These past couple years, it could be argued that loneliness is like a second epidemic. And with the holidays coming up, feelings of isolation are intensified. But being alone does not necessarily cause loneliness. In this episode, Isabel and Kristen look at the line between loneliness and solitude from many angles. They look at how stress causes a sense of isolation and how even there can be a temporary phase in our meditation practice where we feel disconnected from people with whom we used to feel aligned. We invite you to listen and learn how to turn from feeling alone to “all One.” 1.15 loneliness and solitude are the same word in spanish (no difference)1.40 “Solitude is being on your own and loneliness is feeling on your own”. Kristen1.50 Loneliness while being with others2.05 “You can be in solitude but not feel alone.” Kristen3.20 “The higher your state of consciousness the greater capacity you have to feel not alone when you are alone. Your self is no longer bound but the wave of the self, your little individual body but your self goes everywhere, it is everywhere. How this is experiences is it doesn´t feel like you are alone.” Kristen4.06 “Our practice is a practice of solitude, in the sense that we do it alone. Even if we do it in a group setting or we have a group meditation, its a practice where we go within. And so nobody can go within with us, so we go within and we have our practice of solitude. But it opens the door to connection.” Isabel4.33 “To experience oneness and connection you have to be able to go inward by yourself and learn to be with yourself.” Kristen4.40 Cellphone have made this worse- stressed people need distraction6.06 Loneliness as a meditator – disconnection with the people you used to feel connection with 7.09 “Feeling lonely is when you no longer feel connected.” Isabel7.30 Swimming analogy – unity points are deeper as a meditator8.20 Feeling unity with people who you wouldn´t feel unity with 9.22 “It´s not just with other human beings that we connect.” Kristen9.38 Yogis find reciprocation with nature itself 10.00 Right of passage10.32 “There is a point (in our practice) where we feel disconnected from people we used to feel connected with just because we don´t share the same values that once upon a time we could´ve shared but once you kind of get through that it´s like the first little openings of growing in consciousness. But once you grow enough in consciousness you´ll see that you can now relate to everyone.” Isabel12.00 Cosmic Consciousness 13.00 Loneliness and CC blues 15.30 Artists in solitude to create art – moments of solitude create deep connection to create their art 17.00 Compassion to others – what you used to push away from can be a unity point18.00 “Stress makes us feel incredibly alone. Stress pushes us into the wave of self, into that isolated consciousness. And that´s part of what causes the fear. Fear is a sense o otherness, that things are other. That is how we have fear, that something is other than me and so I´m afraid of it. When our extended self extends to everything nothing is other so nothing makes you afraid.” Kristen19.20 Loneliness as the root as damage“If we can feel less alone which requires that othering to hurt someone, if we could feel less alone, which requires us to feel unity with everything else makes you incapable of hurting something.” Kristen20.10 Level of loneliness is self sabotage22.10 Dharma - Becoming a point of contact to uplift them 23.07 “Someone being in your event horizon will uplift them, you will become that point of contact, that dharma, you are living in dharma, living in that contact with that field for the benefit of everyone you come in contact with. The consciousness of creation evens itself out. We are able to uplift others and keep the world from feeling lonely.” Kristen24.00 Finding the lonely pockets “We are already not alone, it´s a feeling.” Kristen24.44 Going through tough things alone makes us feel lonely. Connecting through