Caring for yourself

I’d like to share with you some wisdom from St. Bernard of Clairvaux about the importance of keeping our spirits healthy. He uses a clear comparison as caution against allowing too much work and worry to drain us:

“The canal simultaneously pours out what it receives; the reservoir retains the water until it is filled, then discharges the overflow without loss to itself. . . You must imitate this process. First be filled, and then control the outpouring.”

He advised pausing during the busy day for recollection as a way to bring the distracted inner self to peaceful integration, a way of living contemplatively in everyday life and work.

-- from The Song of Songs I (The Works of Bernard of Clairvaux)