Lonely Time

While playing outside with my daughter the other day, she suddenly said to me, "Mom, I need to be lonely for a minute."

Thinking she wanted to go in, I said ok.

Instead, she knelt down on the blanket, tucked her head, and covered her eyes.  

Thirty seconds later, she burst open and said, "Ok, let's play!".

We all need to be "lonely"...or alone...sometimes.  Often, that urge doesn't happen at the most convenient time.  In the middle of the mall, while bumping through crowds on a busy sidewalk, in the midst of co-workers going about their business, at the tail-end of another crying session by our child.  We crave just a minute of silence.

I say - why not?!  What would it look like if we just acknowledged we needed a bit of "lonely time"?  What if we just scooted over, knelt into child's pose, and took ourselves into stillness for even 30 seconds?  I'm pretty sure the world wouldn't end.  

Let those "yeah, but..."s run through your head for a minute.

Then think about the BENEFITS of finding this space...  How even 30 seconds of quiet recomposition time could change the entire outcome of that situation - not to mention the flow of your day.

Next time you feel stressed or just overwhelmed by the noise of life, why not take a cue from my daughter?  You're not alone in needing lonely time.

Breathe into this thought.

Namaste.