Not Loneliness, But Aloneness

Orson Welles said, "We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone." That's not sad, that's just how it is. And Lily Tomlin wisely said, "We're all in this together alone." Again, that's not sad, that's just how we are. Each wave in the ocean is differentiated and is part of one ocean. We can share and be intimately close with another, and are still essentially and ultimately alone. Tincture is an interesting word. It means a medicinal solution made of various ingredients. I sometimes experience the tincture of solitude when I make a decision, for a decision is comprised of more ingredients than I can imagine, is simultaneously mine alone, and is medicinal if it makes me more whole. I am aware of this especially when making a difficult decision and feeling particularly alone. I don't make time for aloneness. I make time to appreciate my aloneness. I'm always alone, and sometimes much more aware of it than at other times. I can be in the midst of people and activities that mask my aloneness, but I'm still alone. I often give myself alone time, such as first thing in the morning alone with my thoughts as is happening right now, or alone time reflecting in my office during the day between appointments with others, or evening alone time in my yard wondering and being grateful. What helps me make time to bask in my aloneness is experiencing that it is in my aloneness that I feel most part of all that is, most at peace and most fulfilled. These are times of not only the medicine of aloneness but the alchemy of aloneness.

Aloneness is "me time" and I love it. Aloneness is different from loneliness and Osho put it very succinctly " Loneliness is feeling the absence of others where as Aloneness is feeling the presence of myself