I’m opening a space for you {VIDEO}
I was 27 years old when my husband and I felt the call to have our first child.
Although the call was strong I felt such fear and uncertainty. One thing I knew for sure was that I had no idea what I was doing when it came to birthing and raising a baby.
So how did I choose to dive into such a life changing decision?
I spent time with my fears and questions.
And what I learned was that although we could make lists of all we needed to be “prepared” for bringing a child into the world, the real work was much deeper.
I recognized that above all else, it was time to energetically make space in my heart, mind, and soul for one of the most significant endeavors of my life.
We lived in a little beach town in Delaware where Damian was completing his doctoral work in marine sciences.
So where did I go to do the energetic work of making space in my heart, mind, and soul for baby? The sea, of course. :)
With the expansive arms of the ocean all around me I let myself confront the stuff that felt like road blocks.
We were both still in grad school. We lived in student housing. We were on student stipends. Family wasn’t close by... Were we ready to do this?
Well, the answer was both yes and no.
We both felt so called and we trusted that we'd be there for each other through it all. And we also knew that in some ways we'd never be "ready" to bring a baby into the world.
We came down to these big questions that gave us a sense of freedom and the guts to go for it:
Who’s ever really ready to take a major leap of faith?
Who’s ever really ready to take a great risk?
Who’s ever really ready to dive deep into the unknown?
Although we knew we weren’t “ready” in all of the practical ways and we didn’t know how it would all play out, there was something inside us both that knew the time was right to take one of life's great risks.
But this didn't mean that fear and doubt had left me.
I knew that I needed to lean on Mother Nature to remember my power and capacity to navigate through whatever comes.
So I walked that beautiful beach every day.
After a few weeks of walking, dreaming, scheming, acknowledging fears, and feeling all that needed to be felt, I found myself singing these words that flowed through me like water.
I’m opening a space for you
I’m welcoming a space for you
You don’t have to fear
I’ll always be here
For you.
**Here I am singing this same song 10 years later as I prepare for the birth of my third daughter.**
I held my womb and sang this over and over as I felt the sand in my toes and the waves whispering the inherent life force energy we're all a part of with every step.
And so I sang this song every day I walked the beach from there on out.
What did this do for me?
Singing my simple heart's song brought me into the energy of YES. LOVE. LIGHT. POSSIBILITY. COURAGE. EXPANSION.
This repetitive practice of singing into the space I desired to create for my first child didn’t solve a million practical problems but it allowed me to be the calm fertile vessel that I desired to be.
We conceived our now 10 year old daughter, Laila, a month later. It was both a joy and a shock and although I didn’t have all of the “hows” in place I was ready for the soul-stirring adventure.
I practiced this same intention when we were ready to conceive our second child, sweet Flannery Margaret, and it brought me a similar sense of peace and joy as we got ready for the awesome responsibility of baby #2.
And here’s the truth. I did not do this same practice for the precious child I am carrying now. Her conception was a cosmic surprise that shook me to my core.
So I’ve been devoted to the energetic practice of singing myself into the vast space in my heart, mind, and soul for her ever since I found out I was pregnant.
Talk about a soul-stirring adventure. One that’s engulfed me in the gamut of grief, fear, confusion, joy, love, and awe.
And what has this practice of singing myself into the space of love done for me, when an unexpected earth shaking new adventure came knocking at my door?
I am here today feeling my expanded heart so ready to welcome this child who is choosing to come through me 10 years after my first.
You, too, can make space in your heart, mind, and soul for whatever it is you're called (or unexpectedly assigned!) to create.
Whatever it is you sense you need to make space for, even if you feel like you’re a little late to the game in “preparing” for something major, whether it’s a child, a new job, a new way of relating to the people you love, or a passion project that you're ready to birth into being...
Live in daily devotion to a simple practice (it can take 5 minutes or less!) that brings you into the energy of calm, fertile space so that you can conceive, cultivate, and manifest the way of being that is of highest good for the calling you’re ready to explore.
I would love to hear from you in the comments below.
What is one simple daily practice, whether it be writing, singing, meditating, or quietly breathing into your desires that you're willing to be fiercely devoted to now?
I promise that the more you focus your every day energy on that which you desire, the more your capacity to live into the joys and challenges of that desire will expand.
With warmth & light,
**Gorgeous image at top of post by Olivia Gatti Photography**
