White Space

By Kristine Fitzgerald

Is your life going so fast that you cant keep up with it?

Do you live according to a never-ending list of chores and deadlines?

Do you feel as though life is passing you by?

The world we live in today is fast, hectic and pressured. However, it does not have to be this way; you do not have to live at this pace. In White Space, Kristine Fitzgerald describes her own journey and uses clear, simple language to describe how you can regain control, live more slowly and, hence, discover the key to true happiness, peace and serenity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press AU
• Release date: May 18, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452501857

Kristine Fitzgerald

Kristine Fitzgerald has always been interested in understanding what life is really about and why we are all here. She has watched life closely and drawn conclusions from what she has seen. Kristine spent more than ten years teaching in various parts of both Australia and England, and she currently works in research.

Book preview

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

This book is dedicated to Silver Moon,

who has taught me so much. With heart-felt thanks.

Thanks to Mum, Dad, Mary and Aunty Jean

for helping me to understand what the

world was like fifty years ago.

Thank you, Trisha, for teaching me to write.

‘Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.’

taken from Desiderata, by Max Ehrmann

Chapter 1

The Concept of White Space

One afternoon when I was in my second year of high school, I was in a computer lesson. This was at a time before we had the Internet but word processors and spreadsheets were becoming more widely used. Computing was a very new subject. My classmates and I had very little experience with computers, so the subject we were doing was an introductory course, and at the time we were learning how to use a word processor. The task set by the teacher in this particular lesson was to design a poster. The content of the poster was up to us but we were to demonstrate that we could use different font styles and font sizes, align the text appropriately and lay it out on the page in a way that was appealing to the reader. The more capable students in the class could even include a picture.

After a little while, a buzz started to make its way around the room: ‘You need white space. The more white space you have the better your poster will be.’ I wasn’t sure what white space was but I soon learned that it was empty gaps or spaces in the poster where no text was written. White space helped to spread everything out and it made the poster much easier to read. So I stopped trying to cram information onto my poster because it seemed more important to have it spaced out, and I was always the type of student to take whatever advice I could in order to earn as high a mark as possible.

I have never forgotten the idea of white space. It is not a term that I hear used very often. Although I cannot remember who the teacher was in that class or who any of the other students were, I clearly remember the message that empty space makes posters, documents, letters etc. much easier to read. More recently, I have begun thinking about another application of white space and the need for it in our day-to-day lives. Life today tends to be so busy and packed full of commitments, that many of us feel we are stuck on a merry-go-round that never stops; it just keeps speeding up. I feel there is a desperate need for periods of quiet and rest to restore some balance in lives that are otherwise becoming frantic, stressed and often unmanageable. Just as white space refers to the parts of a page that are left blank, I will use it to refer to the times when we pause and allow stillness into our lives. From now on in this book white space will be written with capital letters: White Space.

I once read a short story about a fisherman and I will include it here because it illustrates the concept of White Space beautifully.

The Contented Fisherman

The rich industrialist from the North was horrified to find the Southern fisherman lying lazily beside his boat, smoking a pipe.

‘Why aren’t you out fishing?’ said the industrialist.

‘Because I have caught enough fish for the day’ said the fisherman.

‘Why don’t you catch some more?’

‘What would I do with it?’

‘You could earn more money’ was the reply. ‘With that you could have a motor fixed to your boat and go into deeper waters and catch more fish. Then you would make enough to buy nylon nets. These would bring you more fish and more money. Soon you would have enough money to own two boats….maybe even enough for a fleet of boats. Then you would be a rich man like me.’

‘What would I do then?’

‘Then you could really enjoy life.’

‘What do you think I am doing right now?’

by Anthony de Mello

Chapter 2

My Story

It wasn’t until many years later that I became aware of how much I needed to incorporate White Space into my life. A couple of years ago I went through a phase, which lasted approximately twelve months, of feeling like I was always in a rush; of wanting to finish whatever I was doing so I could move on to the next thing. It didn’t matter how many things I achieved in a day, it was never enough. There were always more that I wanted to do, yet never enough time to do them in. The rush would creep up on me when I was either excited, running late or if I anticipated there was a chance I could run late. I was unable to relax and it felt like my mind was stuck on fast forward, always racing ahead of me. I felt as though there was absolutely nothing I could do to slow my life down; it had a momentum of its own that was continually accelerating and I was powerless to stop it.

During these times my body felt tense—similar to butterflies in the stomach but all over. My heart beat faster and probably every system in my body was on overdrive, because any patterns that become established in the mind eventually manifest in the body. This is an unavoidable fact of life and explains why people who continually live under higher stress levels generally have a lower resistance to illness than those who are calm and relaxed. In many ways I felt as though I was over-enthusiastic. It wasn’t so much that I was worried I wouldn’t get things done, it was more that my head was full of ideas and sometimes I felt like I was about to explode. There were so many things I wanted to do, things I really enjoyed and was excited about doing, and I set myself tight deadlines to achieve them in. Of course, those deadlines were always quite unrealistic and that is why I continually felt uptight.

One day I agreed to do some cooking for a friend who had a fundraising stall the next day. I knew my head was in a spin and going way too fast and it would probably be wise not to take on any extra commitments at that particular time. My friend assured me that I should only help out if I had time, but I was eager to assist and decided to go ahead. We arranged to meet at the local supermarket to buy ingredients. I arrived on time but my friend was running late. I wasn’t