After a good day of hard work, finding a way to unwind is always beautiful, especially during the holiday season with additional stress. The list goes on, be it traffic stress, family meeting stress, work stress, wrapping of gifts stress, economic stress, or health stress. Finding a place to call a sanctuary when human stress confronts you is worth looking into.
I came to appreciate the meaning of sanctuary for the first time when I was grieving over the loss of a mentor. Almost two decades ago, I was on my way to Sky Harbor International Airport (Phoenix, Arizona) to catch a flight to Vancouver, Canada, when I received a dreaded call telling me of the death of my mentor, who lived in another country.
My initial reaction was to cancel my trip and head back home to engage in a series of phone calls to family members, friends, and others who would need to know of his death. But I quickly remembered my mentor's words: "As a hardworking man, you deserve to enjoy life along the way."
Those words made so much sense to me at that particular moment. So, I quickly asked myself, if my mentor could talk to me right now, considering my emotional state, what would he advise me to do regarding this loss?
Would he say, "Go home and start making phone calls to family members and friends," or would he say, "Continue your trip to Vancouver and enjoy your vacation?" The latter was my best guess.
As I arrived at the Vancouver International Airport, the serene waterfall and nature-like look of the airport created a harmonious experience that gave me a peaceful feeling. Spending time at Stanley........