Solitude & Solace
Dear friend,
It was a Zara day today. We went out on the Marshes before she had her breakfast. Katie had made flapjack, so that was mine. Coffee and flapjack, and we got back home before the heavens opened up and the day became perfect for hanging out indoors.
The walk passed without Zara getting outraged by cyclists or hefty male joggers. She’s fine with female humans, even if they are on bikes.
It was lovely and cold and fresh out.
Looking more closely at the brambles, I couldn’t find a name for the colour of the red they have on last year’s crown of canes. Like beetroot rust.
Zara did lose her composure on a couple of occasions. For a dog who relies mostly on hearing and smell, you can imagine what image a speeding train would conjure in her mind. Zara can see, but that’s the third most important sense she relies on to navigate the world. She’s also very skilled at telepathy.
Lots of dogs are good at that, as anyone who ever loved a dog or a cat or bird can tell you.
Funny how we find it so hard to believe that people can do the same.
Working on Presence Cards and creating and teaching meditation courses in solitude is quite a strong experience. I started this year on something of a quest.
Transformation was the word that came to many of us this year, and for sure, we are seeing the world transform.
For me, the solitude and the focus that affords lends itself to a lot of processing and healing of old rejections. Most poignantly, all of the times I rejected a part of myself for whatever reason.
The list is a familiar thing.
Our youth are plagued with insecurities, and so are we.
Integration is like nuclear fusion—it releases a lot of pent-up energy. The energy under pressure takes form so it can express. It could be a yawn or a sigh or a tear, or it could be wild tears like only young kids remember how.
It’s messy.
Healing is messy, and so is love, and so is life.
Somehow, I feel in these moments that tears are appropriate now. But not tears of fear or defeat.
Solace is about comfort in pain.
Solitude is about presence in aloneness.
Add community, and there’s a three-legged stool that will stand.
No matter how hard and fast the wind blows.
Till tomorrow
Love
Mikey