Coming Home To Yourself When You Feel Alone

When you feel alone, the natural impulse may be to make the feeling go away - to distract yourself, reach for your phone, or find someone who can make you feel better. This meditation offers another possibility: gently turning toward yourself. Rather than trying to fix loneliness, you'll be guided to become present with your body, your breath, and whatever you're experiencing in this moment. You don't have to change anything or make yourself feel differently.
Sometimes the first step toward connection is simply learning to stay with yourself. Let this be a quiet place to pause, soften, and remember that you don't have to abandon yourself when you're feeling alone.

Transcript

It's Ed Fox, And welcome. To this meditation. On coming home to yourself. Especially when you feel alone. There are so many reasons in this world why we can feel alone. We can feel alone when people don't pay attention to us, When they don't recognize us. When we can feel that they're not present. Or when they do something to us that we don't like. It could be our friends, It could be our family, It could be. . . Strangers. It hurts either way. In this meditation, I'm going to lead you into. . . A practice of connecting with your deep self. That part of you. That can never leave you. That part of you that will always be there. If you follow the steps of this meditation. And in that way, You can feel rest assured that even if the world is going bonkers. You can still feel connected. Are you ready? Great. So let's begin. I'd like you to gently close your eyes. Make sure your feet are on the floor. You're supported. And just take a deep breath. Yes. One more deep breath, Please. Great. Feel how wonderful. It is to breathe. Fill the lungs with air. And now. Just check it with your body. How's your shoulders feeling? Are they tight? Let's just move them around. And let them go, Yeah. Wiggle our fingers and toes if we want to. Check in with your jaw. Is it tight? Just let it drop. Yeah. Notice how much better that feels. Now I want you to put your attention on your breath. Which means just notice. What your body is doing when you breathe. Feel the air coming in through your nostrils, Filling your lungs. Or filling your diaphragm. Without any control, Just feel how you just naturally Let go. The air. And you let it go. Then, Just naturally you begin to take in that next breath. I want to give you a few moments just to become aware. Of your breath. Don't mind if thoughts come in. Just say thank you for coming in thoughts, But put your attention back on your breath. And now, Put your attention on that inner quiet. That is deep within you. You may notice it as a silence between your thoughts. Or a moment or two. When you're not thinking. Again, You make it lost in thought. But when you remember that you're not alone. Putting your attention on your quietness. Bring it back to the quietness. Let your body go. Beautiful. Notice how. You don't know where your hands or feet are. Your attention is not on your body. And it's not on the thoughts. It's on a gentle quietness. It's on a spaciousness within you. Which is the beginnings of experiencing your essential nature. Notice how you're feeling right now. Expanded. Quiet. Peaceful. These are all attributes of your essential nature. You may even go into this quietness. And begin to realize that there is awareness there. A pure awareness. That's watching you. Witnessing whatever you do. Sometimes it feels like you're just, Who you are is just above and behind your head, Sort of watching. This is a very strong experience of the essential self. But just feeling the awareness of silence. Beautiful connection. Check your body. See how your body feels. Feel the calm. Even if it's just a little bit. Notice that calm is there. Good. Now, Once again, Allow yourself to get lost. Lost in that quiet silence within you. I want you to remember. A moment in your past. It could have been yesterday or it could have been last week. Or a year ago. When you felt joyous. And you felt happy. Yes. And if you can't remember a moment. Why don't you just sit there? And imagine. What happiness feels like. Because even as a young child, There's happy memories there. And took her head. Imagine. Happiness and joy. Can you feel it coming in? Yeah. Joy. Is an attribute. Of your essential nature. And your essential nature. Is always expressing itself. Every thought, Every action. Has the foundation of your essential nature's desire for joy. So just wishing for joy right now in this quiet space, You notice that it comes. Now allow it to come. Don't be afraid of joy. Some people can be afraid of joy because they have not experienced it for so long. Allow the joy to come in. Because experiencing joy from within. Experiencing joy, That is not. Coming to you from the outside. Is experiencing. This true nature of your essential self. Hmm. Imagine. The biggest smile on your face. What does it feel like? Yes. And you should know. That this joy is who you are. This joy. Is a result of you connecting with yourself. Deep within you. There's unbounded joy. Energy. And intelligence. We wake up every day wanting to have more. Of everything that brings us joy. Because we want to experience the joy in the outward world as well as the inward world. But sometimes the outward world disappoints us. And it's them. That we feel it the most cutting. The most. Hurtful. When we can't reach our inner joy. When that outer joy or we could say that outer neglect of joy. Comes in and we think we don't have it. And this meditation is proving to you. That it's there. It's there whenever you want it. Whenever you call it, Whenever you sit down and close your eyes. And go into a deep meditation. A deep yoga practice. A deep kirtan. Yoga nidra. When you go in deep. And transcend your thoughts. There's your joy waiting for you. And as you do this meditation more and more, You begin to realize. Ed is not lying to me. There is a deep joy within me. And when I reach it. And experience it. It becomes permanent in my consciousness more and more, Little by little. So that when the world disappoints. It may hurt. It may be disappointing. But I don't suffer. You're not avoiding the world. Enduring it. You are experiencing it. But there is a big difference. Between experiencing the disappointments of the world without your self-connection. And the one with. So right now, Just. . . Let yourself go within. I'm going to give you a few moments to go in and feel the joy within you. Be mindful that a thought coming in that says you can't or you won't or you're not good enough or you don't deserve. Tell that thought to sit outside the door. Because that's the thoughts. That when you believe it. You never open the door to your inner joy, So let those thoughts wait outside. And let's experience our inner nature right now for a few moments. So now as we come back out, Come back into your body. Don't open your eyes right away. Move your fingers, Your toes. Rub your hands together and put them over your eyes. And at the last thing, Once you know and feel you're in your body, Back in your chair, You can open your eyes. And don't forget to tell yourself. I am joy. I am connected to myself. And as you get off your chair, Maybe you're going to go into the room and have dinner. With a friend. A partner. Your family. Bring that joy with you. And share it. Because sharing your joy is so pleasurable. Isn't it? Wonderful. Thank you for joining me in this meditation. And just know that I have many meditations and talks about joy. The essential nature. And connection. Because that's what we just did. We connected. To a value that's within you that will never die. So check out my other. . . Audios and videos. And I'll see you next time. Have a wonderful day.