Refuge & The Beauty Way

I write and think about refuge quite a bit. One of a few of the most important questions I’ve ever been asked is: where do you take refuge?

Refuge is a state of mind as much as it is a place

These days the ante has been upped and now the most important thing to discover is how find refuge in our daily life. I was speaking with a new client recently who said:” I can be present to myself when I am alone but I am completely distracted when I’m around others.”

Point made: it is a good thing to withdraw from the world to steady and revive ourselves. But if our practices cannot hold us while being in the world, then how useful are they?

Being Deliberate

It is a deliberate practice to allow those pockets of quiet reflection and inspiration to emerge and it’s a practice to be available to them. It is a shift in perception.

Being available to what nourishes us is a skill needed to navigate our times.

The Navajo peoples (Naabeehó Diné Biyaad) say “To walk in beauty”.

Our true nature is this “beauty way”

Sifting through the noise and rediscovering the deep integrity within ourselves at any moment, is a choice in where and how we place our attention. It is a commitment to the ever present beauty of this both fragile and amazing world we share.