“Be a good steward of your gifts. Protect your time. Feed your inner life. Avoid too much noise. Read good books, have good sentences in your ears. Be by yourself as often as you can. Walk.” —Jane Kenyon
Card: Solitude is Sacred
Landscape: Self/Immediate Environment
Title of Painting: Long Time Passing
Interpretation: Solitude is a gift you give to yourself. It is different than loneliness or isolation. Solitude is a generative state of being, where you are able to listen to the inner stirrings of your deepest desires. Carve some time out of your schedule this week or next and spend some time alone. Pack your favorite snacks, wear comfortable clothes, and attend to the needs of your inner life. Anne Morrow Lindberg reminds us that “certain springs are tapped only when we are alone.”
Deeper Resonance: The title of this piece is taken from the traditional folk song, “Where Have all the Flowers Gone?” The song and this painting was a kind of meditation for me to sit with the cyclical nature of birth, life, destruction, death, and regeneration.
Recommended Reading:
A Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindberg