Cooler unhurried quiet mornings evoke a certain feeling of silence and solitude. Hot chocolate drink or a cup of coffee with a favorite pastry to indulge come to mind. A meditative mood ushers in peace just being in a space alone.
To some, it might mean sad solitude or feeling lonely and bored. Welcome all the feelings and find the beauty of solitude, for in it are the benefits of peace of mind and relaxing silence. Just as exercise and healthy eating are good for your body and mind, meaningful alone time can be a necessary buffer in today’s rapid-fire world.
With external and internal pressures relentlessly increasing in our fast-paced globally interconnected world, we can easily feel overloaded by many forces and influences. How do we keep our sanity? The experts say make some “me” time, alone. Here are some of the benefits of alone time according to the experts: • It gives your brain a chance to reboot and unwind.
Constantly being “on” does not give your brain a chance to rest and recharge. Alone time can boost your brain’s ability to focus and think more clearly. A revitalized brain works much better.
• It improves your concentration and increase productivity. Giving your brain cells some room to breathe and time to reboot free from many environmental distractions and interruptions will render it more efficient which will help you get more work done in a shorter period. • It gives you an opportunity to rediscover yourself.
When you are always with a group of family or friends, you tend to conform to what the group wants collectively, in thoughts and actions. Those thoughts and actions may not be what you would decide to do if you were on your own. • It provides a space to think deeply and refresh your mind.
Constant day-to-day activities, stressed environment and constant outside nose burden your mind and body. To be able to go on at full speed, you need to recharge and refresh your senses. The best way to recharge and refresh is to sit a few minutes in silence and solitude and allow your mind to rest.
• It helps you work through problems more effectively and over difficult challenges. When facing a difficult challenge, spending some time in silence and solitude can help clear your mind from distracting thoughts making room for inspiration and creativity. • It enhances your relationships with others.
By spending time with yourself and gaining better understanding of who you are and what inspires you, you’re more likely to make better choices about who you want to be around. You may also appreciate and cherish your relationships more after you’ve spend some time alone. • It quiets the noise within yourself.
While the outside noise can be very distracting, the noise within you can even be louder. Alone time can help you let go of bothersome thoughts watching them disappear like passing clouds while enjoying the benefits of silence. You probably discovered more benefits of solitude in your own practice.
And if you haven’t, try to disconnect from all the outside noises and just allow yourself to be totally unplugged. Turn off your cell phone, your Internet, your TV. You will be amazed of how much you can get done when you are not distracted.
If you think you don’t have enough time in the day to allow some alone time, get up earlier. Wake up half an hour or an hour earlier than everyone else in your household and enjoy your “me” time. Getting to work earlier before everyone else arrives and the phone begins to ring can also offer the same opportunity.
Or simply close your door for a few minutes. Elvie C. Ancheta is a registered nurse with a doctorate in education.
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