To take refuge means to go to or into a place for shelter or protection from danger or trouble. Where is this place of refuge for you these days and is it truly a safe place that provides you with shelter and free from harm? Or is it a distractive safe place that keeps you from the fears of success and failure?

It’s a great practice of self-awareness to catch yourself drifting to a false refuge that provides a false sense of security while it shelters you not from harm but from responsibilities. 

I like to look at the IRS (Interface Response System) as a practice of seeking refuge not from responsibility but from the dangers of your programmed responses to life. Practicing the IRS is practicing seeking refuge in the space between the stimulus and your response where you can gain access to a more logical, rational, and supportive response that promotes growth and your staying on track towards your desired state. 

See there’s a difference between a conscious refuge and unconscious refuge. In my Rise Up called the Concept Cave, I referenced a place we retreat to where we are protected by our concepts. Recognizing that our concepts were programmed into us by others and not ourselves, we see this as an example of an unconscious refuge. 

By practicing the distancing of ourselves from the stimulus and response, we practice a conscious refuge that keeps us safe from our concepts.

Make Sense?