"The moment being alone stops bothering you, your whole life levels up." —Uriel Maksumov With the holidays upon us, I have come to discover an unexpected gift of enjoying my own company during this time of year - the realization of what I most enjoy about the holidays. And here's the catch: when it is chosen, it is liberating. It's clarifying, and as the quote above acknowledges, it is life-elevating. This doesn't mean we are alone 24 hours a day, or even live alone. What solitude, regularly savored, gives us is the life we say we want, but either haven't yet realized or haven't yet trusted to be dependable in what it gives us. As we'll talk about further along in our post today, part of the reason those of us who already do enjoy our solitude, however much or little we have, may doubt the nourishment is because our culture doesn't value it or speak about it in as praising terms as it does social activities and living situations. Words are powerful. Propaganda, persuasive marketing, it all involves words, and how we speak about what is valued, when heard often enough, will influence our trust in what is possible, what we are willing to be brave enough to explore, even with all of the unknowns. "Solitude, which is one of the most agreeable sensations of the natural man, and it is one of the most painful and alarming sensations of the civilised man." ― William J. Dawson, The Quest of the Simple Life The value of solitude, regularly experienced, has the capacity to bring peace not only into our lives but also, consequently, expand more widely into a community of peaceful people. And what better time of year to talk about peace on earth, non? How can we bring about more peace? By finding true peace within ourselves. Where do we find what we have so far been unable to locate to experience this peace - in the companionship of ourselves. No, I am not saying you have to be single, but you can be. No, I am not saying you have to spend all day, all week alone, but you can. As you will discover below, the amount of solitude is as unique as each individual. The key lies in the ingredients of the solitude we partake in. Let's take a look at how to embrace solitude, what we gain from it, and how to change the narrative around solitude in our culture. "All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone." —Blaise Pascal, a seventeenth-century French mathematician, inventor and philosopher Find the Show Notes for episode #416 on The Simply Luxurious Life blog - https://thesimplyluxuriouslife.com/podcast416