Hello from gorgeous cow country in upstate NY!
Welcome to week 2 of my series on how stories can make us more resilient and courageous during times of unexpected difficulty. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, no worries! I introduced the series in this email.
Last week, we talked about the importance of mentors and how good stories, including Russian fairy tales, give us some wonderful insight into how to find them. The next step in becoming more resilient during difficult times is finding the courage to descend into solitude.
Both recent neuroscience and classic wisdom literature agree unequivocally that solitude is not only useful, it's necessary if we ever plan on living a life to its fullest potential. But stories take it even further, illumining the secrets depths of solitude and contemplation. I talked about this in my latest live video:
Resources on how to find deep meaning in Solitude
1. When you think of Beauty and the Beast, you don't normally think of it as a parable about the importance of solitude. But in the Russian version of the tale, there's a secret underlying message about the nature of beauty that suggests some very interesting things about solitude. I retell the tale, and give an analysis of how we can only truly appreciate beauty in the silence of contemplation, in the most recent episode of my new podcast.
2. In a short, but useful post, Cal Newport explains how his philosophy of digital minimalism has an unexpected side-effect: loneliness. But he also makes the argument that, sometimes, loneliness is useful.
3. That being, said, loneliness has a dark side. Hannah Arendt, a true introvert, loved her solitude, but loneliness was another matter. She came up to a frightening conclusion, especially poignant in our COVID moment: loneliness can make people susceptible to totalitarianism.
4. Another form of solitude is something called stillness. It has a long, fecund tradition in nearly all wisdom traditions. In this post, Michael Hyatt distills the practice and shows how it can benefit you in your daily life.
5. Part of solitude involves the simple (and diffucult!) act of waiting when you don't want to wait. The pandemic has forced this on all of us, but even before it, we've all had those moments when we're in line or waiting for a phone call or for some one to finish a task. Usually we grab a phone (time waster!) Here are some ways of making that waiting more productive and meaningful.
Book Recommendations
1. In his wonderful book Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport has an entire chapter dedicated to the importance of an intentional practice of solitude. This book is worth buying for that chapter alone, but there is so much more here! It's one of my favorite books of 2019.
2. Caveat: I haven't read this book yet. But the introduction was very compelling, and it's firmly stuck in my TBR list. Check out Ryan Holiday's Stillness is the Key.
3. As for good stories that illuminate solitude and loneliness, I can't think of a better book than Juliet Marillier's Daughter of the Forest. It's an Irish fantasy inspired by the popular seven swans fairy tale. (Note: it does have a horrible rape scene that almost ruins the book. Buyer beware).
Next week, we'll be tackling the thorny issue of dealing with ideas and people that you don't agree with. As usual, good stories have much to say on how to make the best of this difficult process.
Thanks for coming along this journey with me! And if you found these emails useful, please forward them to a friend!
~Nicky
P.S. The books links above are Amazon affiliate links, which means that if you buy them from that link, I'll get a percentage fo the sale. It's a small way you can help support your friendly neighbor author :)