Outracing Loneliness

I love poetry. Some poets touch my heart more deeply than others.... or maybe it's just the timing of reading the poem. I've been focused lately on the concepts of aloneness and loneliness and solitude. Naomi Shihab Nye magnificently captures that sense of loneliness stalking you or surrounding you as you travel through the day. With a passing comment from an unnamed, unknown roller-skater, a new thought emerges: What if you could outrace loneliness? What if there was a way to skate or pedal or ski or run fast enough to leave it in the dust? Then what? Your own personal loneliness gets left in the dust ~ "panting behind you on some street corner" ~ while you have the incredible opportunity to "float free" of it.

When loneliness hits me most closely, I want to remember this poem ~ to feel/sense/taste/see loneliness falling behind ~ as I move as quickly as I can, in whatever way I can, in the direction of freedom. I can outrace that sense of loss that permeates the word loneliness. It has no real power over me unless I choose to hand it over.

Do you feel lonely? How does it affect you? Can you imagine a way to outrace it? Practice that the next time it tries to disturb your peace!

Being Solitary and Be~longing

For years, I've thought solitude and being solitary were the same thing. But they're not. I like my alone time, my solitude, my down time. Time alone gets me more deeply in touch with Spirit.

Being solitary is a different shift in my soul. I am alone and happy in that aloneness. I face that big empty space of not having a partner beside me to walk in the same direction. My trust in Spirit providing is full trust in the Ineffable One, the One Who Is.

I know people who are fine with moments, even days, of solitude. Time for themselves, for meditation, for writing, playing, creating, whatever lies in that deeper moment of themselves.

Those same people are not often comfortable with BEING alone, with a solitary existence. They pass their time in solitude knowing that at some point in the relatively near future, they are going to be back in the company of their partner or friends or family. They've gone away on vacation. Period. TTFN, nothing more.

Living a solitary life means finding that core spot within, the spot where others are not there to serve us, help us, keep us safe. They are there to BE with us, to simply live side by side. It's knowing where I stop and you begin. Knowing that at any point, the tide can change, I can be alone again, and I can survive.

What do you do with solitude? How does it affect you? How do you define the difference between a solitary life and solitude? How do you live a solitary life? How does it balance or unbalance you?