“Inner Space” Exploration Depends on Climate
Seeking answers “far, far away”? Your inner galaxy holds infinite keys, but keep an eye on the weather…
Climates are changing all around us.
Global climates, economic climates, political climates, you name it, there’s an aura of change in the air.
Finding balance, equilibrium and peace amid the chaos is essential to take even one step forward.
Enter: Inner Space Exploration
A lot of us are already doing it: meditating more, breathing more, sleeping earlier and tuning “out” as much junk as we can to connect a little better with our inner sanctum.
But to truly raid that “lost ark,” to identify where the life within us breathes and wrestles, loves and struggles, triumphs and trips, we have to examine the space we are asking it — forcing it? — to live in.
Oddly enough, exploring our personal inner space requires a careful analysis of our exterior climate. Because like air pollution, toxic chemicals on our vegetables, and parabens in our body cream, what we allow in affects the quality and balance of our interior world.
This includes not only VOCs and PM10s, but attitudes, opinions and mindsets as well.
Climates around us are an invisible form of space, the essential air we breathe, the frequency we tune into, the vibes we hang around, the opinions we let in, and the protection required around our spirit.
For true inner work to yield the joy-filled life form that you call you and I call me, an exhale should lead only to an uninhibited inhale of fresh, cool, healing air, followed by another easy exhale of whatever leftover needs to come out — breath after cup-filling breath. No murmurs, no judgment, no reproach.
All too often, however, exploring one’s inner space proves to be a fruitless mission leading not to life, but to suffocation. The key once again lies in the environment to which we are exposing our tender, inner child. Interior work can become overwhelming, and downright impossible, if we haven’t removed ourselves from day-to-day contamination.
Is your space, your climate, blamey or guilt-ridden? Are you afraid to exhale too loudly, to inhale too deep and to repeat the cycle for fear of critique? Do you feel loved, nurtured and understood, or are you constantly explaining or defending your feelings or actions?
Could a little climate change do you good?
An ambiance of guilt, blame, shame, criticism, negativity or otherwise, while tolerable in small doses, slowly becomes pervasive and can begin to erode the very framework of who we think we are — or who we earnestly desire to be.
Eventually, the wrong climate can cripple us and leave us in a heap, grappling with questions such as, “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” that, on the worst of days, are answered only by silence.
In extreme cases, we can become a source of that same contamination ourselves, thus perpetuating a polluted climate that harms others.
The pandemic climate has turned up the heat on a lot of us.
Watching the constant cycle of what is wrong and whose fault it is, what we should fear, why we should worry, what bad has happened last week and what tragedy is bound to happen tomorrow, has led most of us to function on the edge of a dicey precipice where breathing feels more like straining, surviving or just “hanging in there.”
To turn the endless bla, bla, blues into space, air and freedom around us, we may need to mindfully change that space, and scrupulously curate what we allow in, in favor of more favorable influences.
When good measures to protect ourselves go bad — when we fail to see the forest because of the trees, when we are constantly fearing that everything we touch and every breath we breathe will invisibly bring upon us doom and gloom— we allow our climate to affect us. And our task is to do just the opposite: to change the climate for our own relief, and the betterment of society.
Oddly enough, the opposite generally happens. We tend to acclimate to the air we breathe, to accommodate the climate we live in, instead of forcing real change or improvement on that space around us.
Why? The task of changing a climate seems too daunting. But in fact, it’s generally as easy as just removing oneself physically from a space and moving to a new climate, because indeed, whether or not the climate around us will or can change is not in our hands.
Changing your climate can be just as simple as turning off the TV, removing toxic apps from your phone, or taking a bath. You can move from the kitchen to the living room, put in your earbuds or go for a walk. Small doses of change can be as helpful as life-altering sweeps.
Instead of embracing hopelessness and despair, instead of sitting in the same seat that has brought us to the point of confusion or anxiety in the center of life’s challenging maze, we can choose to change something. We can take a step forward, or even sideways, but just somewhere other than the space that suffocates us.
We can set a new tone and affirm to others the incredible ability and desire of our community and the will of the Creator to intervene and protect us even from ourselves, even when we consider that all hope of sanity is lost and we hide it from our best friends or even our partners.
Selfishly guard the air you breathe. Protect your climate. Fight for your personal space, and make sure it’s big enough to allow you to stretch out and breathe. Hold onto hope, and when you lose it, reach out to someone, anyone; chances are, they are feeling quite the same way as you, and hiding it just as you have been doing.
When necessary, fight for climate change! The space around you is sacred and not only feeds your lungs, but your soul. We breathe in what others exhale; frequently checking the air quality and choosing your circle wisely will get you closer to that inner sanctum that you so earnestly miss.