Sometimes I wonder if we freak out at the idea of someone knowing who we are really. And so we kind of isolate ourselves. Maybe we intentionally create structures to avoid interacting with people in anyway but superficially.
When I was living in Africa, I could get very frustrated sometimes when people never seemed to leave me alone, coming to my door all the time or even sitting with me when I had a mere stomach-ache when all I wanted was to be alone. There, in Africa, people just seemed to know and accept that we are not meant to be alone. And no one should be left in that state of loneliness.
Returning back to our big, growing, changing city where we hide behind our books and music on the bus or c-train, avoid making eye contact with people on the street, you begin to be suspicious of everyone and boy, if we were isolated before, throw in suspicion and now we are even more isolated from each other.
It's so weird, these two worlds I've traveled between on several occasions. This is my culture, where I understand how to act and behave and think, but I feel less and less at home here and often more lonely.
And now I have a headache and I wish someone would come sit with me until I felt better...
At one point in my life, I was very lonely, like clinically depressed lonely. It wasn't until I found a spiritual connection to God that things really turned around for me.
What I love about intimacy with God is that I experience it in two ways - sometimes it's a secret experience on the inside and sometimes it comes through someone on the outside, touching me with God's love.
When I was 15 or 16 years old, I remember feeling an almost physical sense of loneliness. It was overwhelming. I was in a phase of spiritual exploration, and I remember quite literally crying out to God, asking Him to bring me friendship and connection.
I look back on this time in my life frequently as a point of empathy for those suffering with loneliness now, and with gratitude for the connection, friendship and love I found in the years following.
I suppose, given this experience, that I shouldn't be surprised by how many people in this week's video made reference to a spiritual dimension in loneliness. But I was surprised by this response as I interviewed people.
hmmm, I think it's super interesting that so many people seemed to at least allude to lonely people having the onus on them (us) to de-lonelyify themselves. Just interesting. That's all.
6 comments:
Here are the questions from the end of this episode (but please don't limit your discussion to these questions):
How much of an issue is loneliness for you?
Is loneliness just a psycho-social issue or are there other dimensions?
How can people escape loneliness' grip?
Sometimes I wonder if we freak out at the idea of someone knowing who we are really. And so we kind of isolate ourselves. Maybe we intentionally create structures to avoid interacting with people in anyway but superficially.
When I was living in Africa, I could get very frustrated sometimes when people never seemed to leave me alone, coming to my door all the time or even sitting with me when I had a mere stomach-ache when all I wanted was to be alone. There, in Africa, people just seemed to know and accept that we are not meant to be alone. And no one should be left in that state of loneliness.
Returning back to our big, growing, changing city where we hide behind our books and music on the bus or c-train, avoid making eye contact with people on the street, you begin to be suspicious of everyone and boy, if we were isolated before, throw in suspicion and now we are even more isolated from each other.
It's so weird, these two worlds I've traveled between on several occasions. This is my culture, where I understand how to act and behave and think, but I feel less and less at home here and often more lonely.
And now I have a headache and I wish someone would come sit with me until I felt better...
At one point in my life, I was very lonely, like clinically depressed lonely. It wasn't until I found a spiritual connection to God that things really turned around for me.
What I love about intimacy with God is that I experience it in two ways - sometimes it's a secret experience on the inside and sometimes it comes through someone on the outside, touching me with God's love.
When I was 15 or 16 years old, I remember feeling an almost physical sense of loneliness. It was overwhelming. I was in a phase of spiritual exploration, and I remember quite literally crying out to God, asking Him to bring me friendship and connection.
I look back on this time in my life frequently as a point of empathy for those suffering with loneliness now, and with gratitude for the connection, friendship and love I found in the years following.
I suppose, given this experience, that I shouldn't be surprised by how many people in this week's video made reference to a spiritual dimension in loneliness. But I was surprised by this response as I interviewed people.
hmmm, I think it's super interesting that so many people seemed to at least allude to lonely people having the onus on them (us) to de-lonelyify themselves. Just interesting. That's all.
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