Like anxiety, loneliness is top of the list of social issues of our times.

Loneliness is an emotional response to a perceived or actual isolation. It is often a very painful feeling to have a desire for and yet an absence of connection at the same time.

Many experience loneliness as a chronic dulling of existence, gnawing away gradually with many subtle and not so subtle factors contributing to a sense of feeling lonely or at times pushing up acute feelings of loss and invisibility. Sometimes loneliness can be self imposed, and some of it can arise from a life event over which you had no control: death of a loved one, betrayal, alienation, changes in social and/or economic status, illness, cultural dislocation, language barriers, emigration or migration, disability, loss of family, friends and community.

The impact of loneliness on health and well-being can be devastating. The COVID pandemic exposed our vulnerabilities to loneliness yet the underlying trend was already there. Post pandemic levels of loneliness only keeps rising which means there's something deeper going on.

More people for example now live alone than ever before so there's that. But there's also a nagging loneliness people experience underneath the appearance of being seen and not seen at the same time.

Some people feel lonely generationally, some within a marriage, a group, at work, at school, or in a family. And others have found their economic situation, their life choices, addictions, their politics or religious beliefs or their work demands have caused distancing from those that mean the most to them hiding a pain of loneliness they regret and feel powerless to change.

Running in parallel to this is a disturbing trend of a normalization of an emotionally-avoidant "cancel culture" that too often masquerades as detachment. It's a dysfunctionally but socially accepted way to cope for a lack of emotional and social skills and since its pervasive in today's culture people feel resigned to "letting go" versus "letting in". To navigate beyond avoidance and bridge differences to authentically connect seems too overwhelming.

None of this is healthy. Humans are hard-wired for connection. Without it we loose what makes us human in the first place.

The good news is emotional intelligence and the skills and practices of authenticity, nourishing sustainable healthy connection can be learned and with it the possibilities of co-creating conscious loving relationships.

Reach out for a complimentary introductory session to learn more.