All of us have felt lonely at times. For some of us, loneliness can linger and cast a long shadow over our day to day lives. A recent study showed that 13.8% of adults always felt lonely (McGinty et al., 2020). But we probably don’t need researchers to tell us that loneliness is part of the human condition, common to us all.
Can mindfulness help alleviate loneliness? A meta-review (analysis and summary) of 92 studies on mindfulness and loneliness showed that mindfulness practice can indeed lead to significant improvements in loneliness levels (Teoh & Lee, 2021).
It’s interesting that a seemingly solitary practice like mindfulness, where we sit in silence looking within, can help with alleviating feelings with loneliness. Why might that be?
Loneliness is a feeling of DISCONNECTION, a feeling of being disconnected from others. Many of us have felt lonely despite being in the company of others, perhaps even in the midst of large crowds. So, the problem is not necessarily being physically alone, but feeling alone and separate —feeling disconnected.
Mindfulness is a practice of CONNECTION. It’s a practice of connecting to our life in the most intimate and direct way possible. By waking up to this moment, we can see the truth of this moment, the truth of ourselves in this moment. And if we are willing, we can connect with this truth, completely own it.
When we are able to connect with ourselves and our lives in this way, then connecting with people and situations outside of ourselves is possible. If we cannot accept and present our authentic selves to the world, then how can we truly connect with others? If we only present a cosmetic version of ourselves for others to “connect” with, then our authentic selves remain shut away, hidden and disconnected.
So how does mindfulness alleviate loneliness? We shift from a state of disconnection to a state of connection by repeatedly making the effort to connect with our life, from moment to moment to moment.
REFERENCES:
McGinty E. E., Presskreischer R., Han H., Barry C. L. (2020). Psychological distress and loneliness reported by US adults in 2018 and April 2020. JAMA 324, 93–94.
Teoh, S. L., Letchumanan, V., & Lee, L. H. (2021). Can Mindfulness Help to Alleviate Loneliness? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in psychology, 12, 633319.
Mindfulness FAQ 