Friday, January 28, 2011

Good Company

If you can mentally separate solitude from loneliness today, your time alone will seem alive with possibility.

Unknown
***********
It's a strange back and forth see saw ride. Sometimes I am very lonely. Those are times when I have no one to talk to. I lived a very collaborative life, surrounded by fellow artists, sharing experiences, ideas and humor. There was always someone there. Some of my most enjoyable memories are of both the inspired work and the comical antics of the creative people I have had the pleasure to associate with. I could tell great stories if there was anyone around to listen to them.

Now I live alone and truthfully I cherish my solitude. I am at home with my own experiences and my own ideas, and I have grown accustomed to it. It is refreshing not to have to be concerned with what I'm wearing, when I get up, how many dishes are in the sink or how much smoke I've put into the apartment. But there are other, higher levels to my solitude. I can perfectly well catch myself at my own foolishness without it being pointed out by someone else. I can trace the evolution of an idea without being interrupted. I can let my imagination roam across distant and unfamiliar landscapes in search of crowns of gold and magic wands. And no one will stop me and tell me I'm being unrealistic.

I write every day. That gives me a way to investigate the possibilities of knowledge and discovery, subordinated to nothing but the shackles of my own humble intellect. If I could converse with people maybe I wouldn't write so much. But alone or with a companion the vagabond journey is the one I'm on. If you come and visit you'll find me a very sociable guy. But if you don't it's okay. I keep excellent company with myself.

DB - The Vagabond
**********************

WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

What was the most significant event that happened in 2010?

dbdacoba@aol.com

Only 5 responses so far

I await your answer.
DB
******************************

3 comments:

pacifica62 said...

You sing high praises for solitude and I could not agree more. I have been home for the past four days off work sick and I have two more days to go before someone comes knocking on my door. I have not been bored nor felt lonely in the least. I feel guilty that perhaps I should feel isolated and alone, but the truth is I really have no problems with the way I live. You like to write and I like to read and think about what you write, so each of us has something to do during our day all by ourselves in our own little worlds.

Big Mark 243 said...

DB, when the internet became accessible in the late 90's one of the first things that I saw was its potential for keeping me in the loop with people. I don't mind the solitude and sometimes it can spill into lonliness. But being online means that company is often a click or two away. I am more than good with that.

I did not do well in groups and found myself in a sport where the you only have to be concerned with a few people even at its highest levels.

Do I miss company? I don't know... whenever I find myself 'run out of' things... to think about or to entertain myself with, before lonliness attaches itself to me, I think about the times I have longed for this opportunity and why am I allowing a false feeling to seize me?

That usually does the trick. Don't know if you or anyone else would find this relevant to your entry, but I think that it is.

L&R
Mark

Ken Riches said...

There are people that are alone even when surrounded by others. We all have to find our methods of being comfortable with ourselves.