Too Stressed To Meditate? Try This Simple Solution: White Space
Are you overwhelmed?
Is your mind so clogged with swirling, rampaging thoughts you can’t meditate?
It may seem like you can’t meditate, but don’t give up. Try this simple mind trick — white space.
White space is a common term in graphic design, meaning the areas of a page without words or pictures. White space makes it easier to see the main points.
Likewise, if your mind has no white space, empty space, you won’t be able to get to the main point of meditation — stillness.
Finding that still point is the entry to Zen.
Later in your practice, your meditative mind will become a vast open sky of stillness. Only the occasional thought cloud will float by.
You can also apply the white space concept to your home, meditation space, office, and daily schedule.
It’s a neat way to think about arranging your life for more peace of mind.
The Tao Te Ching offers some timeless wisdom on how empty space is the most valuable.
Thirty spokes share the wheel’s hub; It is the center hole that makes it useful. Shape clay into a vessel; It is the space within that makes it useful. Cut doors and windows for a room; It is the holes which make it useful. Therefore the profit comes from what is there; Usefulness from what is not there.
— Tao Te Ching, Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English Translation
The Usefulness of White Space in Your Home and Office
I have a suspicion the condition of our rooms, desks, closets, and kitchens reflect the state of our minds. Some will disagree with me on this but hear me out.
If you sit down to meditate and the roar of your thoughts is so loud you can’t do it, what’s the solution?
First, Tend to Your Mind
If you want to meditate, you need to find a way — not to forcibly quiet your thoughts — but to stop feeding them with your attention.
Accept your thoughts observe them but don’t invite them in for tea.
Let them float on by.
The meditation process: notice thoughts — let them go — rinse and repeat. Once you open up some white space in your mind, your meditation will get better.
Second, Tend to Your Living Spaces
Is there some white space in your meditation room or office?
Have you ever had an important project to do but felt an urgent need to clean your office first? Some people call that procrastination. But is it? Could it be your office needed cleaning?
Perhaps you crave a spacious, uncluttered workplace to apply your mind to your task. If you feel a need to clean your office before you begin, go ahead. It will help.
I have visited and meditated in Zen Buddhist, Tibetan, and Hindu practice centers. And they all have one thing in common. They are neat, clean, and well organized.
The kitchen is quiet and efficient at Greens restaurant in San Francisco. (Owned by San Francisco ZenCenter). Peek into the modern, stainless kitchen during busy meal service hours. You’ll see ten or more people working in silence.
There is no music playing and no unnecessary talking. There is only mindful chopping, sauteing, and the creation of world-class vegetarian cuisine.
The Greens staff carry the stillness of the zendo into their kitchen. And the quality of their food reflects it.
Have a look at your meditation space and your office. Are they a good metaphor for a still mind? Are they neat and clean? If not, open up some white space — some quiet space — some space to foster mindfulness.
Do you have a closet that needs cleaning?
You can’t see the mess, but you know it’s there, and it creates background stress and tension. Take care of your physical possessions as well as your mind, and you’ll become more mindful.
Leave Some White Space in Your Schedule
Meditation is not only sitting cross-legged on your cushion. Meditation happens in your mind. And you can find moments of stillness throughout your day — pencil in some quiet time.
- Early in the morning, while the house is quiet. Meditate for 10 minutes, or enjoy your coffee sitting alone in silence.
- Take a mindful walk after lunch — no earbuds, music, or audiobooks. Don’t think of it as exercise. Stroll along and notice the people and things you encounter. Enjoy life.
- In Germany, they often have coffee and cake in the afternoon. I like that tradition. Take a German mid-afternoon break for coffee or tea. Add cake as needed.
- Take a hot shower before you go to bed. Luxuriate in the silence and hot, steamy water.
The point is to get used to being alone with your thoughts three times a day or more. There will be benefits.
While working intensely on a project, you’ll get new ideas or solutions during these mini-breaks. It’s almost guaranteed. When you free up some white space in your schedule, you make more room for peace of mind.
Takeaway
In Asian martial arts, there is a concept called the Empty Mind, a mind free of thought.
When a samurai stood sword to sword with an opponent, having an Empty Mind was the difference between life and death. The Empty Mind can anticipate an opponent’s move before he moves.
The Empty Mind has room for creativity to blossom; for new solutions to emerge.
Create white space in your mind, in your living space, and your daily schedule. Your life will become more spacious and mindful.
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