How to Deal With Loneliness

Whether in a crowd of people or in a room by yourself, you may at times experience loneliness. However, a number of factors can contribute to feelings of loneliness, some of which you have control over and others over which you are powerless. When you get in that space, try a few of these tips to deal with loneliness.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

1. Delve into the feelings and let them have their day. Find your favorite blues album or really sad love songs and put them on. Turn the volume up high and let yourself cry. Get into it and the feelings will have a chance to dissipate on their own, instead of trying to ignore them or push them down.

2. Meditate to clear your mind of all feelings, both good and bad. Get in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Use some new age music or background sounds of nature to set the mood. Pick a mantra, such as ohm, or other soothing sound and repeat over and over until you realize that you have stopped thinking.

3. Stay with this empty moment as long as you can. If a though intrudes, just let it fly by and watch it from afar. When you are relaxed, come back to reality and you will feel stronger and more accepting of your situation.

4. Ride the storm and wait for the feelings to pass. Time changes all feelings. It may take a day or a week or a month, but keep telling yourself that this too shall pass. Look back at other times in your life when you were feeling really bad. It left eventually, so this moment will too.

5. Imagine that your loneliness has substance. Take a pillow and beat it to death. Or fill a bathtub and drown it. Jump on it, slap it and yell as loud as you can for it to get the heck away from you.

Tips & Warnings

• Talking to a trusted friend can sometimes help.

• Going out with other people may not help your feelings at all.

• If too much time passes, talk to a professional.

• If you must escape for periods, then turn to movies or books instead of food or drugs or other destructive escaping tools.