Friday, September 3, 2010

what is the word for the opposite of being lonely?

I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be alone - alone with oneself, alone in the world, alone amid a group of people.  Here, in a communal living situation, it is not possible to ever be really alone. The walls have ears. The walls separating the bathrooms don't reach the ceiling, and so even showers are not alone times if someone is bathing or doing their laundry in the one next to you.  These days, I go to bed in a dorm of six people, and sneak out quietly in the morning if I am the first one up to grab a moment of solitude.  We eat the same meal with the same people three times a day, every day.  We travel together.  We undergo the same experiences and talk about them (probably too much).  We teach each other, learn from one another, together, together, together.  And I love it.  But...
Someone sent me this beautiful youtube poem/video, How to Be Alone, which makes me crave some time alone.  I've needed alone time so much recently that I pretty close to hibernated one day behind a building at the farm and devoured an entire novel.  And so, on Monday, I'm heading out from the farm to an ashram for five days.  Yes, I will be venturing out on the road with three others, but I can't wait for the solace in a good yoga practice, the divine comfort of finding new hideaways, and a room with just one other wonderful person.

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