My partner has a habit of occasionally announcing the statement "NO ACCIDENT" (her voice in all caps) based on a book in which the main character would say this whenever some coincidence that was not coincidental happened.
"NO ACCIDENT" is exactly what the card Accident is about.
Sometimes, when we go through life, with all our plans, an unplanned, new chunk of life comes crashing in.
This month is one such time.
This can be the sort of "Hey-you-got-your-peanut-butter-in-my-chocolate" kind of accident. Or it can be the more disruptive "where-is-this-supposed-to-fit-in-my-life" accident.
Regardless of which kind has arrived for you, the important thing to notice is that it's a chunk of NEW LIFE.
Accident's calling card is that you are receiving more LIFE. Unplanned, disruptive, sometimes even frightening and heartbreaking. But also full of LIFE.
Our instinct when Accident happens -- when a business launch fails, when a baby is born, when something or someone you love is lost or gained -- is to leap into damage control.
But now is not the time. Now is the time for SPACE.
Let the dust settle. Accident's life-giving side is that things tend to fall into some quite perfect new configurations. Ones that you really couldn't have imagined. Accident revitalizes and brings energy even as it disrupts.
Some thoughts for this time:
- As mentioned, take space. This is hard but really important. Meddling spends our energy when we need to be receiving. You do not know what you are working with until everything finally comes to rest. So sleep a little extra. Take a walk. Don't make a decision that your reptilian brain is screaming at you to do.
- Give space to that new chunk of life that just crashed your party. Space to land. Space to unfurl. I mean this literally as well as metaphorically. If a beautiful gift arrived at your door you would clear off the mantel and give it some room. With tenderness if painful. Give the business you are blowing up a place on your altar. Give yourself room to take the actions needed to close doors and pack up with elegance and grace. Don't shove it between the sofa cushions and hurry on to the next thing.
- Give space to your emotions. Even happy accidents--and most accidents are happy--involve loss. What spaces, actions, and objects support you and make you feel cherished? Don't brush them off. These are not acts of temporary soothing. When Accident happens, Life is up in the air. Take care of yourself during this prime moment and let Life fall into place where feeling cherished is the new normal.
Underlying the complex feelings that we may experience with Accident is a truth. We are receiving more space in our lives and in our hearts. As much as we may say 'Yes, I'd like More Life Please', the reality is that when it happens it stretches our skin. Sometimes a lot. And it takes a bit for us to regain our sense of ourselves and get used to that unfamiliar room.
You are invited to a Fresh Look
If your office or workspace feels funky -- and not in the good way -- you can invite Judith to take a fresh look at your space and get insights on how to bring your office into greater alignment with Who You Really Are. Just ask.
Judith helps you figure out where your desk should go, what color to paint your walls, and all of the little details so you feel more at ease, totally at home, and completely held by your office.
She holds a Masters Degree in Interior Architecture at the University of Oregon and is certified in Design Psychology.
How does this deck work anyway?
I created a deck of cards that ‘reads’ our environments. It's still a little mysterious to me. How, I ask, can the cards 'read' the environment if they can't even 'see" it? However, they have proven again and again to be amazingly helpful in both creating designs for my clients and helping all sorts of people understand their relationship with their workspaces and home spaces in order to feel more spacious, free and alive.
In each newsletter I draw a card for all of us, to help us navigate the month ahead, understand what our collective environment is presenting to us, and suggest small changes we can make to our personal physical space that will support us in the coming month. Would love to hear from you if this card was helpful!
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