Leverage Solitude

In today’s fast paced urban-life “TIME” is very important. So any “wasted time” such as waiting for the train to arrive, waiting at the airport lounge, waiting for a lift, waiting in a queue cannot be wasted.

So our typical solution now-a-days is to take out the super computer from our pocket and start using it to connect to other people (connect virtually though) using social media, watch favorite videos on YouTube or a series on Netflix.

While utilizing such waiting time is not a bad thing and whether it should be used on Social Media / Netflix is a different debate in its own. The point I am trying to make is in this process we are depriving ourselves with “SOLITUDE”.

“Solitude can be defined as the state or situation of being alone or as the time we use to do nothing except being with our own thoughts”.

Solitude is basically where mind is empty from any external thoughts or distractions. So even in an empty house we might not be able achieve solitude since our mind is busy running through yesterday’s sequence of events. On the contrary we can attend solitude on a busy road or public transport by emptying our mind and cutting off from distractions.

The condition in which we squeeze out any wasted time from our life and eradicate all opportunities to experience solitude is known as “Solitude Deprivation”. This is the root cause of everyday anxiousness which has become part of urban life and especially among teenagers since they are the generation who do not have a memory of how life was before the digital revolution (mobile phones/video on demand/news feeds) took over our life by surprise.

Of course we don’t want to be isolated for such long stretches of times that we start feeling lonely. But we should make a point to put those gadgets away for a while, cut down on unwanted activities, avoid such people who unnecessarily consume a lot of our time and allow our mind to be with our own thoughts or no thoughts for some time in the day.

Now a day if we see a person with his/her face in a lifeless electronic device then we consider it as normal but the same person if we see roaming around thinking about something; we suspect something is surely wrong with that person! But the person might be in a “state of solitude”.

What we will benefit from this exercise is peace of mind and creative thinking which is the most important skill in today’s fast-paced world.

Solitude is one of the greatest weapons if we intend to achieve something great in life. Greatest Philosophers, Thinkers, Poets, Musicians, Writers, Actors, Sportsmen and even CEOs understand this.

• That is why Bill Gates at periodic intervals confines himself to a secret cabin somewhere in a forest to reflect on how Microsoft is performing and what new it can do and also around macro issues such as health problem across the globe
• Bruce Lee spent long hours in solitude practicing and perfecting his art instead of working out with other martial artists
• The time Charles Darwin spent in his maiden voyage across a span of 5 years in solitude, is the time when he developed his theory of natural selection
• One of the greatest inventor of all times; Nikola Tesla used solitude to great effect to perfect his inventions
• Albert Einstein spent hours in solitude working on his theory of relativity
• Thomas Edison said; “The best thinking has been done in solitude”
• Pablo Picasso proclaimed; “Without great solitude no serious work is possible”

We should not intend to transform our life into a life of a monk but understand and appreciate the value of solitude and harness it’s power to propel ourselves to great heights.

So next time you board a train or a bus and immediately reach out to your mobile phone, think again; is it instead better to spend some time in solitude.