The Importance of Refuel and Refuge

In a busy world, often we lead busy lives. Constantly on the move, we are rarely attentive to our own needs. We can completely lose sight of our role in taking care of our body, our mind and our heart. We must learn to create space and time to refuel each of these every day. Not being attentive to our own needs puts us at risk for so many additional and needless hardships. It also puts those in our lives at risk.

Mostly, we have an intellectual understanding of the need to take care of our self. However, consistently and persistently we convince ourselves or allow ourselves to be convinced to ignore this responsibility. There will always be more to do. There will always be someone in need. And, yet, every day we do not make space to heal, repair and recover diminishes our capacities and capabilities not only to help others but also diminishes our ability to heal, repair and recover moving forward.

This is where dysfunction and dis-ease take firm hold. The longer we do nothing or do too little to take care of this vessel we call our life, the deeper the hole in which we find ourselves. It is always possible to reverse negative trends, however, at certain points we have not taken care and attention for so long that we’ve actually lost capability and lost capacity to take care of our self.

It’s far easier to start applying the brakes on the way down from the top of a steep hill than it is to apply the brakes half way down the hill when we’re driving much faster. Sometimes, the brakes stop working and there’s nothing we can do to stop the runaway vehicle that is our life.

If we do not care or apply enough attention to our body, our mind and our heart, we may have a runaway existence. Then, we must rely on some external force to help slow and even stop our descent. Still, once the runaway has been stopped, there’s much to do to repair the vehicle.

Sometimes, we can do this on our own; oftentimes, the dysfunction and dis-ease have affected so much of our body, our mind and our heart that we need external help and guidance. When that help and guidance is not present, we have to try and figure out how to get our life back to work on our own.

Usually, when someone is working on their life, others will stop and help if and when they’re able. However, if we’re not at work on this life when they come by, they may not realize we need the help. That is why we can never give up trying. It is our last refuge.