RESTORATIVE SOLITUDE

Course materials, workshops, lectures, and resources

 

MARA ADELMAN, PH.D.
Seattle University

901 12th Ave, P.O. Box 222000, Seattle, WA 98122 -1090
Dept. of Communication
e-mail: mara@seattleu.edu

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friedrich wanderer above the mists

Solitude gives birth to the original in us,
to beauty and perilous—to poetry.
                                                 (Tomas Mann)

WORKSHOP: SOLITUDE IN EVERYDAY LIFE

This workshop is an adaptation of a workshop given to faculty.  It provides experiential activities for the audience to explore their personal quest for solitude.  Based on audience analysis, this workshop is tailored to the interests of participants.   The following are key topics for this workshop:

  1. What is currently drawing us to the quest for solitude?
  2. What is “restorative solitude?”  How does it increase the quality of our life?
  3. What are “steps” that we can take in reclaiming alonetime in our busy, everyday life? 
It has been said that we are increasing living lives of mass distraction.  The quest for solitude assumes intentionality.  In the words of Thoreau, “…to live deliberatively.” Restorative solitude represents not only a freedom from—but also a freedom to.  Not only to take control over the pressing demands of everyday life, but also to garner time for self-reflection and engagement in our deeper creative/spiritual lives.  This workshop is adapted to specific audiences and includes:
  1. Provocative questions and short exercises to explore our personal “needs”  and challenges for solitude in our lives.
  2. Engaging exercises that enable self-reflection and paired discussions about possible areas of solitude that are critical for us; including our creative, spiritual, social,  physical, and psychological needs.
  3. Brief mini-presentations; including powerpoint, film clips, that stimulate our thinking about solitude at personal, social, and collective levels.

CONTACT:
Mara Adelman, Ph.D.
mara@seattleu.edu