Loneliness To Enlightenment

This meditation and short talk at the end was taken out of a longer class David gave on embracing the energy of loneliness as one of our greatest teachers and stepping through it into our own enlightenment. Feel the loneliness but don't let it define or limit you.

Transcript

So,

Welcome to this meditation on going from loneliness to enlightenment.

And as we step into it,

I invite you to really be here and allow yourself to look at whatever comes up.

You don't need to manipulate your experience.

Just let yourself see,

Feel,

And know whatever arises in your awareness.

Life is here to teach you,

And perhaps one of the ways it's going to teach you is through your experience of isolation and or loneliness.

A lot of times when we feel loneliness,

We feel it on the heart center.

We feel it on the chest.

What I'd like you to do is just imagine your heart center is almost out in front of you on a screen.

So rather than just feeling it in your chest,

Imagine you could see it.

So it might look like a heart that you would see like on Valentine's Day,

That kind of shape,

Or maybe just the heart chakra,

An energy center,

However it arises for you.

And the heart center also has a field.

It has a boundary that goes around it,

Just like the earth has an atmosphere.

Everything has a field.

Some of these fields are invisible,

Like magnetic fields and gravitational fields.

Your heart also has a field.

And I want you to get a sense as you look at it,

Is it just the right size?

Is your field kind of really big out and extended around that heart center?

Or is it almost too small and tight around you in a protective energy?

So when you look at the field around your heart,

Does it look balanced?

Maybe it's too excessively open or a little bit closed and contracted.

Let's get a sense of that.

And you don't have to change anything yet.

You're almost like just taking inventory.

So usually when we feel loneliness and or isolation,

There's some pain that comes with it.

And if you were to look at your heart and the field around your heart,

Almost like it's the sun at the center of a solar system,

You might see little red dots or areas of energy where there's some pain either on your heart or around your heart in the field around it.

These little areas of pain,

They might have been created by memories and experiences of feeling alone,

Of being isolated,

Of thinking you're not good enough to have the people you love around you or to find the people you want to give and receive love with,

Share in that experience.

So as you look around your heart center,

You might see a few of these spots.

And very intuitively,

Without intellectualizing it or trying,

Just like if you were to look up at the stars and then just choose one,

Just allow one of these spots to arise.

And if you have a hard time seeing,

Then maybe you just kind of intuitively feel all of this and that's okay.

So just choose one of these little red spots around your heart that's related to some pain,

Resistance,

Discomfort around isolation.

And then bring it a little bit up into the forefront so you can look at it closer.

And just ask it,

Where did you arise from?

You might see a memory,

Some kind of experience that made you feel lonely or a belief.

It might be somebody else's pain that you kind of took on and absorbed.

It might be fear or anxiety that this isolation or loneliness won't end.

So just inspect this energy for a moment.

You might notice as you look at it,

If your energy gets heavier or lower,

You start matching this energy.

Maybe just have a light smile on the inside.

Realize that the worst has probably already happened.

Now you're learning and healing.

You're coming out the other side,

But to do that,

You need to understand your own feelings and experience.

So what is this area of energy and pain here to teach you?

What is it wanting to show you that you've been in resistance to?

Maybe you've been lonely and so you settle for relationships that don't really serve you or fulfill you.

Or you give up when you should keep going or you let negativity take you for a ride and you start to blame people or yourself.

As you recognize this energy,

It might just start to shift.

Maybe some of it starts to melt off of your heart.

Bring some compassion to it,

Some understanding.

Because look,

Now you're not alone.

There's you and there's this energy.

There's a relationship happening here.

This might seem like a small relationship,

But it's a door that leads to a really big one.

As you look at this,

It's almost like a keyhole.

When you look through it,

You can see the entire galaxy on the other side.

Maybe it's just been a little bit of a boulder on your path.

There's a possibility that it's made you feel stuck.

I'm inviting you as you look at this to just allow it to teach you.

You're not manipulating it.

You're just allowing it to teach you.

If you suffer from invalidation,

Let it teach you.

If it's resistance,

Let it teach you.

If it's confusion,

Let the confusion teach you.

If you're fast with one of these,

If it dissipates and just heals,

Then maybe you pick another one.

There's more than one for you to look at today or you just work with one.

I know for me in my own experience,

When I would sit with loneliness and look at it and I would look at the deeper layers of it,

Sometimes I would realize that there was invalidation under the loneliness,

That I wasn't good enough to have other people in my life.

What is it for you?

Maybe there's an old belief there.

To be successful,

You have to be independent.

Sometimes this energy starts to shift,

As it will if you're truly being honest with it.

All energy shifts when we're honest with it and it stays stuck and stubborn when we're not.

If you're hitting a wall or hitting resistance or you're like,

David,

I'm not sure if anything is changing here,

You might be hitting a layer of pain.

I want you to celebrate that.

That's progress.

Recognizing pain is progress.

Embracing it is even more progress.

And then understanding it and letting it teach you is,

Whoa,

You're at a whole nother level of progress.

Most people in the world,

They experience pain and they go into resistance to it and then they blame others or they blame themselves.

And that's where the path ends.

But not for you.

You realize that's the beginning of the path.

Let that resistance start to drain off of you.

Life is not here to punish you.

It's trying to teach you something.

So as this energy does start to shift,

I want you to notice the field around your heart.

It comes into a really balanced,

Healthy place.

So if it's been too big and open with no boundaries,

Maybe it comes in a little bit.

If it's been really tight and protective,

If it's created a shell around your heart,

Perhaps it opens.

You know,

If you look at the atmosphere of the earth,

It doesn't look like a hard,

Solid boundary.

It does stop comets and asteroids from coming in.

They burn up in the atmosphere,

But it's not an impossible boundary.

It's a healthy one.

It lets the light in and it keeps the things that would harm us out.

If you've been struggling with the duality of either let everyone in or no one,

Then you should start to look at that a little bit closer and recognize that's just some pain.

If there's this belief that every time I let someone in,

I get hurt,

So I'm going to let no one in.

Good.

You've hit a layer of pain.

Let it start to process out.

It's just emotion coming out.

And then there's a deeper peace as this happens.

There's an even deeper spiritual layer to all of this.

Life wants you to recognize that you are connected to everything.

So on a personal level,

Yes,

We need boundaries and we need to experience human love.

And then on a spiritual level,

We recognize that we are connected to everything.

Beyond the form of the trees and the rocks and the people and the planets,

There's this invisible essence that is in everything.

Maybe we just call it life or energy.

And it's in you.

It's equally in you.

As you recognize that,

It starts to help dissipate some of the resistance and some of the pain.

Only someone who lives completely in their mind and in their intellect can't recognize this.

Every animal sees and feels it.

Every tree,

Every plant,

Every rock.

Everything in existence knows this,

That there's an underlying awareness that permeates all of existence.

And when we get lost in our own heads,

We lose that connection or we seemingly lose it,

But it's always here.

At the deepest level of truth,

There is no such thing as isolation or loneliness.

It's impossible to be disconnected from the whole.

You might even just experience it by recognizing the space in the room that you're in.

Recognizing the energy of the walls,

Of the chair,

Of the objects in your room,

Of the particles vibrating inside you that make up the molecules and the cells and the organs and the tissue,

Everything your body is made of.

And you also recognize there's this beautiful paradox in life,

That you are an individual living a human experience,

Sometimes feeling loneliness and isolation,

And simultaneously you are connected with everything that exists.

So notice that deeper part of the heart center that is connected to everything.

This is an ability of the heart,

Just like your eyes can see,

Your heart can feel connection.

This is an ability of the heart.

Open that ability up,

Unleash it.

It has no bounds.

That's why even in the midst of incredible pain and suffering in the world,

All of the great saints,

Sages,

Masters,

They're still at peace.

They still have compassion because they can see that deep underlying reality.

The heart can also feel and experience purpose and meaning.

Just like your ears can hear sound,

The heart can feel and experience meaning.

To someone who just lives in their head,

Life has no meaning.

Everything is mechanical.

But there's a deep wisdom in the heart that knows better.

Everyone here in this meditation,

In this room,

Is connected.

And we're all connected to the rest of the human species,

Which is connected to the planet,

To our sun and our solar system,

And our galaxy,

And our universe,

And beyond.

Realize that you are whole,

Completely whole in and of yourself.

And your wholeness is a reflection of the greater wholeness.

On one level,

We're all parts looking to be whole.

On another level,

We're all whole,

Connecting to a greater wholeness.

And it's OK that that paradox exists.

So if there's any pain left on your heart,

Just allow it to drain off as you accept this shift in energy.

It's been here the whole time.

It's been here since you were born and before.

It'll be here after you die.

It's not dependent on any external form or belief.

Whether you believe in wholeness and connection or you don't makes no difference.

It would be like saying,

I believe in silence or I don't believe in silence.

It has no effect on silence.

And then just let your heart develop and take up as much room as it needs to.

Feel it just rise to its potential if it's been a little bit small and hiding from the world in some way.

Afraid or waiting.

Just let it open up.

Feel the center of your chest open up.

Let yourself be open to life,

To connection,

To love,

To giving and receiving it.

Life is ultimately about giving and receiving love.

Open up to that space.

Who knows how it will unfold.

This is the core of your power as a spiritual being.

The ability to give and receive love.

You could be the smartest person on the planet,

But without this you have nothing.

And if you've been looking at something on the screen of your minds you could just bring it back into you.

Take a deep breath in and a soft sigh out.

Recognize there's an intelligence in your heart that guides you.

And sometimes you forget because your mind gets noisy and that's okay.

And if you feel loneliness it's an opportunity and a wake up call to look a little bit deeper.

So when the feeling arises again you remember,

Oh there's some energy here I have to work through.

It's not punishment.

There's just some energy I have to work through.

Great opportunity.

And as you work through it you deepen into your connection with life.

Good job.

When you're ready you can slowly stretch and open your eyes.

Take a moment and see if you feel any different.

Great job everyone.

I first of all thank you for sitting with me and I remember some years ago when I first started teaching meditation online I was feeling lonely and I created a meditation on loneliness.

I thought oh let me work through this by teaching about it which I think is a good way to work through things.

And I remember putting the meditation online and forgetting about it and then one day getting a message from somebody saying hey I just want to let you know I was going to commit suicide and then I listened to your loneliness meditation and I changed my mind.

I got through the energy so I just wanted to thank you.

And I remember thinking wow that's incredible.

If I had sat in my loneliness and did nothing and just felt like a victim you know that person who knows what would have happened to them.

And I think we don't realize the impact that we have when we open our hearts up and share ourselves with the world.

And your loneliness isn't just about you because there are people in the world that are waiting to experience the love that you have and the energy that you have to share.

So don't be selfish with your loneliness.

That's what it wants.

That's what the negativity wants.

Right?

It wants to just curl up feel like a victim and just never get out of bed.

This is the real I think trick about meditation and shifting your energy is every time you feel something negative whatever form it takes it could take a thousand different forms.

One form is you just start judging other people.

Another form is you invalidate someone else or yourself.

Another form is loneliness.

Any time you experience some form of negativity if you could train yourself to go oh opportunity time there's some energy arising that I get to deal with I get to look at and work through and it's going to teach me.

If you can approach it that way all the time so much of your life is going to open up and miracles are going to rain down when you get through that energy.

So know that loneliness is temporary just like every other energy and that you're working through it and you're doing great.

And you know what if you don't feel lonely or isolated there's a few billion people out there that do right now.

So maybe your job is to reach out and to help them.

Okay.

We all have a part to play.

I wish you all the best.

Thank you so so much for being with me.

Reviews

Thank you I needed that. I've been escaping into drinking to deal with loneliness

Thank you, I feel a connection to all who are reading this. Thank you for being here with me (in spirit) and completing this meditation together. I feel less alone knowing we are in this loneliness thing together.

I’ve been grieving for over a year for my husband, and my sister and David’s meditations on loneliness have really helped me . Insight Timer has introduced me to some wonderful teachers and I’m very grateful. But, David might be the best. Thank you

Exactly what my heart needed today. Thank you, David.

A-mazing. I have been feeling lonely since my mum passed away 7 weeks ago. This meditation has helped me see beyond the grief and delve deeper into why I feel so blocked and paralysed. I feel that this meditation has given me tools to help me move forward.

That was perfect and very eye opening. I thought I was lonely but I was just in pain and pain can heal. Thank you so much.

The contraction of my heart has been suffocating lately. Sitting for 30 min with this meditation brought a little room and light in. Today, a little is enough. Thank you

Wow! Many thanks for your lovely, positive, warm and calm teaching - it led me to many helpful insights!

Thank you so much for this meditation. I'm gpi g through a period of lonliness and I have played this several times and it has helped me each time. Thank you.

Absolutely lovely meditation. Thank you! I will revisit this often.

Thank you.

Felt a profound shift in energies and got in touch with something meaningful, that I haven’t before. Will continue this work🌻

The bell scare me a bunch, it’s was so loud, but the meditation was so very good and the message so clear 🔥 thank you for this 💙
Namaste 🙏

Wow. Helped me a lot, will surely come back to this. Thank you David.

Thank you, I felt the shift from head to heart. To everyone else listening to this meditation or feeling lonely. How wonderful! It’s an opportunity to go deeper and grow ❤️

Thank you for this. I didn’t realize I was feeling lonely, but when I saw the meditation, it seemed to call to me. I realized I was holding some hurt that needed to be understood. Thank you.

Thank you, I needed you and your talk this morning🙏🏻

I loved this meditation, very lovely and so easy to work through.

I always love your meditations and your voice. So soothing and peaceful. Thank you!

Thank you so much for this wisdom. It was exactly what I needed. Blessings!

Definitely needed right now in my life, thank you for this offering 🙏🏽❤️