Making Space
I gave my heart some room today.
For days I have been sitting and fretting, scrunched up in my body and crunching thoughts like pebbles. I curled up tight in my chair, curled up in my sleep too, closing off my body as though I could fold everything in and hold it there.
My heart was feeling too stressed and tight, so I walked outside, my feet pounding on the gravel drive, thoughts pounding in my head, my poor old heart pounding against a wall.
So I stretched myself open. I gave space in my chest for my heart to beat and lungs to catch air and the tension began to ease. The stitches of pain and surges of pressure faded, I breathed deeply inward, outward. I wandered into that inner space, feeling lighter.
In that moment I realized how deeply my body had been carrying what my mind could not settle. The lightness was not just a thought but a feeling that spread through me, a reminder that release begins from within.
The body remembers what the mind tries to carry. Tension shows up in the chest, the throat, the shoulders. It feels like knots, stitches, or heavy stones that refuse to move. Pain is often the body’s way of saying that something has been held too long, pressed too tightly. Release is just as physical. When we soften, when we breathe and open even slightly, ease ripples outward. Muscles loosen. Breath deepens. The heart feels less confined.
Self-discovery often begins in these small shifts. We think we need to chase after solutions or push for answers, yet sometimes what we really need is to give the body space to release. When I gave my heart room, it showed me how much it had been holding, and how much lighter I could feel when I allowed ease to take the place of strain.
You might try this too. Find a quiet moment, close your eyes, and imagine opening your chest just a little wider. Let your breath move in and out without forcing it. Notice how your body speaks to you. Notice the difference between the sensation of holding and the sensation of release.
When we give our hearts room, we remember that healing is not only an idea but also a feeling in the body. It is a softening, a spaciousness, a way back to ourselves.