If you’ve ever been in England you’ve seen this expression “Mind the Gap” posted in the underground stations, to alert you to pay attention to the space between the platform and the train. It’s a valid warning, you don’t want to get your foot stuck in the space between, or drop anything down in there…you’ll never see it again.

In Eastern thought, though, the gap is a much desired place to be.  The gap is the space between your thoughts…usually referring to the practice of meditation.  Mystics and yogi’s recognize that no one can simply stop their thoughts, or “will themselves” to quiet their mind.  What we can do though is to widen the distance between our thoughts and cultivate an awareness of that space — to be mindful of the gap and to encourage it.  When we do this, we are rewarded with peace of mind and increasing our ability to hear the voice of the Divine within us, among other things.  The gap is the golden place, where transformation occurs.

The gap that I am thinking about today is also something to be mindful of – and it has the potential of being a golden, transformational time.  It’s a the place we sometimes find ourselves in that’s between no longer accepting an old way of perceiving ourselves and the world — and not yet experiencing the fullness of what we now know to be true.

It’s that place between “no longer” and “not yet”.

For example:  Maybe you no longer accept the idea that you are a victim of circumstance.  Maybe you used to believe that outside circumstances or situations controlled your experience in life.  Perhaps you used to accept that your employment was dependent on a specific company or individual.  Or that your experience of prosperity was determined by your employer.  Maybe you once believed that your ability to love was dependent on another person.   Or that your body is subject to the diseases of old age.  Whenever we have repeated experiences in our lives or an ongoing challenge, we know it is a direct result of what we believe to be true about ourselves.  It’s first a thought… which if continued, becomes a belief, which then becomes our experience.  This is the Law of Cause and Effect, or the Law of Attraction, or the Law of Manifestation.  Whatever you want to call it, it’s exacting.

Anyway, your old ideas about your limited self are now in the past.  You no longer accept that nonsense.  You know that you are a powerful co-creator in life and all that you have ever needed is within you.  You know that the Source of all your good is the Infinite, limitless, unbounded.  This is the Source of all…which created you out of Itself. You are an expression of It, therefore you are already whole and complete, abundant, love-filled, joyous, fulfilled and all of your needs are met now.  You know this in your heart of hearts.  However, you are not yet experiencing that truth in your life.    You are in the gap.

So, what is the “gap” and why is it that we don’t manifest our new consciousness immediately in our lives?  Why do we have to be in a “gap?”

Well first of all, it’s a good thing that ideas in our consciousness do NOT manifest immediately. Think about it.  Think about all the fearful fantasies you have had.  The nightmare scenarios you have imagined for yourself such as, “That bump on my skin is cancer, I know it!” or if you have kids and you temporarily can’t find them, you think, “They’ve been kidnapped!” or perhaps your fearful thoughts about the world, “We’re all gonna die in a nuclear blast!” etc.  Thank God there is a time gap between the thoughts we hold in our minds and what actually manifests — so that we can review it all and make sure that’s what we really want to create.  Most the time we come to our senses and remind ourselves that ultimately, all is well.

So, the buffer zone of the gap gives us a chance to re-examine our beliefs.

Secondly there is the natural order of growth from the formless to the form in this dense, physical universe.  Ernest Holmes once wrote:  “The Truth is instantaneous in its demonstration, taking only such time in Its unfoldment as is inherent in the law of logical and sequential evolution.”

So, then the question becomes:  “Well, what do I do while in the gap?  Is there anything beneficial I can do?”  And, that’s a good question! It’s actually vital.  Because many of us, when we don’t realize we’re in the gap…when we don’t see an immediate response to our prayers, or to our new consciousness…we think that it doesn’t work, and we begin to doubt and fall back into our fears and our negative thinking patterns.  And that just negates the new awareness we’d developed.  It’s like taking one step forward and one step back. Ever have that experience?

So, we want to nurture the environment of the gap while we are in it in order to allow for our new consciousness to emerge from that fertile time.  And we can do that best by practicing proactive gratitude. Here’s what I mean…

You know when you plant seeds in the soil, it takes some time before you see anything happen.  From the surface it looks like nothing is happening.  But, under the surface, a tremendous amount of energy is being expended to release the hidden potential within that seed, to push through the hard shell and then through the soil. That’s the gap experience.   If we water the soil where the seeds are planted we will create a nourishing environment for the seeds to grow.  That’s what gratitude does – it nurtures the environment in the gap that allows for your new consciousness to emerge into experience.

So, looking for things to be grateful for and focusing on those things, and celebrating those things, creates the energetic current that allows for the manifestation.  This is an important, golden time where you want to reaffirm the realizations you have come to regarding your limitless nature and your worthiness of all the good you can imagine for yourself.  You want to water that soil with as much positivity and affirmation as you can.  Practicing proactive gratitude does that.  It gets you to a place where you realize, “yeah…there is a lot of good in my life – look at all this good!  Look at that beautiful sunrise. Look at the abundance all around me.  I’m so grateful for my health…for the things that do work well in my body.  I’m so grateful for my wonderful, supportive friends, and my spiritual community that nurtures and supports my growing awareness.  God must love me…the universe must indeed be for me!”  So you get to a place where an abundance of good just feels natural to you.  And when that happens, the manifestation of your new consciousness is immanent.  It’s a heartbeat away.

Secondly, a very important thing we want to do while in the gap is to surround ourselves with positive people…life-affirming folks who are themselves on a path of spiritual growth.  This is a sensitive time.  We can so easily be influenced by others’ energetic vibrations during this time.  So negative, doubt-filled people are not the ones we want to be hangin’ with when we’re in the gap.  We want to surround ourselves with only those who will affirm our growing awareness with us and can help us see the good that’s in process of manifesting.

So practice proactive gratitude daily, choose who you hang with carefully and remember that this is a fertile time. If you tend to it wisely, you will reap the rich harvest of your new expanded awareness.

Be mindful while in the gap!