#04: Only the Lonely

"We read cookbooks written by oddballs and obsessives to hear another voice in our heads, to laugh at jokes and engage earnestly in one-sided conversations and feel less lonely." Cookbooks as self-help.

For all the "bachelor ladies," some very helpful advice regarding pajamas in this wonderful guide for living alone (in 1936):

There are … sleeping pajamas, beach pajamas, lounging pajamas, and hostess pajamas. The first two are not designed to wear when receiving anybody, masculine or feminine. The last type is correct for wear when your most conservative beau calls, even though he belongs to the old school and winces when a lady smokes. The third variety comes in all sorts of shadings, from an almost-sleeping type to a practically hostess pajama. Those with a leaning towards the bed are suitable only for feminine guests, while the others would not shock Bishop Manning.

On my reading list is Olivia Laing's The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone. As ever, Maria Popova's essay/review over at Brain Pickings inspires curiosity and reflection: 

There is, of course, a universe of difference between solitude and loneliness — two radically different interior orientations toward the same exterior circumstance of lacking companionship. 

The case for solitude: An interesting discussion via The Atlantic, rooted in story of the friendship of Emerson and Thoreau, whose own writings were of great inspiration and consolation to me as a loner teen.

The busier you are, the more quiet time you need: This article from the Harvard Business Review really spoke to me this week, after spending the most amazingly fruitful and productive and QUIET day working from home:

But cultivating silence isn’t just about getting respite from the distractions of office chatter or tweets.  Real sustained silence, the kind that facilitates clear and creative thinking, quiets inner chatter as well as outer.

Finally, speaking of inner chatter, here is how Louis C.K. tells a joke.