Air as space

Air can be a great way to wrap up the cycle and bring you back to the fire.

More air makes fire bigger.

At the beginning, you focus on yourself and get to know yourself.

Take care of yourself.

Being in a relaxed, better state brings you an idea, and you set the direction.

You share the idea with others. You explain it. You communicate. You make connections. The connection makes space for more ideas. Output creates space for more input.

If you live your life always rushing toward something, you miss the joy of life. My life is full of doing nothing. I believe I was Italian at some point in one of my reincarnations.

I go for a walk.

I look up at the sky.

I sit down in a park.

I make myself a nice tea.

And I really enjoy the moment. These little things make me smile.

When I live a busy city life, I even lose my desire to create something. My days feel like I’m rushing toward something all the time. In Berlin, it is so easy to do nothing. There are so many parks where you can just lie down. Even when you see your friends, in the summertime, you can simply meet them at a park and have a coffee. Nothing fancy is needed. And you can still make yourself happy.

When I practice yoga, I have more space in my body. I become relaxed. Body and mind are connected. When I find myself busy thinking in my head, I go outside and run or go to a yoga class. I get into the practice until I can’t think anymore. And here, there’s a space.

In this state of mind and body, I can be more active, positive, and work more efficiently. When I am relaxed and play drums, I hear my own sound and the whole better, and I don’t have to push myself to try harder. I feel safe, just being.

Communication became harder for me. But I guess that’s because I was trying too hard to fill my own needs.

The need to be understood.

The need to be loved.

The need to be wanted.

But why don’t I start it from my side?

Listen to others.

Express my love.

Dance as if nobody is watching.

Serve and support others.

It is not easy. People say you have to fill your bucket before serving others. There should be a balance. But as Rudolph Schneider said, there are phases in life. And once you have completed the first circle, the next circle is greater, with other people involved.

Again, it is not easy. But we cannot live alone. We live in a society.

Space brings you the information you need. You need space to receive kindness from someone. Society might be a better place if we all had a little more time for ourselves.

When someone squeezes into a line in front of me, or when someone doesn’t stop while I am waiting to cross the road, I would think, “It’s okay. I’m not in a rush.” I am still not pleased by the rudeness, but at least I can think that I am not losing anything.

When I think that I have time, I can be more kind to others, and I can enjoy an encounter or a conversation with someone. It doesn’t have to be dramatic or deep. But I want to be someone who enjoys the small exchanges of words in daily life.

I enjoy solidarity, and I work from home as a freelancer, so it can be challenging for me to spend so much time with others. Of course, touring and being a musician require meeting and working with first-timers and spending so much time together. But musicians might be a group of people with quite similar qualities: sensitive and empathic. We read each other, and we leave each other some space.

Though we need space physically and mentally, and in our schedules and homes, I have to admit that I still need connection with other people.

During the pandemic, I felt that some energy was stuck in my body, and the stress came out as a swollen face. One day, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I went to see my friends and spent the whole evening having dinner and talking. We talked a lot. Or maybe I talked so much, and they listened.

After a few hours, I found that my face was cooling down. It was easing. That’s when I realized how I move my energy. It can’t be kept inside me. Somehow, I have to interact with someone with whom I feel safe and understood.

The feeling of being understood might be something I really care about. Something I really need in my relationships with others.

Maybe this is what Air means to me.

Not only information and communication, but space.

Space to breathe.

Space to listen.

Space to receive.

Space to respond.

Space to meet someone.

I used to think I needed to have everything inside me figured out before I could connect with others. I needed to understand myself, fill my own bucket, and then I could give something to someone else.

But maybe connection doesn’t always work that way.

Sometimes, we understand ourselves through other people. Sometimes, kindness comes from outside of us. Sometimes, we need someone to listen to us, and sometimes we need to listen.

We need space for both.

And when there is space, something can move.

An idea can come in.

A feeling can move through.

A conversation can begin.

A connection can grow.

And then, perhaps, another idea is born.

This is how I see the five elements now.

Water helps me listen.

Fire gives me ideas and excitement.

Tree gives me direction.

Earth helps me return, practice, and care.

Air allows me to communicate, connect, and create space for something new.

And then the cycle begins again.

More air makes fire bigger.

So perhaps Air is not the end of the cycle after all.

It is the space that brings me back to the beginning.

So, what would you share, with whom?

And what would you make space for?