If You Think You Already Spend Too Much Time Alone
There’s a thin line between solitude and isolation, between solitude and loneliness. The quality of the time spent alone separates the one from the other. We are social animals. We need the company of other people. Too much time spent unconnected can be unhealthy, especially if we dwell on the fact of our aloneness. On the other hand, never spending any time on our own can engulf us in crushing lonesomeness.
Winter Woods
Balance is crucial as you decide how much time to spend in your quiet corner and when. Don’t cut yourself off from the world. If you feel cut off, perhaps you could spend some time redressing that. Use your time alone to create imaginative solutions to your isolation. Once you do, the character of your alone time will change. Your loneliness will diminish, and you will begin to value your time alone as never before. You will use your time more productively, and you will cross that thin line into harmony.
The End of the Day
Put the kids to bed. Prepare for the next day in the usual manner. Then settle down to spend some time in your quiet corner. This period, after the rest of your world has retired for the day, is another perfect time to create a corner. This time of day has its own unique character, and delaying your bedtime slightly will give you a chance to experience it.
The energy in the air quiets in the late evening. A stillness that exists at no other time of day hangs about. There’s no need to artificially create quiet. It is waiting for you. Take advantage of it. Even if you have the energy to spend only a few minutes with yourself at this time, it is enough.
Simply sit quietly and reflect on your day. Breathe in the calm that surrounds you. Think of nothing. Just breathe.
As you review your day, let go of any resentments that might have come up that day. Don’t blame yourself or others for difficulties; simply resolve to do better tomorrow. This is the time to nurture yourself and allow the pervasive calm to work its miracle.
It’s Your Life
Some people believe that if we make a mess of this life, we’ll have another chance to get it right in the next one. Others believe that we have but one life and don’t get another chance. Still others believe that we’ll be rewarded or punished in the afterlife for our behavior in this one. Whatever you believe is true about your future, you would probably agree that all we can be completely sure of is the present moment. This is it!
Here you are, in this life, in your life, in this moment. Why not do the best you can with what you have now? Treating yourself well in the present rewards you and the people around you immediately. If the rewards extend beyond this moment, it’s so much the better. A quiet corner will be the perfect nurturing ground for reaping the rewards of your life, now or later.
from Find a Quiet Corner – A Simple Guide to Self-Peace
I’m glad to be alone with you.