How to Create Mental Space When Your Physical Space Isn’t Enough

If any words along the lines of “just be present” trigger you, this is for you. And no, I’m not entirely disagreeing with that statement.

If there’s anything that Souleyness has taught me, it's certainly that you don’t need to love your life to find moments that make you feel alive. Sometimes you just need to leave the space you’re in, walk a few blocks, and remember there’s a bigger world than the one in your head.

Most of the time, we’re not looking for inspiration. We’re looking for somewhere that doesn’t feel like where we’ve been all day. And cities are very good at letting you disappear into a slightly different version of yourself for an hour or two.

This isn’t about running away from your problems or pretending everything is beautiful and inspiring all the time. Some environments are loud, stressful, temporary, lonely, overwhelming, or just plain draining. Being told to “just be present” in a place that actively exhausts you is not always helpful advice.

A big part of what became Souleyness started around this idea: changing your environment can change your internal state, even if your external situation stays exactly the same. When you can’t change the big things, you start changing the small things. When you feel stuck, you get creative with your options. When your world feels small, you learn how to make it feel bigger.

Here’s a guide to small creative places, actions, and behaviors that open a different kind of mental space. Think of it as stretching your inner world, flexing your curiosity, and giving your soul a micro-vacation.

1. When Your Space Feels Heavy → Go Somewhere Quiet That Isn’t Yours

• Public libraries (some have co-working spaces open to the public)

• Hotel lobbies

• Community centers

• A place of worship (church, temple, or mosque) 

• Large bookstores

There’s something quietly calming about a space you don’t have to maintain, clean, or feel responsible for. Just existing somewhere else that has nothing to do with deadlines, responsibilities, or chores can feel like hitting refresh.

It can be quietly comforting to be around people who are quietly doing their own thing. You’re not alone, but no one needs anything from you. You’re just another body in a room, and sometimes that’s the exact amount of identity pressure you need.

2. When You Feel Stuck in Your Head → Move Without a Destination

• Get off the subway one stop early and walk

• Loop around a different neighborhood than usual

• Walk through a flea market or street fair

• Wander a college campus

One of the easiest ways to reset your brain is to move without a plan. Your brain responds to novelty like new buildings, people, and sounds. Changing your route even slightly interrupts repetitive thoughts in a way that sitting in place will.

Tip: Try to change direction a few times, follow what catches your eye, and let your movement be guided a little by curiosity.

You don’t need a clear head to start moving. Movement is often what clears your head.

3. When Your World Feels Small → Go Somewhere That Feels Bigger Than You

• A large museum

• Waterfronts or piers

• Bridges

• Grand public buildings

• University campuses

Maybe you don’t need quiet or novelty, you need perspective. Standing somewhere expansive, watching people move, or gazing at water or architecture reminds you that your current situation is not the entire universe.

Your life is big, but it’s not that big. And that can be really comforting if you let it. Some places don’t solve your problems, they just make them feel more proportional. And sometimes that’s all a perspective shift really is.

4. When You Feel Disconnected From Yourself → Go Where People Are Making Things

• Art supply stores

• Street markets with handmade goods

• Bakery windows or restaurant prep counters where chefs are working live

• A floral shop 

Creativity is contagious. Being around other people’s ideas, projects, and work can wake something up in your brain again. You don’t have to buy anything or create on the spot. Just notice the colors, textures, shapes, patterns.

Open a random book. Flip through some pictures. Watch someone decorate a cake or plate food or arrange flowers.

Sometimes you don’t need to do something creative, you just need to remember that creativity exists, and that you can tap into yours whenever you want.

5. When You Feel Overstimulated → Find Small Pieces of Nature

• Tiny signs of life on rocks

• Tree-lined streets

• A patch of grass in the concrete

• Community gardens

This doesn’t have to be a national park or a perfectly bloomed garden. It's about focusing on the small details: leaves, wind, sunlight, birds, shadows, textures, water movement.

Even if it’s not breathtaking, it’s better than the noise you were tangled in five minutes ago. Sometimes you’re not looking for beauty, you’re looking for better. And small pieces of nature are very good at making the world feel a little less sharp around the edges.

6. When You Need a Break From Yourself → Go Somewhere Anonymous

• Large retail stores (or a mall)

• A small art gallery

• A park alley

• A movie theater

There’s a certain freedom that exists in anonymity. Being somewhere no one knows you, no one cares what you’re doing, and no one expects anything from you. You don’t have to be productive or interesting. You can just exist as another random person living their random life. Sometimes you just need a place where you don’t have to be anything for a little while.

Creating Space

Creating small spaces inside your life where you can still feel like yourself is an underrated skill. It’s part creativity, part self-awareness, part survival, and part refusing to let your environment define your entire experience.

You may not be able to change everything right now, but you can change a small percentage of your day, every day. You can change what you look at, what you listen to, what you notice, how you move, and where you spend small pockets of your time.

Yes your work, obligations, questions, and problems will still be waiting when you get back. But so will you, this time a little calmer, a little clearer, a little more like yourself than you were before you left.

Sometimes, that small shift is enough to remind you that your life is bigger than the part you feel stuck in. And that you can make the most of the space you create with the “Art of Noticing.”