A Little Comfort

Hi Everyone,

I want to dedicate this post to Arlene, who sent me a beautiful email a couple weeks ago introducing herself to me, and a second email yesterday describing her loneliness. Thank you, dearest Arlene, for inspiring this post.

We all experience feelings of loneliness at times, sometimes mild, sometimes very intense. Sometimes it's very hard to shake when these feelings appear. Today, I'd like to share a few tips that I use to heal loneliness. I sincerely hope they help you, as well.

1. Create and / or cultivate fulfilling relationships. This is a key practice in combatting sadness and loneliness. Get out and meet people who have similar interests. You might consider doing this by attending a church, spiritual center, gardening club, support group or community center of some kind. What activities do you enjoy? Think about what really makes you happy when you're fully engaged in doing it. Pick a few of these, and look for places where you can meet and get to know others who also enjoy this or similar activities or lifestyles. If getting out is difficult for you for whatever reason, the internet is another way to make new friends from across the world. Start with Google groups, Yahoo! groups, and MSN groups to browse for communities of interest to you.
2. Pets! We aren't all animal lovers, but if you are, a pet could be a terrific medicine to help heal your lonely heart. If we show love to our animals, they will love us with passion and total joy. They don't judge us, they never condemn us, and they can almost always make us smile!
3. Music! Finally, music is one of my favorite ways to deal with feelings of loss, fear or loneliness. Music soothes the soul, opens the heart and can totally transform our entire outlook on life. It brings joy, hope and comfort.

Here's an example of music healing the heart. This is my absolute favorite song to play when I'm sad or lonely. It's called, "This is to Mother You", and is written and performed by Irish singer, Sinead O'Connor. This is a video of Sinead performing this song live in Rome. Please right click on the following link, and choose "open in a new window" from the options that appear.

Sinead O'Connor, "This is to Mother You", Live in Rome

The Lyrics:

This is to mother you
To comfort you and get you through
Through when your nights are lonely
Through when your dreams are only blue
This is to mother you

This is to be with you
To hold you and to kiss you too
For when you need me I will do
What your own mother didn't do
Which is to mother you

All the pain that you have known
All the violence in your soul
All the wrong things you have done
I will take from you when I come

All mistakes made in distress
All your unhappiness
I will take away with my kiss, yes
I will give you tenderness

For child I am so glad I've found you
Although my arms have always been around you
Sweet bird although you did not see me
I saw you

And I'm here to mother you
To comfort you and get you through
Through when your nights are lonely
Through when your dreams are only blue
This is to mother you

May you find the comfort, joy and love you so richly deserve. God bless, and I love you all!

Kim, the Spiritual Fulfillment Coach