Conversation

 As a way of solitude and deep thinking. 

I remember reading an article long back about how facebook and other instant messaging media deprive us of real conversations and deep friendships. This was before "The Shallows" and before it was fashionable to deride social media. The article spoke about how important it is for us to cultivate solitude to better understand ourselves. Counterintuitively the article also suggested that conversation with a friend can also give you the same kind of understanding and richness, as solitude does. 

I could relate to it, since I have/had a couple of friends with whom those kind of conversations happen. With almost any good friend, conversations leave you feeling wholesome but with some people, conversations lead me to understand things about myself that I may not have been fully aware of. It is rarely anything groundbreaking, more like having a fuzzy idea snap into focus, or something hazy from the background coming to the forefront of my conscious. 

It is very rare for these to happen in group settings, on video calls etc, though I remain hopeful that we will soon develop tools that enable almost an in-person feel even through tech.