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Today's
quotation:
We
need periods of being by ourselves-- alone.
Sometimes a
fortnight or even a week will do wonders for one, unless
he or she has drawn too heavily on the account. The
simple
custom, moreover, of taking an hour, or even a half hour,
alone in the quiet, in the midst of the daily routine
of life,
would be the source of inestimable gain for countless
numbers.
Ralph
Waldo Trine
"Thought
I Met on the Highway"
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Today's
Meditation:
It used to
be that I often felt lonely being alone, wishing that I
could share the time with someone else, share what I was
doing with someone else. But as time has passed I've
not just become very comfortable with being alone, but
learned to cherish my time alone, to love it, to truly
enjoy it and to use that time to focus entirely upon my
surroundings without having to think about what someone
else says or does-- rather, I can focus on what's around me
and enjoy it to the utmost. This is especially true
of the quiet times I have alone, when I can breathe easily
and relax fully.
Our alone time can be a blessing or a curse, depending
upon how we perceive it. What I know now that I
didn't know earlier is just how necessary it is for me to
be on my own in order to recharge, to rejuvenate.
While I truly enjoy being with and around other people, I
also wear down because of the many interactions and I long
for the peace of some alone time. I truly do need
time alone, and I often do my best to make sure that I can
go for a short walk alone on a busy day, or spend a few
minutes by myself without any interaction that pulls my
thoughts and feelings away from the present moment that
I'm experiencing.
I used to associate aloneness with loneliness. It
used to often be painful for me to be alone a lot, but
that's not true any more. This change in my
perspective has helped me to improve many aspects of my
life, including relationships because I now have more to
give them when I've had time to myself, and a different
perspective on them that solitude has given to me.
My work is better, also, because in my alone time I'm
often able to ponder problems and issues that I simply
can't run through my mind when I'm constantly distracted
by the input that other people have in my life.
My time alone definitely adds to the peace in my life, and
what I especially like about it is that my alone times
aren't my only peaceful times-- my time by myself helps me
to feel peace even when I'm not alone. The
perspective and awareness that I experience when no one
else is near expands into the time I spend with others,
and I treat them better as a result. I honestly
wouldn't give up my time on my own for anything any more,
just as I cherish the time with others. It's the
balance that helps me to fill my time with both the black
and the white, the yin and the yang, the alone time and
the time with others.
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