Solitude is one of the most precious things in the human spirit. It is different from loneliness. When you are lonely, you become acutely conscious of your own separation. Solitude can be a homecoming to your own deepest belonging. One of the lovely things about us as individuals is the incommensurable in us. In each person, there is a point of absolute nonconnection with everything else and with everyone. This is fascinating and frightening. It means that we cannot continue to seek outside ourselves for things we need from within. The blessings for which we hunger are not to be found in other places or people. These gifts can only be given to you by yourself. They are at home at the hearth of your soul.   ~John O’Donohue

the way shadows are cast in afternoon light….the way we catch our breath in a deep sigh….the way the hum of life goes on without us….we can pause without losing our way…

The way of Silence is more joyful than most other spiritual work mainly because it is not a path at all, and only requires that we look around and feel. And as we notice these qualities of noise, it is possible to clear them, though not by doing anything in particular. Each time we notice some new noise we also find it possible to go even deeper into the Silence, and it is this deepening that does the clearing.   ~Robert Sardello

layers of sky

Loneliness is the poverty of self;

solitude is the richness of self.

~May Sarton