Are you one of those people who have any of these problems?
- Living an unsatisfied life?
- Not sure what you want out of life?
- Not sure why we live? Wondering what’s the meaning of it all?
- Not having healthy relationships with the people you love?
- Feeling empty inside? Like nothing ever feels good?
- Very emotional? Feeling alone in this world?
- Depressed and sad? Want to know what your problem is?
- Broken up? Feeling lost?
Here’s a key ingredient that you miss out on : Solitude and Self reflection
SOLITUDE:
“Silence and Solitude are the soul’s best friends”
Statistics states that there’s an 80% increase in depression and mental health problems since 1980!
People don’t like their lives anymore. They work in a job they hate and they settle in unhealthy relationships and spend their lives living in alcohol and drugs and constant social distractions.
“We are connected to everything except ourselves”
75% of men don’t prefer to be alone with their thoughts and 55% of women said the same.
“Why be alone when we never have to” – Is what people say.
And by constantly being distracted by the endless distractions and not paying attention to our own thoughts, we end up with the following problems.
PROBLEMS WITH YOUR LIFE-STYLE: NOT HAVING SOLITUDE
1) LACK OF SELF AWARENESS:
People use the noise of the outside world to block out the discomfort of being with them self. But that doesn’t mean that the discomfort would go away
“The less comfortable you are with solitude, the more likely it is that you don’t know yourself”
A lot of us think that we know what we want and that we are completely aware of our feelings but the fact is, very few of are actually self aware
PROBLEMS WITH NOT BEING SELF AWARE:
NOT KNOWING WHAT OUR HEART TRULY DESIRES :
We have two brains : The Feeling Brain and The Thinking brain. Most of us follow the thinking brain which seeks wealth, security and pleasure!
That is well and fine. But for you to be truly satisfied your feeling brain must be in alignment with your thinking brain!
We often call our feeling brain as “Our heart”. Listen you what your heart has to say! And if you don’t you’ll regret your life.
Which brings us to the next point!
REGRET : THE BIGGEST DISEASE OF ALL:
Have you listened to Steve Jobs final few words?
At this moment, lying on the sick bed and recalling my whole life, I realize that all the recognition and wealth that I took so much pride in, have paled and become meaningless in the face of impending death.
All the things that his thinking brain desires, he went out there and got it and yet he states “It has become meaningless in the face of death”.
The feelings you experience in everyday life adds meaning to our life. People you love and the people who love you adds meaning to your life.
So, do you see the pattern?
You need to know what are the things you value in life that would actually add meaning to your life and it requires self reflection! It requires solitude!
So you tell me, Would being alone with your thoughts for 30 mins sound that bad now?
HOW TO CULTIVATE SOLITUDE:
Now that you know about how important solitude and self reflection is : Do these things everyday:
1) Meditation : Start with meditating for 10 minutes a day
2) Start a Journal: At the end of each day recording your feelings about things and people and planning your future
3) Have a Joy Diary: Write down all the things that made you happy today or in your past. It is extremely important to know all the things that make us happy.
4) Run, Walk or Bike : This really does give us time and space to think about the things that matter to us. To think about our life and our-self.
5) Go on a solo bike drive : Bike drives are amazing and someone when we really need to reflect on our life, solo trips can be amazing for us.
6) Allow yourself to daydream : Imagination is the way to our subconscious brain. If you know what your feeling brain wants, then you know what you should work on.
Don’t lose hope! Hope this helped!
Comment your opinions on this down below!