Last time we shared a little bit of what it means to live a ‘monkly’ life in a fast-paced world. Our family has been slowly adopting a few words that help us achieve a ‘monkly’ life. To be fair, we haven’t pasted the words on our kitchen wall or anything.
These words are somewhat of a ‘recipe’ that we have noticed over the last year, in particular. So, they are still very fresh, and we hope they encourage you and/or your family.
RETREAT – RESTORE – RENEW - REPEAT
Retreat – This word is more common within military. It means to withdraw from the enemy, usually after defeat. We can only take so much pressure, stress, worry, or work, before we need to withdraw from the 24/7 world we live in. Our minds and bodies need rest. We need to retreat.
So, where do we retreat? Probably and hopefully to our home. Even if we work from home, we still need to retreat to a safe place. A safe place is a sacred space. The enemy, or opposing/demanding forces CANNOT enter that space. But we have to protect this place by setting aside a specific space. Ours is the table.
Some days we may feel defeated and this often leaves us feeling deflated. We feel defeat when we don’t achieve our goals, let someone down, or when we lose self-control. These things deflate our spirits, it’s like we become empty. We must have a sacred space that is protected from defeat and deflation in order for us to fully retreat. The table can be your sacred space.
How you might ask? By setting up safeguards to protect it.
What are we protecting? Life. That’s what you do when you retreat; you retreat in order to protect your life. Life is the most sacred thing in this world.
What are we protecting life from? Defeat and deflation – AKA the “Enemy.” By establishing safeguards, we are establishing a safe place – a sacred space. We need to establish our safe haven so that we know when we arrive, we arrive and dwell in safety. Thus, we are preserving the sacredness of life.
What causes defeat and deflation? We need to find the source and begin to eliminate or limit the effects of the source. We’ll talk more about this when we explain the second part of this ‘recipe.’
For now, we encourage you to protect the table by establishing safeguards. The best thing we’ve discovered over the last year was to put our phones/digital devices on silent and away from the table. They most often lead to defeat and deflation. Not always, but most often. We have to keep them in balance with all of life. They are useful but they can be useless at times causing defeat/deflation.
Today, or as soon as you can, have a meal at your table with your family/friends. Make that a safe place - a sacred space and RETREAT there.
Comentarios