THINKING EXPANSIVELY
I’m going to just come out and admit it. My world and my mindset can feel pretty small these days. There are periods where I may not leave my house for two or three days. I work and parent and exercise and play within the walls of my small suburban home. I love my home and the people who seem to constantly be in it. But it can feel restrictive. I feel my creativity and outlook shrinking as I spend my days in front of a screen in a makeshift office. Don’t get me started on the horrors of my makeshift office. You get the picture. You’re probably sitting in your makeshift office right now.
It’s this feeling of contraction in my life that has pushed me into the outdoors more than ever before. I drag my family on Sunday hikes most weekends, regardless of the weather. It’s not raining under the trees, kids! This past spring, I discovered what is now my absolute favorite hike in the pacific northwest. Ebey’s Bluff is located on Whidbey Island in Washington state. The loop trail overlooks the Puget Sound, Olympic Mountains and the entry point to the Pacific Ocean. Unlike the heavily wooded hikes we do in the Cascades, this trail runs along the bluff with wide, panoramic views throughout. In a single word, it’s expansive.
Last weekend, we decided to hike the bluff. The day is bright with sunshine and the fall air has just a hint of an edge to it. I throw on my sunglasses, along with the red bandana I use for masking up when passing other hikers. Yes, I look like a cub scout, and no, I don’t care. As we approach the trailhead, I take in big, wide breaths and go quiet. The kids start up their usual trail whine and want to know the mileage for this hike. My husband plies them with goldfish crackers, a few at a time into their hands to entice them up the path. We make the short climb up to the bluff ridge. To my right are open fields. To my left, the steep edge of the bluff and the ocean below it, shimmering back at the sun. I walk on, feeling looser already.
As we head further along the bluff, a sparse tree line takes the place of the fields on my right. The fir trees’ branches have surrendered to the winds coming off the Puget Sound, bending permanently into the gnarled shapes the wind dictates. The ocean is an arrhythmic snare drum below me. The birds cut in with their own occasional riffs. The tall grasses have dried, and the bees gone dormant. Just before the path cuts down to the beach, it looks as though the trail will walk you straight off the edge and into the ocean. I think about stories I’ve read about journeying to the end of the earth, and pretend just for a moment that I’m there. My daughter starts singing a song she’s spontaneously made up about being a pirate. This place feeds the imagination. It’s like the mental equivalent of a chest opener in yoga. You can’t help but expand your outlook, staring at the vastness of ocean and sky in front of you.
As we walk back along the beach, I’m lighter. I’ve sloughed off that small, constricted feeling and I’m ready to see the opportunities in front of me. I want to take up space and open myself to the world. I feel limitless and expansive.
At the end of the hike, we head home. Can’t stay out on the bluff forever, even if sometimes I kind of want to. How do I take this feeling back to my little house and my little world? How do I stay open when I spend so much time closed off from the people and experiences that usually inspire me? Thinking expansively is about being open and ready to see the possibilities around you. It’s about continuing to ask “what if?” and being receptive to opportunities that are beyond the scope of your current experience. It’s easy to see that my environment shapes the expansive nature of my thinking. But I can’t go on my favorite hike every day. Here are some other things I’ve tried when my mindset feels small:
Say yes to something you normally say no to. What’s something you normally decline, because you don’t think you have the time or energy? Time to say yes! Chances are, you’ll be glad you did. The more you say yes, the more open your thinking becomes.
Change up your routine. We all settle into habits- of behavior and of thought. One way to inspire new thinking and perspective is to change the way you do something. It can be small, like a different route on your evening walk, or reordering tasks during the day.
Learn what others have to stay on a topic. Feeling uninspired? Pick a topic that you’re curious about, and find a book, article, podcast or post about it. Even better, find more than one opinion on it and compare them. I find that having a new topic to “chew” on can spur new ideas on other, totally unrelated things I’ve been thinking about.
Do something for the first time. Trying something totally new is a great way to gain fresh perspective. I like to keep track of the new things I try, big and small. It can be a new recipe, a new strength workout, or something bigger like playing a new instrument or enrolling in a class.
How do you safeguard against feeling like life is just too small right now? When you start feeling constrained, how do you expand your thinking? A coach can be a great partner in working to expand your outlook and find greater possibilities for your life. Contact me to schedule an exploratory session and learn more about what coaching can do for you.
