The Moon Shell

In her book Gift From the Sea,

Anne Morrow Lindbergh gives her

second shell, the moon shell, the title of solitude.

"On it's smooth symmetrical face is pencilled with

precision a perfect spiral, winding inward to the

pinpoint center of the shell, the tiny dark core of the

apex, the pupil of the eye. It stares at me, this

mysterious single eye ~ and I stare back.

Now it is the moon, solitary in the sky, full

and round, replete with power.....

How one hates to think of oneself as alone. How

one avoids it. It seems to imply rejection or

unpopularity. We seem so frightened today of being

alone that we never let it happen......Now instead

of planting our solitude with our own dream blossoms,

we choke the space with continuous music, chatter,

and companionship to which we do not even listen.

It is simply there to fill the vacuum. We must

re-learn to be alone. It's a difficult lesson to learn

today - to leave one's friends and family and

deliberately practice the art of solitude

for an hour or a day or a week. For me,

the break is the most difficult....like an

amputation, I feel. And yet, once it is done,

I find there is a quality to being alone that is

incredibly precious. Life rushes back into the

void, richer, more vivid, fuller than before.

Moon shell, who named you?

Some intuitive woman I like to think.

I shall give you another name - Island shell...

I can take you back to my desk in

Connecticut. You will sit there and fasten

your single eye on me....You will say to me

"solitude". You will remind me that I must

try to be alone for part of each year ....

even a few days; and for part of each day,

....even for a few minutes, in order to keep

my core, my center, my island quality.

You will remind me that unless I keep the

island quality intact somewhere within me,

I will have little to give my husband,

my children, my friends...." *photos ~ nationalgeographic.com