last night I bumped into someone
I have only met once before
a brief conversation ....
"come up for New Years, how many of you are there?"
"just me"
"you'll have to look after yourself"
"oh I do"
"you look different? happy"
"I am!"
thinking on it
just me
juste moi
it is no bad thing
when you spend enough time being quiet
when you don't speak out loud for a few days
your mind calms
your brain rests
you don't have to edit yourself
or react to the people around you
you choose to be alone for a enough time
to feel at peace
seeking out solitude crosses many cultures
and historical periods
Christian ascetic hermits
Sibyls of ancient Greece
Rishis of Vedic India
all valued the power of 'aloneness'
as a means of initiating transformative experiences
"happiness is inside us, not outside
thus
happiness is conditioned not on what we have
but on who we are"
- Pablo Neruda
and so here I am travelling into 2019
I got here/I'm still here
huge credit to my backing singers
I'll take the lead
juste moi
happy?
you have no idea!
** title translation from The Wanderer
"often the solitary one finds grace for himself"
