I soaked my new sauna cap in cold water just before entering the silent sauna that was already 80o C (175o F). Given it has been ten years since I last wore one, candidly, I had forgotten what it was like to wear one. In my excitement to have one, I had not slowed down enough to consider more than the obvious reason to wear one, keeping one’s head cooler than what it would otherwise be.
The cap was much more. Yes, it did keep my head cooler. It also created a mysterious space between the heat all around me and my heart. In this space I experienced a new sauna. The overbearing heat disappeared. I was, for the first time, able to slow down and experience the change going on within as well as the way silence took my mind to unanticipated reflections. Physically and mentally, it was a new experience. The trigger was the iced down cap.
As I consider what followed, reflections, lesson reviews, and insights, I realise the sauna cap created something unique. Space. A combination of unencumbered time, silence, and freedom was created, a pause filled with space. In this space, a window opened. Life invited me to be present. I was an aware of an opportunity to attend to my heart and soul. Even as I looked, I could feel the beginnings of Life’s healing and restoration.
There have been multiple reminders of the need to gift myself with space breaks, pauses of the best kind. Life Whispers remind me that in doing this, “through him [Divinity] we received both the generous gift of his [Divine] life and the urgent task of passing it on to others who receive it by entering into obedient trust in Jesus [Divine Love].” (Romans 1.5).
In the unique ways we see and experience Divinity there are shared threads. I believe that the gift of embracing space in our lives is one of them. Your way of describing what unfolds will be different from mine, yet the outcome will be similar – healing, restoration, and hope.
