441pm. Starbucks Uptown Waterloo
I'm sitting here at Starbucks on a rainy end-of-November afternoon, and I just got together with a friend from my spiritual centre. We had an enjoyable time talking about our lives, religion, spirituality, etc.
As I sit here with my now-cold grandé decaf coffee, I am thinking how life is so much more enjoyable when shared with others.
I used to spend a lot of time alone. Find the nearest Tim Hortons to where I lived and you would most likely find me sitting there, with journal and pen or self-help/spiritual book in hand. I'd stay there for hours. And part of it is because I have an introverted part of me. I'm not saying that it is wrong to spend time by yourself, but there have been many times in my life when I've overdone it. Perhaps I did this -and continue to do this sometimes - because you don't have to be vulnerable when you're all alone; there's less chance of being hurt. So instead of vulnerability and the chance of being hurt you instead settle for the pain of loneliness.
But there are so many things that are best when shared. Walks through a park or down a trail, coffee at a café, movie-watching, sex. I think we are meant to be relational, that's how we were created. We aren't meant to be alone. This is the point of the movie Into The Wild if you've seen it. The title character - it's a true story - goes off into the wilderness by himself to figure life out, only to come to the conclusion that life is best when shared.
It can be hard to break out of my pattern of spending hour upon hour at coffee shops by myself, but when I do make the effort I am rewarded. I just came off a wonderful weekend spent with friends, and today even though I felt kinda bad I had a really good conversation over coffee with a friend.
We are beings of Love, and Love is relational. If we want to live in Love, we will live in relationship.
Love,
Mark Andrew
