“Our deepest need is to be seen.”

— Marianne Williamson

There’s an amazing gift you receive when someone has the capacity to hold space for you...but even more so is the gift when you’re able to hold space for YOU.

What does this mean?

Holding space means creating room for all of you…your highs and your lows, your light and your shadow, your gifts and your flaws, your strengths and your weaknesses...and everything in between.

Allowing all this the room it needs to breathe within your awareness.

But we have difficulty holding space for both sides of the spectrum. So we end up living in a suspended place where we're not really feeling anything. We feel disconnected and numb to ourselves and the world around us.

We live a mere fraction of the aliveness that’s available to us.

The only place I've been able to truly cultivate my ability to hold space is through a quiet practice.

I have yet to find some place better.

In the space created through a quiet practice, there's no judgment. You're never wrong for what you're thinking or feeling in any given moment. It may not feel this way at first but it's what you're working towards each time you sit in silence.

So what does it take to hold space?

Only one thing...to listen.

When I was going through certification with the Coaches Training Insititute, one of my coaches pointed out to me that when you re-arrange the word listen…you get the word silent.

I don’t think this is a coincidence because to really listen to yourself or someone else, you kind of have to shut up. Not just your mouth but also all the commentary that runs through your head that often leans towards judging yourself and what the other person is saying.

Listening is a skill that is so underrated and underdeveloped. It's not really something we are taught to do. I spent two years training on what it means to listen, how to listen and to witness the impact of true listening…and I’m still learning in my own quiet practice.

Listening to your thoughts and feelings with acceptance and compassion will change your life.

You're no longer afraid of thoughts that want to destroy you.

You no longer deny yourself of emotions that overwhelm you.

You no longer brace yourself against the sensations that are out of your control.

Instead...

You realize that there’s a presence within you that loves you unconditionally.

You realize that there’s a presence within you that’s far more powerful than you dare to admit.

You realize that there’s a presence within you that’s capable of so much more than you can even imagine.

This is when you either choose to heed the call or live in denial.

It's a choice we all face.

Every day.

You reach a point where the noise of your victimhood is replaced by the quiet whisper of your true voice.

This is when things get exciting...and scary.

You’re in a constant state of becoming and you live beyond the edge of your comfort zone.

It can be so uncomfortable that you’ll want to crawl under a rock and hide.

I’ve been there many times.

But it's too late for that.

The call has been made and it will gently nudge you day after day until you heed its call.

I believe we suffer not because of our past hurts and disappointments but because we neglect our true voice and it pains us to be separate from it.

To hold space is to listen.

Yes, you're listening to all that troubles you and letting that part of you, once and for all, to have the loving attention it needs that only you can give.

But more importantly...you're listening to the quiet voice of your true power.

The reason you're here.

Your unique contribution to this Life...to the planet.

When you go in, step into silence and really listen...

You touch the Light within that will blind you.

You then start to see Life through a different set of eyes...

…the only ones that truly see.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us...And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

— Marianne Williamson