A funny thing happens when you get to spend so much time alone with yourself.It can creep up on you without you even noticing.It can be quite subtle and elusive at first.

Then it hits you like the shock of cold water.

And you begin to realize that you are now knowing yourself better.Without all the distractions and interactions of the outside world, we learn more about ourselves.We can dig in deep to what is going on inside of us.We learn things about ourselves we never realized before.

And we come face to face with who we truly are.

It can be difficult.As well as painful.It can uplift us and hep us to soar.And it can also make us feel we are at the depths of the ocean.Because we are not used to it.It is all new and different.

Being with ourselves for so long is not natural.

And still it can serve us if we are willing to learn and grow from it.It gives us the time to look at all those dark corners we usually ignore.We can either let them engulf us or we can shine a light on them.We may feel terrible in the moment.But eventually that will pass.

And as we stay present to what we are truly feeling deep inside, we find relief.

We find acceptance.And we find our center.So that when we emerge from this imposed confinement, we emerge stronger.Stronger because we know ourselves better.More centered because we see ourselves more clearly than ever before.

And grounded in the present because we are no longer running away from who we are.

It is a gift or a curse?We get to decide for ourselves.We may not have been prepared for it, but it came away.So now here we are, being with ourselves, and learning so much from it.Would we have done it otherwise?Probably not.So let's not complain about it.Let's not rush to open everything back up so soon.

Let us take our time to revel on our journey.

No matter how difficult or how raw it makes us feel.For there is great magic in it.We may not feel it yet.We may not see it so clearly.And still it is there.Waiting or us to recognize it.

For the gift it truly is.

~ Sam Liebowitz, The Conscious Consultant