There is nothing more interstitial than being alone. Really alone. I mean out and out stuck in the middle of the Sahara Desert between a strata of a bazzilion grains of sand below and an equal amount of stars in the sky above. The only sound a rustling of the wind through your ears and a few dry, scrubby plants. Your only companions are, again, the dry, scrubby plants, rocks, maybe a few birds, and if you are really lucky some other four or six leggeds that scurry about.
Sit for three days and nights in the Sahara with nothing to distract you - no iPod, computer, Facebook, television, etc. - and being alone takes on even greater intensity. With no technology to suck your attention, you not only sit with the vastness around you, but also with the grand array of voices within that have long been vying for your attention.
Is it scary? You answer that question. You can't know until you experience it. I offer that being alone is something anyone can do without going half way around the world. You can be alone any time, in any place, but how often do you welcome being alone? That is the challenge.
Try it some time. Start simple. Do things while being alone, but do things that take you out of your comfort zone. Here's sweet, poetic advice on How to Be Alone by Tanya Davis. Take a risk and exercise your being alone muscles. See what strength it builds.
How To Be Alone
Sit for three days and nights in the Sahara with nothing to distract you - no iPod, computer, Facebook, television, etc. - and being alone takes on even greater intensity. With no technology to suck your attention, you not only sit with the vastness around you, but also with the grand array of voices within that have long been vying for your attention.
Is it scary? You answer that question. You can't know until you experience it. I offer that being alone is something anyone can do without going half way around the world. You can be alone any time, in any place, but how often do you welcome being alone? That is the challenge.
Try it some time. Start simple. Do things while being alone, but do things that take you out of your comfort zone. Here's sweet, poetic advice on How to Be Alone by Tanya Davis. Take a risk and exercise your being alone muscles. See what strength it builds.
How To Be Alone
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