One day at yoga all the ladies were talking about how hard it was to get to sleep at night. Each person shared what they had tried, hormone therapy, sleeping pills, bed time stretching. None of them seemed to work for them. I also had been struggling to put my busy mind at rest to go to sleep. So many ideas come to me as I am trying to drift off. Story ideas, things to paint, what to do tomorrow all flooding my thoughts not sheep jumping a fence. Then one day I was reading a book called “Unglued” by Lysa Terkherst. In small passage she mentioned that everyone needed to find white space. It was such a small point among other major points it was not main theme. But something about that passage stuck with me. I wondered what did she mean by “white space”. I googled it and found out that white space is a publishing term meaning the margin and white around the words on a page. It is also used in art for the white area around the subject. So I came to realized that she means blank, not thinking about anything at all for that moment.
So one night when I was very tired but not sleeping I decided to try out white space. I closed my eyes and thought “white space” and this beautiful scene popped into my head. The painting doesn’t really do justice to my real imaginary place. At first it was just a white wilderness scene with a refreshing breeze blowing and a combed sand road. “This is pretty but I’m sleepy” I thought, then suddenly a white hammock appeared. I crawled into the hammock and went fast asleep. I have been going to sleep like this now since April and it is now November.
At the risk of sounded kooky, I decided to share this with the world. Maybe one person out there needs a good night sleep. You can use my White Space or create your own. I mentioned this to one person and she said that some people go to their happy place, for some that is a place in their past. I do want to be clear, I don’t believe going to a place in our past will bring the kind of rest we are looking for. We need to develope some place new that is free from the past or future. The past or future can only cause emotions that we do not have the capacity to process in the present since we can not do anything in the past or the future.
This White Space must exist only in the present moment. This is what I like to call the Crunch Time. The place in between the past and the present, the now, the Crunch Time. How to find the present moment when our thoughts are so filled with past and future anxieties can be tricky. My favorite way to practice being in the now is to be out door. Go outside. Concentrate on the breeze on your face. Is it warm, cool or cold? What do you see? Trees, grass, sand, bushes, buildings, cars? What do you hear? Birds, dogs, music, traffic, trees rustling in the wind? What do you smell? Fresh air, flowers, exhaust, city smell, country smell, suburb smell? Can you taste the air? Is it fall, spring, summer or winter? How does your body feel right now? Tired, excited, energized, relaxed? Once you have mastered these things you will start to feel something else in the present moment: Life, Breath, Creation, the Earth, The Universe, God.
Now that you know how to find he present moment, be in your own white space. This is where you will find peace and rest. Sometimes we think that we can never let our guard down but that is why Jesus came. He came, died and lives again just so you can be free to go to sleep at night in peace and truly rest. This kind of faithful white space gives rest to your soul, mind and body. I hope you find your white space and it gives you a restful night’s sleep.
