How Do We Make More Space in Our Lives?

A woman sitting quietly, drinking tea, with a collie dog beside her

Sometimes, it can seem as if life is simply too full for us to enjoy it.

Do you ever feel like that?

Over the past week, I’ve been clearing and sorting quite a lot at home.

Some things were easy to let go of. But parting with some of the things I eventually took to the charity shop was surprisingly difficult. They carried memories, old intentions, and versions of myself I once was—or once hoped to become.

I even felt guilty about letting a couple of ornaments go, and found myself wondering whether I ought to go back and retrieve them!

There is something strangely tiring about deciding what we need to release and what still belongs in our lives.

But there is also something freeing about it.

As the house has gradually become clearer, I’ve begun to feel more comfortable in the space that has been created. The rooms almost seem to breathe more easily around me, and I feel more relaxed sitting in them, whether I’m working, reading or listening to music.

I’ve also been working in the garden, creating a better place to sit beside the pond.

In the evenings, we’ve been sitting there with a glass of wine, listening to the waterfall and watching the light fade. Every now and then, one of the fish jumps and sends a small splash in my direction, as though reminding me not to become too solemn about it all.

It feels appropriate for Lughnasadh: a time traditionally associated with harvest, with recognising what has grown, and with beginning to gather what may sustain us through the seasons ahead.

But perhaps harvest is not only about the food we gather or the things we have achieved over the past few months.

Perhaps it is also about recognising what has served its purpose — and what we no longer need to carry.

Sometimes we fill our homes, our days and even our inner lives with things that once mattered, but which no longer nourish us.

Clearing a space does not immediately tell us what should take its place.

It simply leaves room for something new to enter, when the time is right and when we are ready to allow it.

And perhaps that is enough for now.

A quieter room.

A clearer corner of the garden.

A place beside the water where we can sit, breathe, and begin to hear ourselves again.

What might become possible in your life if you made a little more space for it?