Where Is Your Personal Sanctuary?

"Sanctuary, on a personal level, is where we perform the job of taking care of our soul." - Christopher Forrest McDowell

I am writing today sitting in the same early morning darkness that enveloped the beginning of my last post, An Insane to Insanely Beautiful Morning.  Sunrise is a particulary special time of day for me and has been ever since I was discharged from Induction therapy a year ago.  It is not only my favorite time for photography, but also for writing.  The peace and solitude that comes with this beginning of each day, I find to truly inspiring and breathtaking. 

But why am I writing about sunrises again? I wanted to use it to illustrate my theme for today's post.  How many of you already have a personal sanctuary?  Well I should back up a bit, what is a personal sanctuary.  Christopher Forrest McDowell defined it as follows, a "Sanctuary, on a personal level, is where we perform the job of taking care of our soul."

Keeping this definition in mind you can see how the sunrise has become my personal sanctuary.  When I see those beautiful colours filling the sky over the lake, my soul feels completely fulfilled and energized.  The funny thing is I didn't used to enjoy sunrises.  It isn't that I didn't like them, I just enjoyed staying in bed sleeping much more.  ;) 

My opinion didn't change until my acute lymphoblastic leukemia diagnosis and subsequent my induction therapy.   The induction therapy is so intense that there was always a chance that I might not ever leave the hospital.  Would you believe that my first night sleeping in my own bed where I wouldn't be woken up in the early morning darkness by the nurses, I couldn't sleep.  As I lay looking at the clock, I was incredulous!  How could this be happening, I just wanted to sleep in.  Finally, I rolled out of bed and went to the living room so I wouldn't disturb Amy.

As the sun started cresting the horizon that morning it was like I had been reborn and was seeing the sunrise for the first time.  I couldn't believe how magnificent it was.  Since that moment sunrises have always brought me the same awe and passion and had a special place in my heart.   I love watching them so much that on the mornings I am up to see it and it is overcast, I almost feel ripped off :)

Personal sanctuaries are an essential part of maintaining our well being.  Unfortunately there is no magic formula for finding out where our sanctuary should be.  Since we are all different and unique, our the place that heals our soul will also be different and unique.  In addition, what actually heals our soul will be different for many of us too.

Toni Morrison spoke about how to find your own personal sanctuary or getaway.  "A getaway is a vision of a place you've had in your mind. And, when you find yourself there, you recognize it."  This defintion may be a little vague, but basically she is saying you already know what your personal sanctuary should be.  You just need to reflect on what will do the best job of healing your soul. 
For some, it is a getaway from their face paced lives.  For others, it may be getting lost in some relaxing music.  Whereas others, in may be getting lost in creative endeavors (writing, painting, cooking,etc). 

Locating our personal sanctuaries is not enough though, it is critical to find the time to actually use in order to balance all the demands in our lives.  These times of solitude are essential for maintaining a healthy mind and body, and are as important to us as eating, drinking, sleeping, and breathing.

By spending time in our personal sanctuaries we are able to renew our energy, so we need to use them often! ;)  We should all make a promise to ourselves to spend some time this week and find our own personal sanctuary.  Once we have found it, we should extend the promise to invest time into visiting it.  We can start small with only using our sanctuary once or twice a week, but we should never take time away from it; only add time.  Once you find your personal sanctuary and spend some time in it, you won't be able to wait until the next time you get to go back again.

Did you enjoy my post today? Save yourself time and get the posts delivered directly to your email. Click Here to get the latest posts delivered directly to your Email