In 1971, Pablo Neruda won the Nobel Prize in Literature and said this in his speech: “ . . . I believe that poetry is an action, ephemeral or solemn, in which there enter as equal partners solitude and solidarity, emotion and action, the nearness to oneself, the nearness to mankind and to the secret manifestations of nature.”
I'm often frustrated by being characterized as an extrovert. Maybe there's a Newton's Law of Temperament: for every highly social experience there is an equal and opposite need for aloneness.
Concise and perfect expression of what often feels complex and confusing to express. As a person who rarely (never?) experiences loneliness, I easily find myself in the role of the “solitude evangelist”, another great zinger. These words cut to the heart of it.
I find that Solitude is the only time when I truly know what I am feeling. It's so easy to get swooped up in the energy of others, to merge, to please. We all need to check in with ourselves from time to time, for the sake of our sanity and for our proper entry into The World.
I love the idea the idea that valuing “solitude” is something to cultivate and learn. I’m not naturally inclined toward solitude. As an extravert I crave people and being around people, almost to a fault. But when I lived in a house by myself, the only Westerner in rural Malawi, I learned to love solitude. And there I learned how much I needed it. As such I completely relate as a mom and the primary parent the loss of solitude being *on* all the time. I miss those quiet, peaceful days of solitude in my house in Malawi.
I'm often frustrated by being characterized as an extrovert. Maybe there's a Newton's Law of Temperament: for every highly social experience there is an equal and opposite need for aloneness.
My favorite nugget here:
“Loneliness is avoidance of self”
Concise and perfect expression of what often feels complex and confusing to express. As a person who rarely (never?) experiences loneliness, I easily find myself in the role of the “solitude evangelist”, another great zinger. These words cut to the heart of it.
I find that Solitude is the only time when I truly know what I am feeling. It's so easy to get swooped up in the energy of others, to merge, to please. We all need to check in with ourselves from time to time, for the sake of our sanity and for our proper entry into The World.
you taught me that
I love the idea the idea that valuing “solitude” is something to cultivate and learn. I’m not naturally inclined toward solitude. As an extravert I crave people and being around people, almost to a fault. But when I lived in a house by myself, the only Westerner in rural Malawi, I learned to love solitude. And there I learned how much I needed it. As such I completely relate as a mom and the primary parent the loss of solitude being *on* all the time. I miss those quiet, peaceful days of solitude in my house in Malawi.