The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

July 18Time with Yourself

We are made happy when reason can discover no occasion for it. The memory of some past moments is more persuasive than the experience of present ones. There have been visions of such breadth and brightness that these motes (particles of dust) were invisible in their light.

Henry David Thoreau—Familiar Letters (1865)

What are you capable of being? How can you live well today? How can you grow and cultivate the soul? How can you experience more present moments?

One of the many spiritual practices promoted by the transcendentalists was solitude. Some drew their inspiration for such from the Stoics and the eastern religious traditions of China and India.

Thoreau was the poster child for solitude, as that was the state in which he wrote most of Walden. So, are you ready to hit that cabin for a couple years to figure this all out?

As nice (or scary) as it might sound, retreating is likely not an option for you. But seeking solitude in small sips is a practice that will strengthen your self-reliance.

Spending time with yourself alone is where you'll find your life.

Alone means alone; when you read a book or listen to music, you are in conversation with the author or artist. Meditate, journal with pen and paper, sit in your car in the garage for five minutes, end your workday in silence, take an entire day once a month or an entire weekend once a quarter and practice solitude.

In Walden, Thoreau came to describe his solitude in soulful terms:

Sympathy ...