Living in a 150 sq ft tiny home with my partner during a pandemic was the only couple’s therapist I’ll ever need.
Out of the 478 lessons it has taught me, here are 3 of them. These are things we humans often learn in a relationship anyway, but our living space has made this process a bit more … intimate.
1. PERSONAL SPACE
When you have no physical space to call your own, you become a master at harnessing your own energy field.
You carve it out of air.
Or outer space.
You pretend you are made out of glass.
You learn tricks like, “I don’t exist.”
True, I actually came up with a morning practice that I think really saved us.
When we wake up in the morning, we pretend we are alone (for a certain amount of hours).
We don’t speak. (Unless we speak to ourselves.)
We may look in each other's direction, but we see no one.
It has worked like magic.
2. EVERYTHING HAS ITS PLACE
We own nothing extra.
Every object goes through a careful inspection.
Every shelf and corner is valuable real estate.
We have found a flow about the little things.
I believe it helps us find a flow when big things come up, too.
We’re still learning.
One of our mantras is: “The way we do anything, is the way we do everything.”
3. COMMUNICATION
It’s impossible to hold on to suppressed emotions.
If you do, they fill up the air like smoke.
I used to be good at keeping my emotions to myself.
I was really good at hiding in my inner world,
chewing on things, until they started chewing on me.
Not anymore.
It’s not worth it.
So we sit down and communicate.
We express our observations, feelings, needs and requests.
Because there’s no room for the elephant.
And for that, I’m grateful.
Love,
