Atmosphere.
I think I’m a slow learner. Ever feel that way? Like you have to take seven laps (or seventy) around the same mountain in order to learn the lesson?
Yesterday I was working on two of our rental properties, along with Kellie and Ashley, trying to get them on the market for sale this weekend. Temps were in the mid-80s (which is a heat wave in the mountains), and I was dirty and sweaty… painting, mulching, weed-eating, cleaning out the barn, trying to push a broken riding lawnmower up the hill! After many hours of this, I was in a funk.
Kellie said, “You’ve lost your atmosphere.” At the time it didn’t even register, but upon later reflection (after a shower and a meal), I realized that was exactly what had happened.
Maybe you’ve never thought about having an atmosphere—but I think we do. Like a planet, we carry a “space” around us that we are meant to steward. So what exactly is an atmosphere, and how do we steward it?
Because this space is unseen, it’s hard to name. It’s easier to feel. If you tune in, you can feel your own atmosphere, and you can often feel the atmosphere of others. It may be peaceful: It conveys that the owner of the space is at peace…and you feel peace upon encountering it. It may be stormy: You sense that the person is wrestling, resisting, striving… and maybe you feel triggered by some of those same dynamics when you enter his or her “bubble.” We’re affected, not only by our own atmosphere but by those of others!
Can you sense your personal atmosphere right now as you read this? Are you carrying positive or negative energy? Did you “get up on the wrong side of the bed,” or did you awaken to beauty and purpose? Of course, it’s not nearly that dualistic! There are a myriad of options, and the cool thing is that any one of them can be instructive if we allow it.
If you’ve ever done the powerfully simple exercise that St. Ignatius called “The Daily Examen,” you’re familiar with the terms consolation and desolation that he used to refer to those experiences that draw us closer to our true, loving selves or away from them. And although we experience consolations and desolations very differently (one positive and the other negative), in truth both can be positive, again, if we allow it.
God is nothing if not redemptive. The ability to take painful, destructive, even downright evil events and transform them through divine alchemy into something healing, wholesome, and even holy—this is the very essence of the Good News. There is no death, no darkness, no tragedy, not even hell itself will withstand God’s redemptive story, in our world and the entire cosmos. We are right to be outrageously optimistic, without losing our solidarity with the suffering for an instant.
So I find myself genuinely grateful for my busted atmosphere because I learned something both practical (best ways for me to engage physical work) and priceless (this enormously important learning about managing my atmosphere). Now to our second question: How do we steward our atmospheres? Here are a few thoughts…
Develop the habit of noticing your atmosphere throughout the day.
Cultivate the habit of actively shaping your atmosphere first thing each morning, maybe even before you get out of bed. Every spiritual practice (even conscious breathing) is a form of cultivating your inner and outer space.
Set specific times through the day for realigning your atmosphere. The monastics call this praying the Daily Office, and it can be as simple as five minutes at set intervals each day (for example, morning, noon, evening, and night).
Try activating your curiosity to notice the atmosphere of others. This gives you the chance to either actively participate in their life-giving atmosphere…or to extend a healing hand toward their suffering atmosphere.
Tag specific practices for rescuing your atmosphere when it goes south hard (like it did for me this week). Try The Welcome Prayer for starters.
growing the soul
Take an extended (26 min) audio meditation to align your atmosphere with the presence of God. Or try a 1-minute body prayer, following along with me below…
serving the world
Consciously “carry” your atmosphere into this day and this week with the intention of affecting each person or group you encounter in a Godward direction. Perhaps you know the particular gift you are meant to carry today—and everyone who touches your space will be impacted by that quality. Alternatively, you can carry your space with the confidence that whatever gift is needed is what will be received. Either way, you are the holy initiator!
takeaway
Nurture your atmosphere.