Put aside all pretense and make it your goal to be authentic.  Taking time to ponder will foster authenticity. A manufactured, false image will only foster incorrect, meaningless, pressure-filled connections with others. If you want meaningful, genuine relationships, you need to be authentic. So, what does the path to authenticity look like in this crazy, fast-paced, noisy world? Only in silence and solitude will you find authenticity. It is in solitude where isolation will make you stronger.  Without silence and solitude, you will be a faint reflection of those around you, not thinking or believing for yourself, a finger puppet of the masses.