Focusing on daily solitude for the last month has been fantastic.  I wasn’t perfect at it, as I missed 3 days.  But still, that is 28 days where I took some intentional time in solitude to reflect and be silent and pray.  I have already continued into February and hope to keep this up throughout the year.   Ultimately, I want this to be normal part of my life… a habit.

I fell into a pretty good  rhythm with about 20-25 minutes a day.  I would usually start with just a few moments of silence, sometimes saying a breath prayer for a few minutes to center.  I would journal for a little bit and then spend some time reading scripture.  At the end I would spend some time in silence and / or prayer.  Overall, this was good structure.  At the beginning, I had hoped to see a bit more of a varied structure, but I think having a rhythm was somewhat necessary to develop this as a habit.  I had also hoped to find some extended time in solitude over the month, but that never happened.  As I continue to practice daily solitude, I think I’ll see both of those happen.

This was kind of  a no-brainer place for me to start my year of embrace / refrain.  I have always valued time in solitude and had just gotten away from it the past couple of years.  If you have never developed a consistent habit of solitude, or if like me, you have gotten away from it… I encourage you to take a month and give it a try.