Being intentional about cultivating time alone is an excellent practice to connect with yourself and paramount for staying aligned to what is meaningful to you. Taking out time during your day to sit quietly helps you to come back to yourself. This is a valuable investment in well-being. It allows you to regulate your nervous system, get centered, and reconnect with the present moment. Getting quiet helps you to begin to hear your wise self and body’s wisdom. This time helps you reevaluate what is meaningful to you in your life that you want to respond to rather than react to as false urgencies.  It provides a moment to realign with your core values and gain awareness if there was a misalignment in your day and come back home to yourself. It is from this energy of making time alone a daily practice that offers a space for authenticity to make decisions, take next steps, and reinforce your core values that are meaningful to you. 

Here are some ideas of cultivating a daily practice of time alone. 

• Choose your preferred calendar and plan a time each day that you can look forward to sitting down with yourself for five minutes to breathe and be in the present moment.

• A micro practice like this will feel doable because it is only five minutes! When your brain is trying to convince you that there are more important things to do, pause and just breathe in and out of your nose or mouth. Take some slow and conscious breaths that feel comfortable to you. Sitting with yourself will prove to be time well spent. Viewing this practice as an experiment will reveal if you want to practice longer. No pressure. Just experimentation.

• After this experiment, if you find yourself wanting to sit quietly for five minutes again or a longer practice, get your preferred calendar out and schedule it this week. It will be a practice that you can look forward to rather than an obligation.

• You get to decide what would support you in the present moment when you distance yourself from the external noise and false urgencies. This leads you to come back to your center so that you can make an intentional decision to do things that feel aligned with your mind, body, and soul.

• The gift of taking this time helps you gain clarity about what might be missing in your life that you would like to implement. Write down your observations after practice. 
• These insights can also reveal the next steps you want to take to enhance your well-being: Letting go of what no longer serves you in this season of your life.  After you write down your observations, notice themes that are coming up for you.

• You can get out your preferred calendar and schedule interests from these themes that came up for you.  It provides an opportunity to decide what you want to do intentionally. Write it down. Consider this question: How will these clues help you feel aligned?

• It is this consistent practice of time alone that provides you with more clarity about yourself, relationships, and meaningful contributions in the world.  It can also give you an insight about how you spend your time and days.  Reflect on this question: Does your life feel true to you? Through a consistent practice of taking time for yourself will no doubt reveal valuable insight and help create results in your life that are aligned with your core values instead of “shoulds” in your life.  

The power of scheduling time in your weekly schedule to pause, breathe, and spend time with yourself provides you with getting to know yourself better in your life. It is important to honor yourself by being intentional about carving out this time. Your overall well-being matters, and this consistent practice will help you in all aspects of your life.