This week I went for a hike.
Alone.
Just me and my dogs up a mountain trail
while our son was at hockey camp.
And as I got deeper into the trail
I started thinking about Cheryl Strayed.
If you do not know who she is,
in 1995 she walked 1100 miles
along the Pacific Coast Trail.
By herself.
Her memoir “Wild” is her account of this trip
and it is an amazing story.
So as I walked on my much smaller version of Wild,
I thought about what it would be like
to hike for days all alone and
I realized that I am not alone very often.
Even on this hike I had my dogs with me.
But this little hike it was enough of a taste
to remind me how good it is to spend time alone.
Not alone on my laptop checking social media alone.
Not alone watching TV or binging on Netlfix alone.
Truly alone without any distractions.
Deepak Chopra calls this “the gap”.
This pure place between thoughts where divinity and inspiration can slip in.
As he would say, “it is the window to your cosmic mind”.
I get some of my best ideas and aha’s when I am in nature
and I am pretty confident it is because I have stumbled into ‘the gap’.
So I plan to create more gaps more intentionally and I invite you to do the same.
Go for a walk all alone.
Sit and simply do nothing alone.
Just be…alone.
The gap is good.
Beth