𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐞𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲

Much of my thinking lately has centered around the experience and embodiment of both solitude and community. I see them as very separate, and intimately connected. 

This morning, while reading Letter to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke, I was struck by his concept of what he calls “The Geography of Solitude.” He speaks of solitude as “a territory to be entered and occupied,” and goes on to explain a map of how to do this. The first step is the recognition that solitude indeed exists. When he equates solitude with isolation, I find myself going down a different path.

My travels through solitude bring a different experience. For me, solitude is a rest. It’s a place to come back home to myself, find my center, feel my energies, body, heart and spirit. It is a place I need to be often in order to show up with others both authentically and with exuberance. It is not an isolation for me at all. Isolation feels like punishment, solitary confinement. Solitude is not confining. To me it is expansive. I think this is because I never lose sight that in my solitude I am never alone. I am just choosing to align myself more closely with my own being.

Not being alone in solitude means knowing, believing and experiencing the others who hold me and travel beside me as eternal companions. By others, I mean all living beings, people (of course), nature, spirit guides, cosmic energies, ancestors, the breath itself. If loneliness bubbles up, I remind myself of all these companions. I practice belonging to and with them. I breathe with them. I connect my physical, emotional and spirit body with them. It takes very little for loneliness to dissipate. 

This is my community. You are a part of my community. Much of my work revolves around creating Circles for us to be together in both solitude and community, which really means bringing our FULL selves into spaces to be together. 

Won’t you join me?