We All Have A Shelter To Shelter Us From The Storm

Zafón points out in his book “The Labyrinth of the Spirits” that ” anyone who aspires to preserve their sanity needs a place in the world where they can and want to get lost “. In addition, he describes this last refuge, this last place of safety as “a small annex of the soul to which, when the world is shipwrecked in its absurd comedy, one can always run to hide and lose the key.”

This reflection, partly true and partly not, does leave us an idea to think about. On the one hand, it seems that we all have that retreat or safety space in which we feel more protected. It can be a physical place, a place in our mind, or a combination of both; in which there are objects, but also memories and illusions.

It is a place around which we have walked with very few people and in which no one has entered. In it we keep those dreams that we have shared with very few people, but also those that we have not shared with anyone; the same goes for dreams or sources of pain.

Alicia Gris – the enigmatic protagonist of “The Labyrinth of the Spirits” – is an almost perpetual inhabitant of this refuge and at the same time is a resident who is unaware of a large part of its content. Very little leaves that refuge, so it has eyes that are too tired to distinguish the shape of its surroundings and identify what defines it and that is in that same corner. For this reason, behind his security cloak hides the portrait of an insecure character, like many people of flesh and fire.

What do we keep in our shelter?

We keep the smell of the people who have helped us, with a very special memory for those who do it every day and for those who did it without a reason other than that we felt good. We also keep those handles to which we hold on in the worst moments and small trophies, fruits of what we experience as our best triumphs. With us are the people who passed away, who we miss very much and can no longer play.

Here are also those dreams that we left on the shelf when we grew up. Dreams in which our footprints are marked as proof that there have been moments when we have held them in our hands again, but also as proof that we have not taken them back. There are also mixed “unspeakable fantasies” with “half unspeakable”, among which many keep the one to leave everything and start living.

We also keep our fears, our most fragile and vulnerable part. Those to whom we have put words but from whom fear continues to grow; those that we only intuit, but that we do not dare to uncover because the idea of ​​discovering what is really underneath terrifies us.

We also keep memories of situations in which we gave our worst version. Also one of those in which we surpass ourselves by which, by holding them back in our consciousness, we wonder how the hell we were able to do it being just a grain of sand in the universe.

In this refuge the feeling of immensity is mixed to occupy with our conscience a good part of our self, related to the fact that we are unrepeatable, but also a feeling of dwarfism because of how little we are in front of the immensity of the universe, related to the fact that we are replaceable.

It is a refuge of passage, not of stay

Too long in this refuge fills our eyes with a sea of ​​barely navigable nostalgia. It also returns to us part of the past and the future, completely eliminating the present in which our senses move. People who live in this place for a long time spend the day on autopilot and project a sense of absence and remoteness onto others.

In fact, everything positive that is placed on the shelves or stacked on the floor, next to the fireplace, starts to give off an aroma of sadness. It is then also when our interior is completely detached from the image we project, because the more time we spend in this place, the more complicated it is that no one approaches. The others move further and further away.

Well, then what can we do so that this refuge does not flood us with negative emotions?

• Do not disconnect from what is happening around you. If you want, go a few days without reading the news or watching the news, but don’t cut ties with the people who love you.
• If you do not feel understood, seek to be understood and do not walk away. From a distance, that sense of misunderstanding can only increase.
• Always have small to short term goals. Modulate them according to your tolerance to stress, but always keep at least one project that can give you satisfaction.

• Be aware of where you are, not only physically but also mentally. When you enter this refuge, write down the moment and do not leave too long without leaving. Balance the time you spend alone and in company.

As we have seen, this refuge can save us on many occasions but on other occasions it can become the worst trap we could fall into. My recommendation is that you enjoy it to the fullest when you are in it but do not end up reducing your life to what is between four walls, whether real or imaginary.