There's a difference between being alone and being lonely.
Most of us are in self-isolation these days.
Being alone is a state of being,
Whereas being lonely is an emotional response.
Think about it.
We spend most of our lives alone.
Of course there's always connections with people,
But you are most of the time in between your ears,
Processing your life.
Being lonely,
Being connected,
They're both emotional responses.
They're both out there at any given point in time.
The question is,
What are you focusing more attention on?
The loneliness or the connectedness?
So here's three things that you can do to acknowledge,
Respect more that ability of being alone and manage better the emotional response of loneliness.
The first is be aware of the difference.
Be aware of what it means for you to be alone and what it means for you to be lonely.
What happens with your thoughts,
Emotions,
Sensation when you're reflecting upon that?
Number two,
Connect more with yourself.
Connect more with what drives you,
What gives you purpose,
Your passion.
Since we're so self-isolating ourselves from others,
It's important to find,
Make,
And give yourself time to connect with yourself.
Draw,
Write,
Type,
Pursue a passion,
Develop a hobby,
Do things that spark,
That spark that inner fire that you have,
That all of us have.
And the third,
And this pandemic has shown how connected we really are.
That even though you're alone,
You're still so connected.
How this little thing can make its way around the world.
So connect with others.
Connect with the people that are in your environment that you are maybe isolated with.
Do games,
Activities,
Deep conversations,
Techniques,
And practices together to build those connections even greater.
For example,
Eye contact,
Massages,
You know,
Building blocks,
Legos,
Have fun.
But connect also via technology to loved ones,
To friends and colleagues.
If you don't have any software that allows you to connect via video cameras,
Then download it.
There's a lot of free stuff out there.
You can also,
You know,
Type and write and do other things that connect you with other people.
If that's not a thing you like to do,
Connect more with nature.
Go outside,
Open the window.
If you can't go outside,
See if you can manage to spend some quality time with a pet or even with a plant,
Right?
Something that has more life to it.
Okay?
Connect with yourself,
Most importantly,
Right?
Connect with that concept of loneliness and being alone and connect with others as much as you can.
Thank you so much.
Stay connected.
