retreat

If I__ perplexed by the fact that I__ constantly lost, maybe somewhere in my head I__e determined that being lost serves a greater purpose than being found.

Surrendering is intentionally laying down the power I possess. And have I considered that the power I lay down is often more powerful than that which I__ laying it down in front of? Therefore, I would be wise to recognize that surrender is less the absence of power and more the presence of fear.

I would suggest that the prisons I incessantly create are not designed to lock me in, rather they are designed to lock the world out. And the oddity is that either way, I am a prisoner who has sentenced himself to a prison within which I do not belong.

Apathy is unconditional surrender where we are driven into hiding by unrealistic fear, and firmly held there by the misinformed belief that we are helpless to do anything other than hide. Therefore, apathy survives solely on lies and can be completely abated by truth.

To fall is not to fail. To fail is to never fall because I never got up in the first place.

Comfort is a stance of avoidance rather than the pursuit of excellence.

The choice to avoid risk is the choice to avoid living, and to avoid living is one of the greatest risk of all.

Comfort is not a goal that I seek, rather it is a place that I hide.

If there__ any redeeming quality that I can find in running away from something, it__ that I__ on my feet. Now all I__e got to do is alter my direction.

Safety is not a destination that we reach for, rather it is a retreat that we escape to. And if our lives are marked by the incessant search for safety, we will live the whole of it going in reverse.

Sadly, in too many cases surrender is having been __utrun_ by fear rather than having __un out_ of heart.

If we seek solitary retreat, you will be more often refreshed.

In the Soviet army it takes more courage to retreat than advance.

Peace comes through strength, not through retreat.

Certain battles were won by retreating.

Think about it: If you have saved just enough to have your own house, your own car, a modicum of income to pay for food, clothes, and a few conveniences, and your everyday responsibilities start and end only with yourself_ You can afford not to do anything outside of breathing, eating, and sleeping.Time would be an endless, white blanket. Without folds and pleats or sudden rips. Monday would look like Sunday, going sans adrenaline, slow, so slow and so unnoticed. Flowing, flowing, time is flowing in phrases, in sentences, in talk exchanges of people that come as pictures and videos, appearing, disappearing, in the safe, distant walls of Facebook.Dial fast food for a pizza, pasta, a burger or a salad. Cooking is for those with entire families to feed. The sala is well appointed. A day-maid comes to clean. Quietly, quietly she dusts a glass figurine here, the flat TV there. No words, just a ho-hum and then she leaves as silently as she came. Press the shower knob and water comes as rain. A TV remote conjures news and movies and soaps. And always, always, there__ the internet for uncomplaining company.Outside, little boys and girls trudge along barefoot. Their tinny, whiny voices climb up your windowsill asking for food. You see them. They don__ see you. The same way the vote-hungry politicians, the power-mad rich, the hey-did-you-know people from newsrooms, and the perpetually angry activists don__ see you. Safely ensconced in your tower of concrete, you retreat. Uncaring and old./HOW EASY IT IS NOT TO CARE

He who advances without seeking fame,Who retreats without escaping blame,He whose one aim is to protect his people and serve his lord,The man is a jewel of the Realm

Part of the happiness of life consists not in fighting battles, but in avoiding them. A masterly retreat is in itself a victory.