This might sound weird, but there are days where I spend about 20 minutes or more laying on the couch, looking out the window in front of me. The trees blowing in the wind, along with the ambient sounds of mother nature. It's really nice to take the time and be one with your own thoughts without any other inputs. There's an interesting pattern to the last 3 books I read. They all touch on the fact that for the first time in human history, we can literally go days without having any significant down time to ourselves (without a smartphone) to process all the things that are happening to, and around us. It's called Solitude Deprivation.
Here's a quote describing Solitude Deprivation from a book by Cal Newport called "Digital Minimalism"
Here's a quote describing Solitude Deprivation from a book by Cal Newport called "Digital Minimalism"
"A state in which you spend close to zero time alone with your own thoughts and free from input from other minds."
Here's a more in-depth definition of Solitude from a really great book called "Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude" by Raymond M. Kethledge & Michael S. Erwin
"Solitude in this sense is not merely physical separation from others or togetherness with nature, although for some people it might involve those things. Solitude, as the term is used here, can be found as readily while sitting alone in a restaurant as it can on Mount Rainier. It is not an objective concept but a subjective one. It is, simply, a subjective state of mind, in which the mind, isolated from input from other minds, works through a problem on its own. That isolation can be sustained, as it was for Thoreau or is for a long-distance runner. Or it can be intermittent, as it might be for a person who reads a book—which of course is a collection of someone else’s thoughts—and then pauses occasionally to think through a passage’s meaning. But what comes in between those moments of isolation must focus the mind, rather than distract it."
During my time of Solitude, I just let my mind wander and I generally don't think about anything specific, then things may come to mind that I've never thought about before. A few weeks ago, while staring out the window, my eyes looked over to the bookshelf on my wall, which is filled with kids books and I thought to myself, "you know what, I should read to my son more often." Once he woke up, I grabbed a book off the shelf and began reading to him.
Would that thought have occurred to me had I not taken the time to sit down and let my mind wander without any distractions? I'm not sure, but there's certainly a chance I wouldn't have come to that realization had I instead sat on the couch and scrolled through my phone instead.
Think about the moments when you're in an elevator or a grocery store line, maybe you're pumping gas in your car, notice when you feel the need to grab your phone and just pause for a second, try leaving the phone in your pocket and just keep looking around. I feel like taking the time for yourself on a daily basis, and letting your mind wander, will take you to interesting places where you'll have some pretty cool realizations.
What are you about to do right now? If you have a few minutes, take a pause and let your mind roam free for a bit. Would love to know what you think.