There is something nourishing about loving the solace of your own company.. In an age where we hear all the time about connection, the inner connection is not always the one that is venerated or given a lot of air time.. But it occurred to me tonight that a day spent in our own company and in touch with nature and the present moment, as well as spent with a considerable amount of time AWAY from technology is wonderful.
Tonight I am enjoying sitting in the quiet of the growing dusk reading Matt Haig’s inspiring little book Notes on a Nervous Planet. Each little vignette is chock full of wisdom gained by someone who suffered crippling anxiety and depression for a lot of his 20s. I wanted to share the excerpt on ‘How to be Lonely’ below. We can be alone even feeling lonely but still have the capacity to meet and nourish ourselves there.
I think the American writer Edith Wharton was the wisest person ever on loneliness. She believed that the cure for it wasn’t always to have company, but to find a way to be happy with your own company. Not to be antisocial, but not to be scared of you own unaccompanied presence.
She thought the cure to misery was to ‘decorate one’s inner house so richly that one is content there, glad to welcome anyone who wants to come and stay, but happy all the same when one is inevitably alone.’
Sound pretty good to me.
Emerging From The Dark Night 