The Thin Space

Hey, Cadre. Nice to see you. It is Sunday, which means it's self care day here at Cadre livestream land. My name is JC Lippold. If we've never shared space and time together before, thank you for the opportunity to let me spend some time with you. This is thin space. Easy way to think about it. Think about everything that has already happened. Think about everything that will happen in that space in between. There's power there. Marcie. Nice to see you. Jules, good to see you, my friend. This idea of thin space is one that can live in many mindsets, many contexts.

There's probably lots of analogies that allow you to fit into it. Maybe you go, it's like. Oh, so it's like presence. Yeah, it's like presence. Hey, cleen. Nice to see you, my friend. In this thin space between everything that has been and everything that will be, we take a little bit of time right now to exercise that ability to be in that space. So I'm going to lead you through a little exercise. This is an exercise that can be done in as little as, let's say, two and a half minutes. So let's do it that way because as I always love saying, doing little things often is a really, really great exercise to develop a really healthy resilience and balance and toolbox to do the things that you do.

Good morning. Good morning, crew. So you can either do this with a scratch pad of paper, or you can do it simply with that scratch pad that lives in your mind. There's going to be three parts to this exercise, and even though I will guide you through it right now, you can do this as you being your own guide, no matter where you are, no matter when it is. So let's begin. If you have a scratch piece of paper, go ahead and place it the long way and draw a little column in the middle. So you'll have two big sections on the side and one thin column in the middle.

If you're using that scratch pad in your brain, get ready. All right. We're going to start with a 1 minute writing exercise on doctor Sharis. Good morning, my friend. We're going to start with a little writing exercise in that left hand column or in that mind. I invite you right now for the next minute to start writing down or thinking about everything that has happened before. Now go. You have 60 seconds to write down everything you can think about that has already happened. Memories, events, big days, sad days, happy days.

Think about the ticket stubs, think about the plane tickets, think about all those things that are in your suitcase, that are remnants of the past, your memories, the quotes from loved ones, songs, smells, scents that bring you back somewhere for another 20 seconds here, keep isolating your brain, either pen to paper or mind to thought, everything that has already happened. Now, again, if you are making a bullet list, or if you're writing a story, or if you're doodling good. Do this exercise in the way that makes most sense to you.

Hey. Three, two, one, stop. Second part of the exercise, you have 1 minute. Go to the right hand side of the paper or find a little shake of the etch a sketch of your brain, and for the next minute, write down everything that hasn't happened yet. Three, two, one, go. Like as soon as you get off of this live stream, what are you going to do next? What are you going to have for breakfast? What are you going to have for dinner? What's your 1510 year goals? What are your hopes, your worries, your fears, your concerns, your desires?

All of those things that exist after now write those things down. Give yourself the grace. If you go, gosh, I don't know what to think about anything that will exist in the future. Don't value it in one way or another. What are those things that exist in the future? You have another 20 seconds. You may go. Wow, I'm being. I'm seeing this part of the exercise differently than I saw the first part. Yeah, that's fine. That's great. That's normal for right now. Give yourself permission to do the little thing of writing down everything that will happen after.

Now for another three, two, one and stop. Awesome. So if you're doodling in that paper, it's time for that middle column. If you're thinking through this exercise, shake the Etch a sketch again. And for 30 seconds. Now write down everything that is right. Now. Go. Now. Now, comma, now. Right. So maybe you write down, I am listening to a live stream. It is sunny. I hear the train. I want a donut. I am stressed. All those things that are right now in that space in the middle of that paper, in this moment of your mind, focus on everything that is currently for three, two, one and stop.

Pen down, shake out the etch a sketch. Flip over the paper. You don't need to look at anything anymore. The exercise is the exercise, not the output. So I want you to think right now for that 60 seconds, or that 60 seconds, or that 30 seconds. Which part of this exercise was easiest? Which was most difficult? What was your commentary voice? Were you going like, wow, I can't think of anything important to write down here. I'll say, whenever we do this exercise, most often people devalue the present.

They're hypercritical of the past and they're highly idealized about the future. That's a perfect storm to always be. And not living in that thin space, it's easy to be critical of the past. We've already lived it and we can think about it again and again and again and again. What if the future is highly idealized? It's like, ah, here's what's going to happen. If I simply work hard enough to make these things happen the way that I want them to happen, they will happen that way all of a sudden, highly idealized and highly stressed.

And normally we go, well, who cares if I hear the train right now? Who cares if I'm hungry right now? Doctor Charryse got to do this exercise in person when I was a guest at recalibrate in Charlotte that Doctor Charryse hosted, and it was so amazing. It's always so amazing to watch a room full of people attempt to isolate their mind, isolate their space. Doctor Charryse right now says, thank you. Really cool exercise. Easiest was what's ahead. My mind almost went blank on the past. I had to dig for it.

Yeah. What you will learn from this exercise is kind of how you deal with life. Some of us are really, really good at being in the present because we've learned that we have to. Some of us are really, really good at planning for the future because we've set up this desire, this skill set, this flex that we are going to make tomorrow something different. And of course, some of us get so, so wonderfully stuck in unpacking the past and going, huh? How do we learn from what we've already experienced?

But lay all that aside for a moment. Doing this exercise often is a tool that allows you to go. To go, huh? In reality, right now, there is a moment, and that moment is now. And this is not an idealized statement. This is the truth. There's one moment that you have power in, and that is this moment that you are in. So for each of you who are here, or each of you who type replay later, you're doing that. So give yourself the credit. Giving yourself credit is one of the best things you can ever do to make the moments and the gifts that you are giving yourself highly soluble for your brain, your body, your spirit, your soul, live in that moment.

And if you go, gosh, I need another moment today. You're going to see Jean in a little bit and then in the evening, like I keep talking about, we have this wonderful lineup of Sunday evening space, of space holders, of opportunities to think and feel. Daryl, Jason, Evan, you're gonna see Tiffany pretty soon. Opportunities in that thin space, once the weekend has ended, before the week begins to really, really, really dive into the moment where you are. Y'all, thank you for being the examples of what it means to be in the moment that you are in and to know that there is power in it.

You're doing that right now. Have a good one.