The Sunday Morning Muse, March 6, 2011

Caring For Your Introvert - from Atlantic Monthly

(snip)

Remember, someone you know, respect, and interact with every day is an introvert, and you are probably driving this person nuts.

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I can remember going to Sauna Ranta...a Finnish Camp not far from where we live most Sundays as a kid. The family would gather around a picnic table, the kids would horse around a lot at the campground site and the older Finns would take a sauna and then jump in the lake. I remember my grandmother pulling me into the sauna for probably my first time. Sitting in the hot steam, just sitting there, was kinda boring for a kid, but even then I felt a connection to it. There is something timeless about pouring water on hot rocks, inhaling all that sinus clearing steam and yes, just sitting.

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People don't do that enough. Just sit. Take time alone to recharge. Later as I grew up, I assumed that everyone "needed" that basic alone time. To just cease thinking. Just feel the present moment. Introverts need that more than anyone. It's that quiet time and reflection that is disappearing in our culture. At one time darkness meant darkness. No TV, no lights or radio. Just a fire...which is an invitation to sit and think about the day that's been or look up at the stars to dream about tomorrow. We introverts don't run for politics much. Too much handshaking, parties, fundraising, and running around. Cuts into the "alone" time. But. . .

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If we introverts ran the world, it would no doubt be a calmer, saner, more peaceful sort of place. As Coolidge is supposed to have said, "Don't you know that four fifths of all our troubles in this life would disappear if we would just sit down and keep still?"