The Blessings Of Solitude

It is another glorious day in the Hokianga.
The sun is shining, the harbor is so calm and everything feels so peaceful and beautiful in the world.

In a very short while, we will fly back to Colorado for two months of fun and skiing.
Even though my life in Colorado is also calm and beautiful, I find that I do not want to leave my quiet retreat in New Zealand.

My wonderful neighbors in Colorado wrote me an email telling me to prepare for the cold…. Temperatures are very low…

I do not wish to say goodbye to this beautiful summer in NZ, to this peaceful house and to the vast garden… To the quails, the pheasants, the herons…the harbor….

Our retreat in the hills of the Hokianga offers me long stretches of solitude, with a lot of time to reflect on life, to examine myself and to devote uninterrupted time to inner growth.

Solitude is so sweet and so enriching…
Many writers and poets wrote great poems about their time in solitude, viewing it with almost religious sacredness.

It is hard to describe the many blessings of solitude to people who value socializing.
After all, we live in a contrary culture that seeks anything BUT inner peace.

In fact, our society PROMOTES socializing as a shelter FROM inner exploration, by telling us that you SHOULD find joy in “social warmth.”

But no real insights can be found by spending time chatting idly with others.

All philosophers and great poets found inspiration in solitude, and in my own mind, solitude is an absolute must for the sincere spiritual seeker.

I find that I crave and even NEED continual time devoted to inner reflections and contemplations, and I find solitude most rewarding and most enjoyable.

It affords me some time to listen to the quiet….. to face myself in all my inner facets, and to come closer to discovering who I am, and therefore, to clarify what it is I TRULY want in life and what is in my best interests.

Often what we believe is for our highest good is nothing more than ideas that our ego-mind constructs, but that do not and will not really serve us well.
Often those ego based ideas only bind us further to the world of illusions, by “proving” to us that happiness can be found in improving or changing our outer circumstances.

All we need is to remember who we TRULY ARE, and all else will be added to it naturally and easily.

How can we perceive our own best interests, if we do not know who we truly are?
And if we believe ourselves to be small mortal physical beings at the mercy of a random cruel world where we can suffer loss, pain, sickness, lack and death, we simply do not know who we truly are.

Alas my retreat time is coming to an end soon.
It is back to a busier life, filled with fun and activities.
Adios my beloved retreat and solitude… Until my next retreat…. same time next year…