Solitude

For me, loving other people is best done from a position of solitude. I mean this from the ground up, from the very beginning.   I think that it is in this manner that authentic love comes in its genuine form, gentle, caring, not controlling .  When solitudes border one another, they offer a magnitude of mutual support and protection.   From solitudes, the ability to greet and welcome are magnified.

The path of solitude avoids the great disappointment so many lovers experience.   Disappointment arises when lovers leave their own solitary orbit and begin to orbit around one another.   The border and distinction between them weakens and, having entered the space of the other, they want the other to be just like them.

Without my place of solitude, it is easy for me to begin to expect others to change.  This is true of the most casual relationship through the most intimate.  Respecting the solitude of others supports an open-hearted manner of loving.  To achieve this, it is important for me to be grounded in my own solitude.

I am grateful that my world includes a variety of friends whom I love in many ways and degrees.   I think we are free to love one another in the manner we do because we do so from a place of solitude.   We support one another, acknowledge one another, care for one another in a full-hearted way.   Our differences can enchant, not disappoint.   We share a mutual respect for one another’s solitude, and our love is more authentic.