Quotes on Solitude

• Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.”  Says R.W. Emerson
• In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion.”
  Albert Camus
• “A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.”
  ― Arthur Schopenhauer, Essays and Aphorisms
• The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.”
  ― Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays
• Many people suffer from the fear of finding oneself alone, and so they don't find themselves at all.”
  ― Rollo May, Man's Search For Himself
• “How much better is silence; the coffee cup, the table. How much better to sit by myself like the solitary sea-bird that opens its wings on the stake. Let me sit here for ever with bare things, this coffee cup, this knife, this fork, things in themselves, myself being myself.”
  ― Virginia Woolf, The Wave
• “How can you hear your soul if everyone is talking?”
  ― Mary Doria Russell, Children of God

The Benefits of Solitude

Lately I have been spending more and more time in my own company. My love affair with solitude did not begin of free will, but in the end I was the one seeking time with me. I am not an introvert, not by any means. I love people, but over the years, I have learnt to appreciate the time I spend with my thoughts.



Anyone who loves to read knows what I am talking about. It’s just you and the imaginary world created by the words in the black and white. You add color to the words; you can be who you are. If you don’t enjoy your own company, how do you expect others do?



Meditation, contemplation are the synonyms of solitude or more likely the by product of being in your own company. Human beings by nature are social and I can’t imagine living all by myself in isolation. Yet, I feel that when I spend some time by myself, no T.V, no music and at times no books – just watching birds pick food or the clouds changing shapes, it brings me closer to myself.



Here are some of the benefits of solitude – it can be 15 minutes by yourself (again no electronics), hours or days – it all depends on you



1. Contemplation: Contemplation is these days regarded more with contempt. Thinking too much or reflecting on issues is considered an impediment in this fast paced world of action. Yet, unless you reflect on issues, how can you resolve it?

2. Clear your head: When you don’t have to “talk”, or listen to other people’s voices, you tune into your own frequency and listen to your heart. Solitude gives you the opportunity to focus on “yourself”.

3. Be who you are: You are in your own company and just the freedom to be who you are, rather than who you should be, gives you a glimpse of what you are capable of. In our daily rush in life , with all the protocols, and etiquettes, the should do list, want to do list, have to do list, at times, its good to spare some to just be “YOU”. To accept yourself and love yourself is not possible if you are in other people’s company all the time.

4. Recharge your soul: We all talk about healthy body, but no one wants to talk about healthy mind and soul. It is very easy to feel isolated and lonely especially when you are always surrounded by people and “noise”. This is truer when you when you are going through a difficult phase in your life. Learn to enjoy your time alone – this is the strength building exercise for your mind and soul.

5. Happiness: Lastly, when you learn to be happy in your own company, none of the external factors will affect your happiness easily. Come what may, you would still have control of some source of happiness that no one else can take from you- yourself.

So, take some time off – go for a walk – without music, sit and have a cup of tea by yourself, or just watch the leaves fall –the benefits of solitude will dawn on you too soon.