Stillness & The Space Between
Posted on | March 31, 2010 | 2 Comments
Since I founded The Space Between Center for Creative Spirit in Business earlier this month, I’ve received a lot of questions asking about the thought behind the name. There’s a lot of thought behind the name, that’s for sure. I started working on the concept way back in early 2008. Much of the following essay was drafted back then (time flies) and was shared with a few friends. I pulled it up and made a few additions and corrections this evening.
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Stillness is putting a muzzle on that monkey chattering in your mind long enough to hear the great ideas that come from somewhere else. We can call that somewhere else “God.” We can call it “the Universe.” For the sake of argument, I’ll call it “the Source.” Telling the voice in your head to shut up is one thing. Making it shut up or ignoring it until it shuts up out of frustration requires practice. That practice is the basis of meditation. Another way to think of this is what I call “The Space Between.”
There is an infinity in the space between breaths.
There is an infinity in the space between thoughts.
The wonderful ideas coming from that space are limitless. Picture a ruler or a number line from your days in grade school. On that ruler or number line, “1” is followed next by “2” then “3” and so on in both directions into infinity. Later, you learn about fractions like ¼, 1/3, ½, 2/3, ¾ and so on. Think about that. When you understand that the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and on are simply labels for concepts, and the same is true for each labeled fraction, then you understand that there is an infinity in the space between each number or fraction. More importantly, there is an infinity between each label we choose to put on numbers.
The infinity in the space between doesn’t apply just to numbers; it applies to anything you can label. Logically then, the space between is infinitely more abundant than anything we have or can label. This is why examining two words, phrases, or concepts that generally do not work together is such a great creative tool – examining the space between things that we don’t even associate with one another creates something I like to think of as a “bigger infinity” in the space between. You could also think of it as a “richer” infinity for great ideas, because like a riverbed that has never been explored, a virgin piece of farmland, or an isolated lake in Canada, it’s resources have not been mined by other folks for their own purposes.
When you understand the concept of “The Space Between” then you will never again think there is a scarcity of ideas, time, money or anything our minds can conceive. If there is an infinity around everything, how can there be a limitation of anything?
If you’re stumped, you just haven’t mined enough of the infinite number of spaces between thoughts, words, actions, feelings, senses, or labels.
In the quiet infinities between thoughts we find inspired ideas.
The space between is not empty. In the space between, the first occupants one generally encounters are the archetypes programmed into every human from the beginning of time. Those archetypes are described in different ways. Joseph Campbell talked of them in his famous works including The Hero’s Journey and The Power of Myth. The Hero’s Journey inspired George Lucas’s storyline for Star Wars. The hero’s journey is the outline of the human spiritual journey toward enlightenment and is found in practically every culture in our world, across time and space, in a virtually identical pattern. The hero hears a call to adventure, denies that call, experiences an event that requires him to engage in the journey anyway, finds a mentor, faces the challenge, gains possession of the goal of the journey, then fights his way back home where his knowledge and experience are eventually embraced for the benefit of the group. The trump cards of a tarot deck (called “major arcana”) also depict the hero’s journey through the archetypes of human existence in the space between where we were before we were born and the place to which we are all eventually bound.
Some people find the quiet in the space between to be a wonderful place to “receive” guidance. Many successful songwriters, novelists, journalists, visual artists, and speakers describe this experience as something close to “channeling” the message or other content from a larger collective creative source. To tap in, they just had to get their egos out of the way and listen to receive the creative flow. This type of receiving takes many names, from “inspiration,” which is how the church attributes divine authorship to the books of the Bible, to the “Spirit Guides” of tribal cultures, to the “Holy Guardian Angel” of new age spirituality, and the angelic visitations as described in the Old and New Testament and Islam. Many people all over the world claim these angelic visitations happen every day, and we can’t disprove those claims.
We’ve all had incredibly realistic dreams that seemed to be giving us messages. We’ve all had wonderfully creative ideas “come to us” as we are in the space between waking up and sleeping either at night or in the morning. We’ve all had moments of déjà vu. These are all experiences of finding the stillness in the space between thoughts. It doesn’t matter what label you place on the experience, or to what source you attribute the inspiration. The one thing that matters in the creative process is that you allow yourself to step out of controlling the process and allow yourself to surrender to receiving the inspirations that originate in the spaces between.
This concept is not just a Western thought. Verse 11 of the Tao Te Ching states:
We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it’s the center hole
that makes the wagon move.
We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.
We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the inner space
that makes it livable.
We work with being,
but non-being is what we use.
The space between is not only infinite, it’s useful.
These are the core reasons I founded The Space Between Center for Creative Spirit in Business. We all have ideas. We can reach our potential through creative business. To connect those two potentials, one must pass through The Space Between.
But, for those of you who want an easier and more modern answer, take a listen to The Space Between by The Dave Matthews Band. Here are some of the lyrics:
The Space Between
The tears we cry
Is the laughter keeps us coming back for more…
The Space Between
Where you’re smiling high
Is where you’ll find me if I get to go…
Take my hand
‘Cause we’re walking out of here
Oh, right out of here
Love is all we need here…
Nice. Think about it. Take my hand…
Tags: The Space Between Center for Creative Spirit in Business
Best Seminar I’ve taken in 29 Years.
Posted on | November 27, 2009 | No Comments
A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of doing a Continuing Legal Education workshop based on my Fuel the Spark: 5 Guiding Values for Success in Law and Life book. (do you have your copy yet?…)
One of the evaluations had the following quote:
Best Seminar I’ve taken in 29 Years.
That makes me feel good. If you would like to have me give this presentation to your group, or at your law school just email me.
Creativity—You’re Full of It!
Posted on | October 28, 2009 | 1 Comment
The American Bar Association asked me to write the introductory article for the November Issue of The Young Lawyer (one of their many magazines for attorneys). The issue is dedicated to the theme of Creativity. It’s on the streets now, so I can finally share the essay. Enjoy.
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Creativity—You’re Full of It!
By Kevin E. Houchin
You’re full of it! You really are. There’s no way that I’m the first person to tell you. You can’t deny it. You’re full of it up to your eyebrows.
Full of creativity. You were born with it. You are made of wonderful, delicious, colorful, smelly, heaping globs of creativity!
As a child, your humanity burned with the divine spirit of creativity. You imagined games. You imagined friends. And, you even created vivid experiences that existed only in your mind but existed nonetheless.
Then, you went to school.
You learned to live by other peoples’ rules and their ideas of how and what you “should” be. Walls grew that blocked your view of those wonderful places in your imagination. Those walls grew until finally the creativity of your heart, spirit, and right brain were all but abandoned in favor of subjects that could be objectively tested with multiple-choice exams and computer-graded bubble sheets.
Then, you went to law school.
Your walls were adorned with thorns and you were not even allowed to have ideas of your own. Any creativity you were allowed to display was carefully disguised as nuanced synthesis of precedent (other people’s ideas—the older and less original the better).
It felt like you had suddenly become unworthy of being the source of an idea or thought. You felt like a slave to a footnote or maybe like a footnote yourself.
But, you’re not in law school anymore. Now, you’re the only “source” that really matters. Your senior partner may determine your job status and salary, but you get to decide how much credibility to give those things.
If you’re feeling trapped in a job that doesn’t allow you to express your creativity, you have the power to change that. You don’t have to leave your job to feel more fulfilled. Rather, start chopping through the thorns and breaking down the walls that decades of education have placed around your creative spirit. Trust me, you can do this and still be an effective lawyer. It may even be the secret prerequisite to a happy and satisfied life in the law.
There’s no simple seven-step process to recovering your creative spirit. The journey is different for each of us. A simple start is to look for creative opportunities that already surround you. You happen to be holding one of them in your hand. This issue of The Young Lawyer is dedicated to helping lawyers recognize opportunities for expressing creativity in their lives and work. Use it to jumpstart ideas for creative outlets that you would enjoy. Paint, play music, sail, climb, write, spend time with family, do community service, sing—do something other than work.
It’s time to start living a more creative life. Read these articles. Fuel your spark of creativity, and then share your flame. You’re full of it!
Tags: creativity > footnote > law > spark
Notes that make your day…
Posted on | October 24, 2009 | No Comments
I received this note as feedback from the article I wrote to introduce the November issue of the ABA Young Lawyer Magazine which is dedicated to Creativity. The article is titled “You’re Full of It!” As soon as the ABA puts the issue online, I’ll post the article. Until then, they have exclusive first publication rights. 
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Mr. Houchin:
I just wanted to thank you for writing such a necessary article in the YLD Newsletter. What you wrote resonated with me on a host of levels, and it arrived in my office at EXACTLY the moment I needed to hear someone outside of my own mind remind me of all the creativity that I have been trying to find time to cultivate and enjoy. The practice of law can feel all consuming. Conflict is a daily part of the practice. Nonetheless, the antidote is exactly the cultivation of the creative.
Just a note to say, your words were very necessary and came at exactly that right moment.
Thank you,
Tanisha M. Bailey-Roka, Esq.
Thanks Tanisha.
The Value of a Great Editor
Posted on | August 6, 2009 | No Comments
As many of you know, I’ve been working on my next book. The working title is The Secrets of Creative Business. My goal with the book is to integrate creativity, business, law, and spirit into one motivational and practical guide for people who have great ideas and want to make a living pursuing those ideas.
I finished the first draft of the manuscript a couple weeks ago. It’s about 100 pages single-spaced. In other words, it’s way too long. I sent it off to a close friend who is also a great editor. She edited my previous two books and turned them both from OK to pretty dang good. I couldn’t have done it without her. She holds my feet to the fire and refuses to let me be lazy.
Well, she’s doing it again. She called one section of my manuscript “crap” – and she’s right – I WAS being lazy that day. And, the subject of that day’s work is her area of professional expertise, so you can call that a perfect storm.
She also pointed out that my goal was to integrate creativity, spirit, law, and business – but that I had basically discussed each in separate sections. While I had integrated the four elements “between the covers” of the draft, I had not TRULY integrated the concepts. WOW! That’s worth the price of admission folks, but it also comes with a cost. The cost is that to truly integrate the concepts, I’m going to have to reorganize the entire book. I’m going to have to rewrite the entire book.
Ugh!
I’ve been working on this book since February or March. I’ve been getting up at around 5am for most of that time in order to find the “space” to write. So, when Kari (editor) sent me her comments last night it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I wanted to hear “this is GREAT! I’ll just make a few edits/corrections/tweeks and this will fly.” I wanted to have the book available by the end of September or Mid October. Well, that’s not going to happen now. My goal is now to have the book on Amazon and B&N by the end of November so that people can get the book as a holiday gift or as inspiration for 2010 goals. It has been one of MY 2009 goals to complete this book, and having this book available is a major milestone on the path to my 2010 goals and beyond.
What now?
I just printed the 100 pages of manuscript to a hard copy (used the back-side of previously printed paper of course). I’ll let it sit for a while while I get some other writing done. I have some shorter articles and essays due for some publications around the country so I’ll focus on those and give my book a little “space between” to breathe. Then I’ll find some mental space and reorganize how I approach the content. Then I’ll start the re-write with a completely blank file. I’ll let what I’ve already written inform new essays, but I vow to not copy and paste anything, nor to just retype. The next version of the book will be a complete re-WRITE. It’ll be a second draft and a first draft combined into one document.
Hopefully it’ll go pretty quickly when I find the groove.
And, I can always use the “non-crappy” sections of the current draft as individual articles or blog posts.
Ultimately, the duty of the author is not to his/her ego, but to his/her message. Kari firmly declared that I have not lived up to that duty with the current manuscript. She also let me know the message is worth the effort.
Great editors do that.
Break from the Mold
Posted on | July 13, 2009 | No Comments
Article after article, survey after survey, we keep reading about how most lawyers are stressed, overworked, and dissatisfied with their careers. Yet, in law school especially, we continue to receive the same career advice—join a law firm, follow ranks, work long hours, subscribe to the traditional way of doing things, and so on. Fuel the Spark is an introspective guide to helping lawyers break from the mold and find what works for them on a personal level to achieve a satisfying and rewarding career and life. It is a great guide to blending ethical values with one’s daily life and work to find personal satisfaction and I would highly recommend it to anyone concerned that they are not achieving their maximum potential.
Jackie Bedard
Nice Review of the Law Student FTS Book
Posted on | June 22, 2009 | No Comments
Take a few minutes to visit Nicole Ganci’s new blog and give her some encouragement. She’s taking the next step toward her dream of being a lawyer by starting law school this fall. And, she was nice enough (maybe “smart” enough) to add my book to her summer reading list. Nicole just posted her thoughts on my book at her blog “Lawlicious” where she plans to keep us updated on this journey. I for one think she’s on the right track – especially with the blog – and will watch her progress with interest.
Sweet Note
Posted on | June 16, 2009 | No Comments
So many years ago, when I told my dad I wanted to be a lawyer, he said there were too many lawyers in the world and not enough good ones. Kevin, I think you’re one of the good ones. There should be more lawyers like you. And I hope to be one of them after I graduate.
-Gina Murillo
Law Student – Chicago, IL
Blog Talk Radio with Ann Levine
Posted on | June 8, 2009 | 1 Comment
I’ll be talking about success in law school and beyond with Law School Expert Ann Levine today at 11:00am Mountain. The show will be on Blog Talk Radio. Here’s more information about the program.
One of the cool things about this is that Ann and I just reconnected due to our respective books for prospective law students and via Twitter and Facebook. However, we had worked together about a decade ago when she was at DU Law and I was at Stamats Communications. I was the account exectuve that lead the production of the DU Law admissions marketing materials and she worked in the student services office there and coordinated the photoshoots and student interviews for the project. She had a different last name then, and it feels like a lifetime ago to me, but it’s VERY nice to reconnect and proves the point that it’s always smart to be nice to people who come in and out of your life, because they’ll be back.
Tags: Ann Levine > Blog Talk Radio > Law School Expert
Lawyers & Elevator Speeches
Posted on | May 13, 2009 | No Comments
The fine folks at the Colorado Bar Association shared this short clip from my Fuel the Spark: 5 Guiding Values for Success CLE presentation in March with The Learned Lawyer Website.
This clip is really more of a marketing hint than a legal ethics or law practice hint and is worth thinking about no matter what business you happen to conduct.
Elevator Speech for Lawyers from The Learned Lawyer – CBA-CLE on Vimeo.
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Don’t work hard to make things happen, work hard to recognize and be ready for opportunity when it knocks.
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About Kevin
Kevin E. Houchin is an attorney, artist, teacher, author, and principal of
Houchin & Associates, P.C. , a copyright, trademark, arts & entertainment,
business development, and branding firm located in Fort Collins, Colorado.
To schedule Kevin for keynote speeches, workshops, or seminars, call 970-493-1070
or email
kevin.houchin@houchinlaw.com.
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