When there is no way to directly resist opposing forces, we must retreat. Running away from danger has saved living creatures since the earliest protozoans first exhibited mobility in the form whipping hairs called flagella and cilia.

In the final hours before the Great Tsunami in Sri Lanka, all kinds of animals were running for higher ground. Due to instincts long since lost to humanity, the land creatures sensed the danger and carried out the appropriate survival mechanism: run like hell, in the general direction of up. It has been said that wild elephants, on their way up to the hills, were observed systematically grabbing people and throwing them on their backs to carry them to safety. It would appear that instinct is not always devoid of compassion.

This state of consciousness called "Flight", once engaged, can accelerate without cue from the environment. There rarely is a signal from the world that all is clear and safe; that we can stop running now. This tends to result in panic itself becoming the enemy. When retreating toward infinity becomes an undying urge to be somewhere other than were we are, we tend to burn out from our efforts. We can only fly on after-burners for so long, and our indefinite destination exhausts our resources. Choosing to run away from the object of our fear is the turning point that leads to nowhere but a repeating cycle of running, collapsing, and running some more.

There is a famous Naturalistic Observation study done on deer on an island. The deer over-populated the small island to the point where they were constantly running into each other. The lack of territory and personal space elevated the collective baseline adrenalin level of the deer population to a point of unsustainability. The stress from over-population eventually killed the deer; every last one of them. This is referred to as "G.A.S.": General Adaptation Syndrome". Prolonged stress results in death, plain and simple.

The sane aspect of the flight response is our ability to escape from situations that are dangerous or otherwise not constructive for us. You must defend your happiness by leaving situations that are holding you back. This may simply require a temporary retreat from a nonproductive environment so that you may connect with your inner joy and life purpose. This action is necessary to bring ourselves back to center. When we take time out in our day to stop the momentum and just breathe, we are allowing ourselves to return to our lives in a state of balance and clarity. If we do not do this, we will find ourselves living out a life that we feel we did not choose, or running so fast and so far away that we do not know where we are going. This can never take us where we want to go.

Being happy is the core aspect of creation that we simply cannot do without. Inspired action comes from a feeling of delight in the presence of the dream of what we want to become. You are allowed to be happy. In fact, it is absolutely required for the manifestation of the next phase in your development.

You are allowed to retreat. It is an essential part of sustainable living. Let yourself do the things that replenish you in meaningful ways, and return the emotional vibration that creates your best-case scenario.

The previous is an excerpt from Brian Germain's Book: Transcending Fear, The Doorway to Freedom
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