order to engage with it, well, first we have to slow down enough to notice it. If we notice it, we might breathe a little deeper to listen for a moment. It’s nice. We learn over time that it’s always there, the little breeze… the open space between all the to-do’s. We might choose to return here more often. We remember what it feels like to birth something from our hearts, our bodies, or the neglected, cool, funky parts of our minds that may have been dormant, just waiting to CREATE.*

*If what I’m saying feels like another type of to-do, such as: “set aside time to create,” then maybe try this instead: go back and read that last paragraph again, and replace the word creativity* with the word b e i n g. Replace the word CREATE* with the word B E.

Photo by Shyam on Unsplash

HAPPY NEW YEAR, FAM. I would love it if you stayed in touch about your little breezeways and where they lead you this year. I plan to keep enjoying the open space of Seeing Upside Down and sending out a newsletter every Sunday. It is so much better with you here, and I am forever grateful for you.

with love, Jeannie