Holding space is one of those terms that gets thrown around and can be hard to define but when someone is holding space for you in that moment you feel both safe, seen and heard, you know that they are truly present with you in their compassion and acceptance. To hold space for someone means being fully present with them, non-judgemental deep listening and witnessing, empowering their own process without trying to fix or change it and being compassionate. Obviously it is more complex than that, but we will start there.

I believe that holding space for creativity and holding space for yourself are symbiotic and  mutually supportive, one leads to the other and vice versa and the practice of either strengthens both.

Holding Space for Yourself:

“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.

— Jack Kornfield

Here are some of the things that Holding Space for yourself can look like:

• allowing and witnessing your own processes and transformations,
  
  

• accepting all of who you are, the light and the shadow, 
  
  

• creating the time and the space to listen to yourself and to express yourself to yourself.
  
  

• allowing yourself to be human, perfectly imperfect, both shining your light and falling down as we do and accepting that as ok. 
  
  

• being compassionate to all you are, to all you feel
  
  

• maintaining an inner connection
  
  

• being present with yourself (rather than running away from yourself with distractions and addictions
  
  

• maintaining health boundaries (and that is a complete topic in and of itself)
  
  

Holding Space for your Creativity:

“Everything that’s created comes out of silence. Your thoughts emerge from the nothingness of silence. Your words come out of this void. Your very essence emerged from emptiness. All creativity requires some stillness.

- Wayne Dyer

Here are some of the things that Holding Space for your Creativity can look like: 

• making both time and space for your creativity
  
  

• non-judgement
  
  

• creativity for creativity’s sake
  
  

• acknowledging your inner critic but not allowing them to sabotage your process
  
  

• playing, enjoying the sensual act of creation
  
  

• being present while you create (creativity can be a moving form of meditation).
  
  

• allow your creative cycles for creativity is cyclic in nature (more on this in later months)
  
  

• deep listening to what is coming up for you while you create
  
  

• being compassionate to where you are 
  
  

• non-comparison
  
  

• accepting the beauty in the imperfections and the ugly
  
  

• and even allowing and accepting no creativity at times
  
  

What else can we add to these lists? What does it look like for you?