Transform Loneliness into Solitude : Experience the Universe

The wedding festivities were  colorful and boisterous, with throngs of people filling up the banquet hall. Sue danced and danced till the wee hours of the morning. She was the last one to leave the party. Sue was trying to delay the inevitable – she hated being alone!

Learning to be with yourself, is an art. It can become overwhelming for all of us. It’s a deep-rooted fear. We feel incomplete within ourselves and constantly cater to this “need” to be fulfilled by other people. Loneliness is suffered by people in marriages, relationships, families and extremely successful careers. Even though the external world offers us Happiness, we still feel our lives “lack” something. Thus, the popular phrase “ feeling alone in a crowd”.

Spiritual knowledge helps us to realize that we are “complete beings”, we don’t need anyone to make us feel happy or Complete. Once we understand that we are “Complete Beings”, we can use few tools to transform our loneliness into “Solitude”. This does not mean that we become social outcasts and shun people. On the contrary we must fully engage with people, whenever we are in company.

How do we work this magic to transform our feeling of loneliness to solitude?

1. We need to increase our awareness. Whenever we are in company, we should not get attached to any “role” we play in life. Once we are alone, we focus on our consciousness, which is the ONLY source of our happiness.
2. It’s extremely important to stay rooted in our essence. Thus, we stay grounded and never lose the perspective of our “SELF”.
3. Take out time for “oneself” every day. Make this a daily habit. This helps us to make our mind silent; leads us to a path of discovering our latent talents. E.g. Talkative people expend all their energy in frivolous talking, leaving no energy for any other activity.
4. Pursue a hobby which is not dependent on people. Do it by yourself. This way your mind and body will be in complete Union with each other.
5. Solitude helps to quieten the mind. Once we made the mind silent, we can practice to be “In the Moment”. The loneliness will transform into a free flow of action filled with joy, as we are not looking for approval or disapproval.
6. Add simple activities in your daily routine; like listening to music, reading a book, a walk in the park, painting or creating an art piece etc. These help to increase our awareness and make us conscious of the inconspicuous details, which we may have ignored earlier.
7. Keep an intensity and alertness in your persona. This helps one to be “Present” and constantly be in the moment. It eliminates  excessive thinking of past or future thoughts which weigh us down.
8. Learn to “Intentionally” enjoy your own company! Seize this opportunity to explore the depths of your own being. Amongst people, we are always limiting ourselves with boundaries, inflicted by ourselves or other people.

To enjoy freedom, one needs a lot of strength. Once we tap into this wealth and knowledge that NO outside experience can make us Happy or satisfied, we expose ourselves to  an infinite world of countless possibilities with the Self.

“DO NOT FEEL LONELY, THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE IS INSIDE YOU” RUMI