the joy of quiet time

                             

I love quiet time

Of which, of course, I am currently getting a lot of. Especially when the tv and internet won't work and it's too dark and stormy to go outside for a walk. And, double especially, when the power and water go off at the same time. This is when I have discovered the joy of very enforced early nights.

But, all joking aside, I do love quiet time. Probably because I am a fairly quiet person, anyway. I feel that quiet time is a chance when I am alone doing whatever I need to do, to let the thoughts and feelings just roll, uninterrupted by me having to be involved in them. And, mysteriously, I feel refreshed just from this, afterwards. It's really not mysteriously, as this is one of the ways that meditation works.

And that emptying, so to speak, it leaves us feeling good.

I need solitude. No tv, no radio, no music. I can get easily distracted by these, and I completely lose my train of logical thought when I'm working or studying, and maybe the tv is blaring. So when I'm working, and it's quiet: working heaven, for me.

When I was teaching a lot, all of that talking, I was so aware how tired I would be afterwards. Which is fine, because I so love teaching. So when I come home, I go into quiet mode, to replenish my vitality.

It's a 'thing' that I learned, so long ago, that silence keeps our prana, or life-force, intact. And I learnt this years before my Ashram days. I learnt this in my early twenties, when I first started yoga, and since then, I've certainly found it to be true. But I really believe in balance, (I am a Libran!) and that we are meant to interact with others, so that is so important too.

Constantly ;giving out' is one of the ways that we can feel so tired, so 'down', even just a little bit, and then our life-force can get low. 

how to replenish yourself

And, with 'getting' our energy, or maybe replenishing is a better word, apparently extroverts get it from other people. I  don't mean that they psychically vampire someone. No. It's that interaction with others which can refuel them.

And I have found, that we all do this. With some people, our energy just lifts right up. For me, my kids and grandchildren do this. As well as my friends. And others, of course. We all have those random moments of meeting someone and feeling so great afterwards.

Whereas an introvert gets that same sort of energy, from within. From within themselves. I feel that I mostly do this. Hence the need for my quiet time. And it's not that I'm doing nothing when I'm being quiet. I might be doing housework, reading, walking, meditating, studying, watching a movie. Anything really. But I'm not interacting, and that's the part that is important for me. And I've been this way all of my life.

For me, I am unwinding.

I even notice that when I'm in class, I just want to focus on what we are doing. I completely lose my train of thought if people talk to me at the same time. But for those talkative people, it's how they learn.

I know people who, when they alone, will have the tv blaring, even if they're not watching it. And that's fine, too, if it suits them. I guess that we all have to find what suits us best, what gets our own energy up. All of us being so different, so unique.

And, I feel, having the energy/interaction thing sorted, is a good tool to help us have a better life.