The Joy of Being Alone

I avoid groups. I much prefer being with maybe one other person who can converse intelligently and with some wit. Most of the time, though, I find that I enjoy being alone, in total silence, because I am my own best company. Being alone a lot gives you time for reflection and meditation, and again I am amused by the pressure the world exerts on us to not do that. “It’s not healthy to be alone too much. It’s antisocial and it cuts you off from the mainstream, and your reality begins to drift into unreality. Stay young. Stay active, and with other people.” That whole “you gotta stay young thing,” which is so prevalent in our world today, absolutely cuts off the possibility of real reflection. It steals time to be given insights about life that are great comfort to us --- to me, anyway -- as I am moving in and through this last stage of life, old age. It’s a fabulous time. My god, I have never been so happy and so at peace. By the same token, things that didn’t use to bother me now just give me fits. It’s part of aging, and it’s perfectly normal and natural. That’s really what I want to say, if I have anything left to say of any importance in a world that isn’t real anyway, it would just be, “Good news. We’re loved. We’re protected. We’re provided for, moment by moment, during our entire voyage.” It doesn’t seem like it much of the time, but that’s the way it really is. It’s cool, folks, it’s cool. It really is, so let things happen, if possible. Now see, I’m trying to give advice, too. But gee, life does become a lot more pleasurable when we stop struggling to make things happen. They may not be meant to happen, and so they’re not going to, and you’re just swimming upstream and using up all that energy that could be spent maybe just enjoying life a little more.