DAY SEVENTEEN Sanctuary We all need a pl ace in our lives and in our homes that is completely sacred, a place where the rest of the world does not exist, and where we alone, in all of our strength, our humility, our honesty, and in our hearts and souls exist alone, devoid of the world. For me, this place is my bedroom. I do not bring my wallet, my checkbook, bills, magazines, nothing from the external world is brought into my bedroom. I don’t want any of the energy or attitudes carried by any of that material to enter my sacred domain. The only thing that enters my bedroom with me at the end of the day is my phone, and that’s simply to function as an alarm clock and to provide me with soothing sounds to help me sleep or meditate. Otherwise, I don’t even bring gum or chap stick or any item that I use elsewhere into my room. This might seem unorthodox or a little bizarre to you at first, but I am a fundamental believer in sanctuary. My bedroom is my temple (aside from the temple I create within and from my mind-body) and as such, it is sacred ground to me. I meditate here, I sleep and rejuvenate here, and otherwise, that’s all I do there. I don’t want any attitudes I have about money, about the external world, about anything but those functions which promote rest and rejuvenation to enter into this domain. So I work very hard to keep this area separate from the rest of my world. I believe that each of us needs such a place. For some, this is church, or your temple, or your place of worship. Yes, such a place is literally a sanctuary, but it’s not entirely personal. I am advocating a personal sanctuary. My bills and money and news all occur in my office; my meditating and sleeping and decompressing occur in my bedroom, etc. We have separate rooms in our homes for a reason: to compartmentalize our lives. This not only aids in decluttering your life, but it aids also in decluttering your mind and spirit. It’s an everything has its place mentality. When you adopt such a mentality, you can literally feel the weight of your world drop from your shoulders as you enter your sacred place. The energy you have worked to maintain is calm and welcoming and the rest of the world disappears. I also avoid tense conversations in my bedroom, as this is not the place for those to occur. The last thing I want on my mind before meditating or sleeping is a difficult conversation. I have those in my office or living room, where such conversations are acceptable. I do promote peaceful and loving conversations in my sanctuary, as these aid to enhance the atmosphere I work to maintain. Although it may seem like a lot of work at first, or it may even seem unnecessary, living in such a way makes it so much easier to separate one thing from another and it helps you to identify the uniqueness and independence one thing has from another. What this can do for your mind alone is incredible. You will have less stress because you will find that you less often associate two things with each other that in reality are quite separate. Yes, causally, one thing can affect another, sure, that’s just basic cause and effect; but the things we tend to stress and worry about have very different foundations if we can see them in their respective appropriate contexts. If you need to see to believe, and that’s perfectly fine, then take today’s task and “see” for yourself. Today’s task: create a sanctuary in your home. I haven’t talked about meditation much yet—I will, but the goal in creating your sanctuary is to set aside a spot that is ideally suited for you to meditate. A place that is completely devoid of distraction, a place where you can spend 10-30 minutes uninterrupted focusing on nothing but your thoughts, or lack of, depending on your meditation style. Now, your meditation spot does not have to be in your bedroom. For me personally, this works better, but you may have more rooms in your house than I do, or you may have a more perfect spot. But consider the spot you choose carefully. Think of what actions, emotions, and daily experience this room or spot has. Ensure that it can be, if it is not already, devoid of negative emotion and lots of traffic (aside from your own occupancy). If not, make it so. To clear the energy and reset it, burn some white sage and replace it with an incense or pleasant aroma that you associate with meditation. You really only need to do this once, unless your spot is frequented by others too often. Again, choose this spot carefully. Once you create it, use it, daily. Again, this is why my bedroom works better, because I use it every day. Then again, I am the only one that uses it, so I have a slight advantage there, and this may be something you want to consider. You want this particular space to be yours alone. This is just for your sanctuary. To further this task, keep your rooms and your life separated into the appropriate compartments. This will aid in your organization of your life, it will aid in a new-found mental clarity, and it will aid in alleviating stress. You might want to do what I do or maybe you have a better system. The point: the kitchen is made for cooking and cleaning; the dining room is meant for eating; the living room for living; etc. When you act to realize that this is meant to benefit you, you develop a slower and more appropriate sense of how and why things work. You rush less. You see and respect things in their appropriate context. You eventually live better and attain a greater sense of happiness. Trust me, it’s not as rigid or ridiculous as it seems. In fact, it’s quite liberating. You can have a kitchen/bathroom if you want, but the work has already been done for you, why reinvent the wheel? All my love. I wish you ultimate happiness, the greatest success in your endeavors, and may you always find what you are looking for (or it find you!). Feel free to share your ideas of the sanctuary you create. You never know how a few tiny words can affect another until you utter them. To you!
Posted on: Sun, 08 Sep 2013 10:00:01 +0000
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