The sweet confinement of aloneness & being mortal

In my recent exploration of the book Being Mortal I feel as though I'm being faced with many different ways to unpack what it means to be human. Not only looking through the lens of aging and dying, but also what it means to do that with meaning. I was recently listening to a podcast featuring one of my favorite poets David Whyte and in it he discusses this idea of dropping into the vulnerability of being alone with ourselves.

If we look at today's modern world it is surprisingly difficult to be alone. If you've ever been in a waiting room or on the bus, you may notice that for the most part as soon as people are alone, their cell phones come out. Through the technology of this modern world, we have the opportunity to be connected to people at all times not only through text and voicemail, but also through social media platforms like Facebook. The ability to be alone, is something that has become increasingly rare and I would venture a guess it has also become increasingly frightening for people.

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