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    Celebrating Solitude
    Celebrating Solitude
    Celebrating Solitude
    Ebook98 pages1 hour

    Celebrating Solitude

    By Rachel Astarte Piccione

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    About this ebook

    Solitude is not a retreat from the world, but rather a way to recharge our energies—our Holy Selves—for the world.

    Many of us have so many obligations that we spread ourselves too thin, inviting a tremendous amount of stress into our lives. Although we may fantasize about a few moments of peace for ourselves, the reality seems impractical, pointless, or even selfish. According to hypnotherapist and counselor Rachel Astarte Piccione, nothing can be further from the truth.

    When we take even a few minutes a day to discover and honor our true selves, we develop an endless resource for giving to all around us. It's when we don't take time to regroup that we end up burned out and still trying to give when there's nothing left.

    Part how-to, part memoir, Piccione's guide to developing a regular Solitude Practice helps readers understand why alone time is essential. It leads the way toward carving out time for ourselves, and offers suggestions for what to do during our practice that will help us develop the highest self we can be.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRachel Astarte Piccione
    Release dateDec 1, 2012
    ISBN9780615716442
    Celebrating Solitude
    Author

    Rachel Astarte Piccione

    Rachel Astarte Piccione is an American Council of Hypnotist Examiners (ACHE) Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, a member of the National Association of Transpersonal Hypnotherapists (NATH), and a Certified Life Coach. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College, and a diploma in Mind-Body Wellness from Southwest Institute of Healing Arts. She is trained in a number of additional healing modalities including shamanism (from the Foundation for Shamanic Studies), holistic nutrition, and flower essences.Rachel as been an adjunct professor of writing at a number of East Coast colleges including Philadelphia University, Bucks County Community College, and Emerson College.She is an author of both fiction and non-fiction publications, all of which promote individual healing and wellness. Her book, Celebrating Solitude, is a cornerstone in her work with clients, as she encourages a regular Solitude Practice for better health.Rachel contributed to Dr. Bernie S. Siegel’s 2011 anthology, A Book of Miracles: Inspiring True Stories of Healing, Gratitude, and Love. She was also a nominee for the Pushcart Prize in Poetry and was the 1996 Poet Laureate of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.Rachel’s international work has centered on the promotion of cultural unity through the performing arts. Her feature script, “Little India,” was a semi-finalist in the 2006 American Screenwriting Competition and a 2006 Gloria Film Festival Screenplay Competition selection. In December 2006, her one-act play, “Middle East Side,” had its premiere reading at SALAAM Theater in New York City.In addition, Rachel traveled to Udaipur, India in 2007 to work with the Non-government Organization (NGO) Mahan Seva Sansthan, through the Foundation for Sustainable Development’s ProCorp volunteer program. During her two-month tenure, Rachel wrote a documentary film script, “Mahan Seva Sansthan: Educating for Empowerment,” about MSS’s work in rural Rajasthan over the past two decades. She shot video footage in the villages, conducted interviews with villagers, and compiled film stills to be used in the documentary.Rachel is an ordained clergy member, holding the title of Peace Counselor since September 2002. As part of her ongoing peace work, Rachel has given numerous readings across the country, and lectured at such venues as New York City’s New School on the topic of employing the arts as a means toward conflict resolution.

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      Book preview

      Celebrating Solitude - Rachel Astarte Piccione

      Celebrating Solitude

      ALSO BY RACHEL ASTARTE PICCIONE

      101 Better Sex Tips

      The Bride of Manhattan

      The Exchange

      Celebrating Solitude

      How to Discover and Honor

      Your Highest Self

      Rachel Astarte Piccione

      Celebrating Solitude

      Rachel Astarte Piccione

      Copyright © Rachel Astarte Piccione 2012

      Published by Green Oracle Press

      This book is dedicated to you,

      the glorious spark of Source

      that illuminates this life.

      CONTENTS

      Introduction:

      Entering the Temple of the Holy Self

      The Joy of Solitude

      What is Solitude

      (and Why Should We Celebrate it)?

      graph-definition>

      Honoring the Holy Self

      Give and Take

      Why We Avoid Aloneness

      Blessings on the Path

      Creating Solitude

      Claiming Your Self in Style

      Reading, Knitting, Puzzling,

      Whatevering

      graph-definition>

      Social Networking (A Friendly Warning)

      The Art of Solitary Sex

      Single Life

      What, Me Lonely?

      Family and Friends

      Dating and Relationships

      The Bed

      Married and Co-habitating Life

      Making Time

      The Closed Door

      The Guardians at the Gate:

      Aversion, Jealousy, and Resentment

      graph-definition>

      Share the Wealth

      Solitude and Spirituality

      Sacred Space

      Finding Your Power Items

      Meditation

      Gut Check

      Dancing in the Temple of the Holy Self

      All This is Yours

      Resurfacing

      The Rewards of a Solitary Life

      Introduction:

      Entering the Temple of the Holy Self

      Being solitary is being alone well: being alone luxuriously immersed in doings of your own choice, aware of the fullness of your own presence rather than of the absence of others.

      —Alice Koller

      In 2001, my father—a well-respected poet, professor, and renowned lover of solitude—died of liver cancer. Shortly thereafter, a long-term relationship that I’d always assumed would one day result in marriage, instead ended. Now in my thirties, I had to find a new place to live in the expensive expanse of New York City and create a whole new life for myself that did not include the wise counsel of my father or the comfort of a male companion. I felt more alone than I’d ever been in my entire life.

      I threw myself into self-improvement by becoming active in international peace work. I became an ordained clergy member, selecting for myself the title of Peace Counselor. From there, I launched a Middle East peace organization called The Astarte Project, which employed the arts as a method of non-violent conflict resolution. I stood vigil every week in Union Square with Women in Black (Jews against the Occupation of Palestine), and later that year was asked to join their board. I gave readings at THAW (Theaters Against War) town hall meetings, and spoke at New York’s New School on the topic of arts and peace. I wrote two novels, two screenplays, self-published a chapbook of poems, traveled to India twice.

      I got out there, lived fully, committed myself to what I thought was doing good in the world, but nearly every night I came home alone. And it bothered me.

      Five years later, nearing forty, I had managed to survive living in the wild vitality of New York, but had nothing to show for my romantic life other than a few lovers-turned-email-pals. I decided to start fresh and embarked on a period of sexual abstinence, vowing that the next man I shared my body with would be my future husband. I felt charged, alive, and deliciously vivacious in my newfound self-possession. But a third, extended trip to India reinforced my worst fears. I was seen distinctly differently than I saw myself. As an unmarried 30-something, I was treated as though I were used up, sexless. A woman physiologically, but romantically? At my age, I was considered as viable a mate as any of the sacred cows that ambled along the dusty roads. When I returned to the States, I had to face the fact that I might very well live alone for the rest of my life. I knew I needed to make peace with this revelation.

      But how?

      Drawing on the skills I learned as an independent child raised by parents who themselves were very strong individuals, I took a look at my current life in detail: character by character, belief by belief, habit by habit. I began to assess what, exactly, kept me excited about getting out of bed in the morning. I came to realize how much, despite my occasional whining, I cherished my solitude. Yet, I saw so many women and men around me who were out there dating—not solely for the fun of meeting new people, but to find a mate. Someone, anyone (almost) who would deliver them from impending spinsterhood or eternal Peter Panesque bachelordom. Why, I wondered, did we need validation from society (in the form of a stable relationship) in order to be considered whole?

      When I eventually married, my thoughts about solitude turned to other married people I knew and those living with partners. I saw so many couples leaning against each other, working to morph each of their individual psyches into one new one and present a unified front to the world. Were they finding peace in their lives as individuals? Or were they defining themselves in part or in whole by their role of Partner? It appeared more often than not to be the latter.

      This led me to wonder how many other roles we play in life. What happens to the distinct and vital soul of each individual human being if we lose ourselves in each other, in our roles at work, in our famlies, to our friends, in society as a whole? When I began

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