Local Cedar Rapids writer Lyz Lenz tweeted on Monday: “When this is over I’m never spending time alone with my thoughts ever again.” On a Monday morning—following a holiday weekend typically known for its social spirit but this year spent largely alone—I completely agreed. This introvert had had enough solitude!
All it took to remind me why carving time for solitude, for being “alone with my thoughts,” is important was the press of a busy Monday work day—albeit a day spent working from home. Especially in these times, when every day bombards us with news and new, often conflicting, information and we feel in our bodies a torrent of emotions which, though varied, are all intense, we need solitude and reflection.
In his Letters to a Young Poet, Rilke wrote, “ But your solitude will be a support and a home for you, even in the midst of very unfamiliar circumstances, and from it you will find all your paths.” Reading these words today feels as if Rilke is speaking across the years directly to each of us living through 2020.
It has been suggested that silence, solitude and stillness are the “trinity of contemplation.” When we spend time in contemplation we find it is both a way in … to relationship and spiritual deepening, and a way out … the place from which our paths may emerge into new ways of being in the world. In our ever busy, ever rushing lives, we fear or distrust silence, solitude and stillness for this very reason—because in them we confront our own layered selves and we find we may be called to evolve or to step forward on new roads.
I still feel some affinity toward Lyz Lenz’s tweet. Being so much alone with my own thoughts can be difficult. However, when that aloneness is taken as an invitation to contemplation, as more than just stewing in my own mental and emotional juices, it becomes rich with nutrients for #PanDeepening.
The Guest House
by RumiThis being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your horse
empty of is furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
—Jenifer Hanson, Prairiewoods director