Thursday, November 6, 2008

Sanctuary Spaces

A couple of people have asked me to describe what is meant by the terms "quiet spaces" and "sanctuary". I hesitate to do that given that we all have our own personal take on it. In fact, numerous books have been written on the subject, a few of them listed in the "Recommended Books" section the of www.creatingquietspaces.com website.

But for the sake of an example, I'll describe the space immediately around me at this moment. From my dining room table where my laptop is temporarily located, I'm observing a couple of areas that have become home for various found objects. The windowsill next to where I'm sitting has four little shells of unrecalled origin. Straight ahead of me is a desk with a few more little items on top including a small "Tara" statue purchased in a street market in Vietnam that reminds me of a funny story each time I look at it, a couple of pocket stones with inspirational words, and two small personal gifts handcrafted by friends. The items don't go together in any organized way but each of them has a story.

Many of us have a space where we put shells from a beach trip, special stones that we pocketed while on a hike, a picture of someone or something special, or some other little personal treasure. It doesn't matter where the "space" is, but for some reason we have made that for reminders of good feelings, relaxation and pleasure.

Nancy

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