Solitude, Part 2: Creating a Solitude Practice
Spend time with your closest companion
Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again.
—Joseph Campbell
Today we’re continuing the topic of solitude, specifically how to create a solitude practice. We have a couple of exercises in this segment, so have a notebook and pen ready.
A Wee Solitude Recap
If you recall from the last segment, solitude is a way for us to recharge our soul’s batteries so we can give back to the world around us. Many people might think it’s selfish to take regular time for yourself, but in fact it’s the opposite. We do this so we can reconnect to our highest self, refill ourselves with love. Once we are saturated with love, naturally we want to share that love, we have the energy to do this. Without taking time for ourselves, we end up giving and giving until we have nothing left. Our soul energy is depleted and we become void of the giving nature that is innate in all of us.
Sacred Space
A key part of your solitude practice is finding a peaceful place that makes you comfortable and inspires the development of your Holy Self. We’ll call this your Sacred Space. In the best of all possible worlds, you’ll return to this Sacred Space every time you take your alone time. Even if you only get to it once a week or so, it’s very important to create a Sacred Space as a symbol of your quest to discover and nurture your Holy Self.
Don’t feel you have to devote an entire room to your solitude practice, but that would certainly be the ideal. There are many options for you to choose from. Find whatever resonates with you. Below are a few ideas to get your imagination going. Choose what works best with your lifestyle.
A room of your own. If you have a spare bedroom in your house, claim it as your Sacred Space. Even a large closet works well. Or an unused pantry. Take a look around your home to see if there are any spaces that could be consolidated and cleared out to allow room for you.
Head outdoors. If you live in an area with nice weather and have a shed or similar structure outside, you can turn it into your Sacred Space. If your only time to practice is a lunch break at work, find a park. Claim a specific area that you will return to each session.
Go to your corner. If you live alone, an ideal spot for your Sacred Space is a corner of your bedroom or living room. (If you cohabitate, make sure your partner doesn’t mind.) The bedroom is preferred since you’ll have a door to close for maximum privacy. You may wish to set up a tri-panel screen to section off your area. They are relatively inexpensive, and you can even decorate it to suit your personal tastes.
Shelf it. If you’re really low on space, a simple shelf or a dedicated accent table will do the trick. You’ll fill this space—or any other—with your Power Items, which we’ll discuss in a bit. Again, try to section off this area with a screen or place it in an area with low traffic.
Power items
Once you’ve established your Sacred Space, you’ll need to add items, objects, totems that make it sacred. What might those items be and where can you find them? You and you alone get to decide what belongs in your Sacred Space. That’s the whole idea. When you hunt for power items, use only your own desires as a guide. Anything—anything—can be placed in your space so long as it speaks to you directly and resonates with the power of your highest self.
There’s only one rule: Forget what you think belongs in a Sacred Space. Let your gut choose your items. As Walt Whitman wrote, “dismiss whatever insults your own soul.” If you’re not a fan of candles or incense, leave them out. Conversely, if some object speaks to you even though it might seem like an odd thing to have in a “sacred” space, add it anyway. No one is watching or judging you; put that lucky pink bunny rabbit keychain in your space. The more you adhere to your purest instincts, the more powerful your space will be.
Still stuck? Take a suggestion from the ancients. For thousands of years sacred spaces have included items that represent the Four Directions/Elements: East/Air; South/Fire; West/Water; North/Earth. Or you might create a theme for your Sacred Space that will support areas of your life you’d like to enhance such as Positivity, Abundance, Health, or Loving Kindness. All that matters is that you select individual items that resonate with you.
Here are a few ideas:
· Rocks
· Feathers
· A small sculpture of your favorite animal
· Gemstones
· Water
· Meaningful jewelry
· Photographs of loved ones or teachers
· Driftwood
· Pottery
· Candles
· Your journal
· Sea glass
· Drums/rattles
· Offering bowl (to fill with whatever pleases you and changed as desired)
· Incense
· Fabric
· Fresh or dried flowers
Once you’ve collected a fair amount of items, you can “charge” them by saying a few words of welcome and asking that they assist you in creating and maintaining your Holy Self. Burning white sage and wafting the smoke over the items is a powerful way to cleanse them and change their energy for your purpose. Whatever you do to welcome your items will be a powerful ritual that transforms your own attitude toward your Sacred Space by creating a bridge between the mundane and the Divine.
Power Item Hunt
If you’re not sure where to begin finding power items, try this exercise.
Go outside. Take a deep breath and set your intention to find a Power Item. Begin walking around the area where you live. Keep an eye out for one object that seems to leap out at you, “glow,” or even just give you a sense of knowing in your belly. Pick it up and hold it to you to make sure the powerful feelings remain. If so, bring it back to your Sacred Space. Do this as often as needed.
Each being in existence is here to live its own path, at its own pace, learning the lessons set before it in this lifetime. Stop rushing around. Stop comparing yourself to others. Can you imagine a rose spending its brief life trying to be a sunflower? What a waste! A tree has no responsibility but to live its treeness. It has only to be the tree-est tree it can be. A rock’s responsibility is its pure rockness, being the rockest rock it can be.
Celebrate your –ness. Be the youest you. If spend your life struggling to be other than what you are right now—yes, right this very moment—you are doing a disservice to yourself and to the Great Mystery that created you. Be the best You you can be. No one wants anything less or more of you. And the best part is, only you know what that best You is.
This is the core of solitude practice. Getting to learn all the colors and textures and loves and aversions and darknesses and radiance that make you unique. And for the love of figgy pudding, have fun with the process! Dance in your temple. When you do, Creation will feel you shaking the ground with your own miraculous feet. There’s no better way to give thanks for your life than that.
Over time, you’ll find that your Holy Self is with you wherever you go. Imagine: No more frustrating waits in line at the grocery store. You have you to play with. As you stand behind the man with three dozen frozen dinners inching their way toward the checkout scanner like Arctic icebergs, think about your next solitude session and what projects you might work on. If your soul’s battery is sufficiently juiced, you can devote the time in line to your loved ones or colleagues and their needs. If none of that appeals, fantasize about what you’d name a planet if you discovered one. Or solve the world hunger crisis. Or just imagine a bright light of healing warming your lower back that now aches from (still!) standing behind the guy with the truckload of frozen dinners. (While you’re at it, send some healing light to his gastrointestinal system.)
When you have connected with your Holy Self, your time is always yours—and blessed with the backing of the Universe—even when you’re in the company of others.
Dancing in the Temple of the Holy Self
There’s even more relevance to self-celebration than simply recharging your soul’s batteries so that you can radiate your unique power to loved ones as well as yourself. There’s a great majesty in the very act of taking quiet moments for yourself. Every time you turn inward without fear and honor the time you spend with the life-long companion that you are, you connect directly to Source. It’s your big THANK YOU to Creation. That’s because by being fully You, you are living up to what Creation had in mind.
This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.
— Walt Whitman
The Youest You
Make a commitment right now to honor your Self with a regular solitude practice. Think of your own first name. Let it be a symbol, as all names are, for your unique being. Even though thousands or even millions of people might share that name, only you will invest it with the singularity of your divine personality. Then:
· Take a 3 x 5 card and write the following on it: I celebrate my [First Name]-ness. I will be the [First Name]-est [First Name] I can be. Thank you, Universe! (For example: I celebrate my Davidness. I will be the Davidest David I can be. Thank you, Universe!)
· Read the card out loud. You may even wish to begin and end each alone time with these words to set the intention of your practice as well as your return to outward life.
By all means, add your own affirmations to the card. Whatever inspiring, loving words give you joy, write them down and declare them with pride.
Let the community know how your solitude practice is going in the comments below. Do any practices speak to you specifically? Share them. Remember that all this inner self work is ultimately for the benefit of our world family. We heal in community.
Love this:)