ALONE, TOGETHER

Fresh from an invigorating and inspiring weekend away walking the glorious Anglesey coastline, I am pondering the balance that best serves myself, my friends and my clients when it comes to:

Alone time (reflection, journaling, meditating, walking in nature, exercise, simply being)

Versus

Connected time (Intimate sharing, deep or general conversation, pure pleasure, play, downright silliness)

I need both in my life to thrive. Most of us do. But it also needs to be intentional. We need to be present to our experience. Otherwise, we are living on autopilot: numb, absent, avoidant.

It was my audit of my own life that was a spur to deploy my facilitation skills in setting up Chorlton Men’s Group which meets tonight at 7pm locally. Running my supper clubs are part of my personality and what brings me great joy.

And whilst on my weekend away, amid the epic walking, merriment, and group activities there was time for reflection. Communing and connecting with nature melted my day-to-day concerns away; everything looks different whilst admiring an epic coastline. Standing on a cliff reminds you of the fragility of life. I loved those short built intimate chats with my mates / co-walkers where we share what’s going on in our lives.

We are all in different boats, sailing on the sea of life. Sometimes along, sometimes together. What a journey.

Which reminds me of that most inspiring of poems:

The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Mary Oliver