Something annoying happens. Your boss sends a curt email. A driver cuts you off. Your immediate reaction is anger or defensiveness. In that tiny gap — often just a second — you have a choice. Breathe. Choose. Don’t let the gap swallow you. Mind it, and you gain self-control.
Margaret didn’t try to close the gap. She just wanted to mind it. To honor it. To stand there for a moment and listen. Let’s bring this home. Here are three everyday gaps you can start minding today:
Mind the Gaps: What a Tube Announcement Teaches Us About Life, Loss, and Being Present mindthegapps
Mind the gap.
Margaret still visits Embankment station. She stands on the platform, hears her husband’s voice, and for a few seconds, the gap between life and death feels a little smaller. Not closed. Just minded . Something annoying happens
That’s the deeper meaning. The gap isn’t just physical. It’s the space between memory and presence. Between what was and what is. Between holding on and letting go.
You feel busy. Meetings, emails, errands. But at the end of the day, what actually moved forward? The gap is the space between motion and progress. Slow down just enough to ask: Is this necessary? Mind that gap, and you stop mistaking activity for achievement. Your immediate reaction is anger or defensiveness
If you’ve ever ridden the London Underground, you know the sound. That crisp, slightly robotic, yet oddly comforting voice: “Mind the gap.”
