What Provides Your "Safe Space" Bumper?

What was your most recent first-time experience? There's something incredibly magical about the first-time visit to a new place, the first-time watching an artist you love perform live, or the first-time navigating a new professional situation. Each first-time experience can inspire us, and that in turn can help us inspire others.

Thanks to my Insane Thought Generator, it's easy to forget magical, first-time experiences. That's why I keep a list of those experiences, returning to it often. As 2022 comes to a close I'm grateful for the over two dozen first-time experiences I've added to that list this year, including:

  • Hiking Misery Ridge outside Bend, Oregon with great friends who chose that location to get married

  • Sitting in the engine of a Boeing 747-400 during an airshow at Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay on Oahu

  • Seeing Lady Gaga in concert at Oracle Park in San Francisco


I just added a new entry to the list.

Earlier this month I facilitated a planning offsite for a group of marketing leaders. During the morning break one of the leaders came up and thanked me for the way I started the day. But here's the first-time twist to his thanks: he shared how meaningful the opening was for him personally and how it made him feel safe.

What was the opening? We took five minutes to pause, pull-up, and create space before jumping into a very full day. We collectively switched from human doing mode into human being mode.

After the offsite a very cool thing happened. That same leader shared what was meaningful for him on LinkedIn. Thank you, Darryl, for your vulnerability that morning and for sharing this feedback:

 

"I wasn’t kidding when I stated that the guided meditation was most impactful to me. The quiet moment put a “safe space” bumper around our working sessions.”

 

Darryl's feedback was impactful for me because the practice of pausing, pulling up, and creating space is essential to my ability to become grounded, regulated, and in flow. When I'm in that state I feel safe, too. Learning Darryl had a similar experience powered my positive for the rest of our work that day.

I hope reading Darryl's experience will inspire you to practice pausing and pulling up. Here are three of my favorite techniques to help you get started:

  1. Close your eyes, drop into your body, find your breath -- and begin to observe the inhale and the exhale.

  2. Create and use a mantra. At the top of my list of go-to mantras: I am enough, and I have enough.

  3. Move! Take a brief vacation from your current environment by heading outside or into a another room.

Finally, a reminder that we regularly underestimate the amount of recovery needed after big, expansive moments like spending holidays with friends and family. Whatever your plans for the holidays, please take a moment now to pause and pull-up and check to make sure you've carved out that recovery time for YOU!

Thank you for reading, thank you for sharing, and thank you for your feedback and suggestions. For all of that -- and more -- I am profoundly grateful.

PS: Planning an offsite and want to ensure it results in a Breakthrough Offsite? Reach out and we'll set up a time to jam on how I can help you and your team. Need help finalizing your Big Rocks for next year? Here's a blog with Six Actions to Set Up Your Year. I'm using it now to to set up my 2023!

Ben Kiker