Daily I believe each of us long to have a bit of silence and peace. It seems as the older I get the more I enjoy having quiet time each day. Whether my quiet time comes in the morning, mid day or at night I need a moment to myself. I need time to close my eyes, reflect and meditate. Usually my best time of silence is in the morning before my busy, hopefully productive day gets started. 🙂
Richard Foster, in his book Celebration of Discipline, talks about having an inner solitude. Often times when we think of solitude, we think of going to a quiet place, with no distractions, no people around and no noises. He describes solitude in this way: “Solitude is more of a state of mind and heart than it is a place.” Basically, solitude comes from spending time with God, yourself, praying, meditating, reflecting, journaling and thinking through your day.
Usually what happens with us in the morning is we create enough time to get out the bed, brush our teeth, shower, get dress and make a quick breakfast before we rush out the door to our jobs/meetings leaving us with no time for solitude. As we repeat this same each day throughout the week, we will find ourselves running on empty. We start on Monday and by Wednesday we are ready to tap out and cannot wait until Friday. The weekend comes and we enjoy our weekend playing catch up on rest, all to start the same routine over on Monday.
I am sure you are thinking, yeah this sounds quite familiar. I am here to say a change is needed as soon as possible. You do not want to continue in this routine. What’s waiting for you if you do not make the necessary changes in your life are, emotional, physical, mental and spiritual burnout. Laziness, bad attitudes, lack of effort and joy will follow as well. So what are some practical steps you can do to begin to live in solitude? Here are 5 tools you can implement into your daily life:
1) Read something light before you go to bed. Reading allows your mind to sleep better and process through the night.
2) Write down your tasks you need to get done the next day before you go to bed. This will allow you to wake up knowing the direction you need to go in for the day.
3) Try waking up a few minutes early to read, pray and listen to music. This can set the tone for the day.
4) Write down your thoughts. Keep a journal where you can express your emotions through words.
5) Try exercising. Getting the blood flowing, breaking a good sweat can energize you for the day.
I share these tools and this blog to help increase emotional, spiritual, physical and mental awareness. We should not be a people that dread going to work, being around people and leaving the house. There is no fun and joy in this. Let’s work on making changes. You and I need to be the best we can be daily. I believe it starts in the morning with solitude.
P.S. I would love to hear how you experience daily solitude. Share some thoughts and comments on what you do to get going each day. Also share this blog with a friend. You can help someone find inner solitude and peace.
Thanks for taking the time out to read!
Josh Samarco 