– an exercise in solitude for the (dis)connected
"To live a spiritual life we must first find the courage to enter into the desert of our loneliness and to change it by gentle and persistent efforts into a garden of solitude... The movement from loneliness to solitude, however, is the beginning of any spiritual life because it is the movement from the restless senses to the restful spirit, from the outward-reaching cravings to the inward-reaching search, from the fearful clinging to the fearless play." H. Nouwen
Practical Exercise:
Disconnect from the virtual world for a day: avoid facebook, turn off your phone, stay away from computers and tv: be in the moment with the people around you or the task in front of you.
Find an hour where you can be alone. If you feel restless and constantly looking to reconnect, this is the anesthesia wearing off. Listen attentively to your struggle; take the risk of entering into your own experience. Write down what you learn about yourself.