I have come to treasure the month of January.

I can trace my affinity back to college when, rather than an extended holiday break, January comprised what was then called “Winter Term”. It was four weeks sandwiched between semesters when we studied only one course intensively. Distilling concentration to a single subject made the month seem more expansive than any other in the year.

Now, even though well beyond school, that sentiment has stayed with me, though for different reasons. I’m relieved the busy holidays are behind us and enjoy that there seem to be less commitments, the weather is conducive to buckling down in the studio, and there are even leftover Christmas cookies in the freezer!

Indulging in an afternoon of reading on January 2nd, I bumped into strategist / entrepreneur / writer Tré Wee’s blog post “52 key learnings in 52 weeks”. #9 on his list, a quote from poet Judy Brown’s poem Fire, is his “learning” that hit home most directly.

“What makes the fire burn is the space between the logs” *   (to which Wee adds, “Negative space is not something we see intuitively, but cultivating empty pockets of space is hugely important in our live (sic) if we want to become more creative and effective.)

It made me realize that what I have come to love about the four weeks of January is they embody a form of the negative space to which Brown refers in her poem. It is a welcome time for regrouping and recharging.

Ironically, January often results in becoming my most productive month each year. As Brown says, “it is fuel, and the absence of fuel together, that make fire possible”. In that light, I would urge you to consider how you too might benefit from seeing and appreciating the negative spaces that surround you.

*Read Judy Brown’s poem Fire in full here.