From The Summus Perspective on Management Thinking,

No 26 - January 2006  

It is good to be alone, not alone in terms of a few moments quietly snatched in a quiet corner, nor that sense of being alone that one senses in the crowded streets of some city, but rather of walking with no other people around. 

Our lives are incredibly full of stimulus, people constantly surround us, technology intrudes into every area of our lives as telephones, fax, email, television and radio fill our minds with information, data, facts and entertainment.  People are equally demanding, whether it is one’s colleagues at work, or family and friends; it is difficult to escape the need to interact with others.  Of course, there can be real enjoyment within all of this absorbing and interacting.  We are after all social beings, who simply could not survive without others.  And there is a real buzz in the demands of working life, irrespective how busy it becomes; an individual’s self-worth is often determined by just such hectic activity.

Does our mind eventually become saturated, does thinking become one-sided, caused by the demands of others, the job, and the constant flow of information that one attempts to assimilate. In fact, high levels of these inputs eventually combine, to produce filters that allow only a limited response to occur.  Becoming one-sided removes breadth, richness and colour from thinking and doing.  One’s filters reject alternative inputs, options and opportunities, which could have had significant relevance to who we are, and the life we wish to lead.  Also, it seems that the more one-sided we are, the more one-sided we become, in is a sort of vicious circle.

To be alone and away from people for a while, to wander along an empty path, one eventually recognises that one’s thinking, which might have been racing at first, has slowed down, thoughts now simply come and go it is like mentally freewheeling.  The brain is refreshing, the order of things sorting themselves out and one becomes quiet and aware.  Aware enough to notice the environment that one is walking through; aware enough to recognise what is really important.  And this process is not a simple escape from it all, for after a while you feel the urge to get back to the action, to re-engage with the demands of everyday working life, but with a freshness that was lacking before.

To be alone; away from people for a while allows thinking to broaden again and to recapture some of the richness that has been lost, the necessary self-sacrifice of competing in a hectic and demanding world.  Achieving breadth and richness brings an additional dimension to thinking, a dimension that parallels everyday working life.  Decision making, interpersonal relationships even problem solving is approached in a more insightful way, as one becomes aware of the one-sidedness of thinking and a sense of balance is restored.

To be alone takes an effort, one that might be resisted by the one-sided nature of our thinking; one becomes convinced that there is simply no time available, we are so busy.  Is it really true that we have so little time to experience the real quality of living?

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This passage was reproduced with permission from Summus Consulting, 11 Netherlee Place, Glasgow G44 3YL.  Tel: ++44(0)141 637 3543

email:  dialogue@summusconsulting.co.uk  

Web: www.summusconsulting.co.uk

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Glas Tulaichean, Perthshire (above and below)

Jock's Road, Glendoll, Angus, Scotland