The Importance of Solitude: Taking Time Out To Take Care of Yourself
After weeks of pushing hard, we are taking time out to rest, restore and connect with our own selves and the Divine in solitude.
THE DAWNING LIGHT # 103 Monday May 8, 2023
STILL MOUNTAIN CHRONICLES # 13
Photo Credit: Chinmayan “Dawn On Still Mountain”
After going through several days in the grip of a heat wave last week, we have been back in the grips of winter with days and nights of rain, cold and swirling grey clouds blocking the sun.
It is a milder version of winter, without the intense back-to-back atmospheric rivers which tested us and seemed to take us to the edges of insanity.
I am grateful for this complete and sudden shift back to cloudy days and rain, for it gives us a perfect opportunity to take time out and time apart to take care of ourselves.
OUR SECOND CLEAN UP PROJECT IN A FAR AWAY VALLEY
During the past few weeks, we were pushing hard to rebuild our Dump Truck and do the first clean up projects for other folks, as shared in previous issues of “The Dawning Light.”
By the time we completed the second project, which involved driving our truck for one and a half hours over a winding, steep road over the mountains to another valley…loading the truck to the brim with junk, trash and free yard items…and then driving back again, we were utterly drained and exhausted.
Photo Credit: Chinmayan “Starting on our second clean up project.”
If you are a regular reader of this newsletter who looks forward to each issue coming out to you at its regular time, I apologize for not keeping to our schedule and publishing at much later, erratic times than usual.
I was literally passed out in bed as we slowly recovered from all those weeks of pushing hard.
Photo Credit: Chinmayan
Fortunately, on the second project in the far away valley, the young man who hired us to clean up a country home he had inherited from his Dad, had assembled everything into one big central pile and offered to help us load.
Photo Credit: Chinmayan
With Ani filling trash bags and the young man handing up things for me to stack tightly in the Dump Truck’s cargo bay, we accomplished clearing away everything he wanted gone in an hour.
Photo Credit: Nicola Smith
TAKING TIME OUT IN SOLITUDE IN RETREAT
After the long drive there and back, we were both tired of being tired and achy, so we decided to take time out to take care of ourselves in solitude and retreat for a few days.
Here on Still Mountain, we have separate tiny houses because we have learned over the years how important and even vital it is to be able to give ourselves times of complete retreat in solitude.
Normally, Ani and I are together every day during the daytime, doing whatever needs to be done in our lives together.
We love being close, sharing communication and the work and chores of daily life, making meals and doing errands.
We also love taking time together to go for walks, be out in nature and go on day pilgrimages to special, sacred places.
We Live In One Of The Most Beautiful Places In The World
We are blessed to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, where the biggest town is still small and our county, which is the size of some small states, has a low population.
Viewed on a map, our county has just a few tiny towns surrounded by pure wilderness that runs to one of the most spectacular coasts of beaches and coves and cliffs on the Pacific Ocean.
Almost all of the pictures we publish in this newsletter are scenes of the beautiful mountains, rivers, canyons and forests surrounding our slice of paradise.
WHY WE ALL NEED SOLITUDE and TIME OUT TO TAKE CARE OF OURSELVES
After coming back from the second project, we closed our big main gate and went into retreat…
In our separate spaces of solitude.
We all need to spend quality time just with our own selves without distractions or input from others. As much as we all love being with our beloveds, it is even more important to cultivate a deep and growing love relationship with your own self.
I know how engrossing it is to give all our Time, Energy and Attention, which are our three most precious resources, to our work, our duties and obligations and relationships which are important parts of our outer world outside ourselves.
“True Love is two solitudes that greet, and touch and protect each other.” —Rilke
Photo Credit: Chinmayan “Still Mountain Roses”
Most of us spend all our time in this outer world without ever taking time out to simply be with just our own self.
That is unfortunate and even tragic because the very best things in life can only be accessed through being alone with yourself, and entering you own inner world which is attainable only through solitude.
I love prayer and meditation because these practices are a way being in solitude in our own inner world.
All the masters who have attained realization were able to do so through consciously choosing to go into retreat in complete solitude so they could focus on doing the inner work necessary to become enlightened.
Solitude is the best space for healing and spiritual growth, for letting go of all the stresses and strains of daily life in the outer world and recharging yourself.
HOW TO TAKE QUALITY TIME OUT FOR YOURSELF
If you can’t take days off in retreat like we are doing, it is absolutely vital to take time out in solitude every day to be with yourself and pray and meditate…even if it is only for short periods.
In fact, I recommend at the very least, to take 5-minute time outs to meditate or pray during your busy days.
Even better, I recommend using the time you are alone in the bathroom, taking a shower or lying for long minutes in a bath of hot water as a focused time out and mini solitude.
Choose to use those times to nurture and love yourself and cultivate it as a daily habit and you will be amazed at the difference it makes and how much better you feel about life, yourself and all your relationships.
Photo Credit: Chinmayan “Dawn On Still Mountain”
Original Poetry and Calligraphy by Chinmayan
Image Credit: Still Mountain Meditation Retreat
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Rain is such a blessing. It's got the creek nice and cold for doing cold plunges. And more rain the better for the plants.