Embrace your solitude and love it
Your horizon has widened greatly. Rejoice in your growth.
…he who has a pact with aloneness can even now prepare the way for all of this that in the future may well be possible for many, and can build with hands less apt to err. Therefore, dear friend, embrace your solitude and love it. Endure the pain it causes, and try to sing without it. For those near you are distant, you say. That shows it is beginning to dawn around you; there is an expanse opening about you. And when your nearness becomes distant, then you have already expanded far: to be among the stars. Your horizon has widened greatly. Rejoice in your growth. No one can join you in that.
by Rainer Maria Rilke
(4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926)
from Letters to a Young Poet
The Fourth Letter
image – m.prinke
December 23rd, 2009 at 10:50 am
“Rejoice in your growth.”
I like that
December 23rd, 2009 at 11:52 am
I love this blog…always great thought provoking blogs !!
December 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 pm
I really enjoy the paradox of this post. Aloneness can invite connectedness – with yourself.
December 24th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Just the message I needed to hear during a time of craving aloneness to look at growth inside! This is very beautiful – as well as the picture posted with it. I would not have understood this message 5 or 10 years ago, but am so appreciative to be where I’m at now, understanding that pain, growth, perspective and attitudes are all part of the circle of our life journeys. Thank you, Elizabeth. Merry Christmas to you!
December 24th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Flickr is marvelous!
I started out with another Rilke quote, but this one was a better fit.
There is so much emphasis on togetherness this time of year. I felt it was important to share something about solitude, both for balance in a busy time, and for those who are not surrounded by large, jolly families.
Merry Christmas to you, too!