Creative Thursdays: Solitude
Sixth in the series of posts that celebrate creativity and spirituality.
I joined a book club at our local library and during our last meeting, our small group of book lovers wandered over to a discussion about our preference for how we spend vacation time. We all said we would prefer to go off by ourselves and read a book than participate in a day-long touristy tour of the locale with a group of people--even with people we liked!
Sometimes solitude requires a book companion. They provide such quiet company. I have many great conversations with God as I read books not on any spiritual practices list. Limiting God to only books that talk about God leaves out much of the joy of reading about the human experience. Life does get in the way of reading—as this poem aptly points out—but so do the book police who deprive us of creatively interacting with God outside of prescribed reading.
The Books I Have Not Read by Shel Silverstein
(Imagine a very tall stack of TBR books!)
Here are the books I have not read
That I promised to read someday.
An who knows? Maybe after
Baseball games, circuses and taking naps.
Pleaying drums and building planes,
Drinking Cokes and telling jokes
And playing spin the bottle.
And watching stars and driving cars
And getting married and working a job
And having kids and getting old
And getting fat and getting gray—
I may.
I am apparently at the point where I can now begin to work on my TBR stack of books that has been collecting since childhood!
Also, My Simplicity Practice from Trauma in the Pews 2.0
Healing required both solitude and a secure base. In my case, the secure base was my therapist. I needed to know that if I became overwhelmed there was someone who cared and would not judge me. With a secure base, I began to explore by enjoying solitude in nature by walking to the creek running alongside the RV park where we lived. I always went alone but was never felt alone as God breathed life into me through the gentleness of the rambling creek, abundant wildlife, flora, and towering trees. I learned to pause and use self-regulation skills as I learned to feel safe when outside in nature and when alone. Being with myself is enough. And in the silence of solitude is a space where God and I are very comfortable together. This state of mind is the healing effect of the spiritual practice of solitude.