Embraced By Your Self: Cultivating Inner Support in the Face of Isolation & Loneliness
I have lived in my apartment building for over 10 years now and I still don’t know all my neighbors. My building only has eighteen units. People come and go — some faster than others. The idea of living among strangers in such a small building feels odd to me, but it’s a reality.
City living can be paradoxically lonely. We’re all too busy to attend to every person we encounter, with our heads down, earphones in, desperately trying to escape isolation.
Many people struggle to connect because of anxiety or depression, feeling abandoned and alone. They may have no family, no community, no networks on which to lean. How can they find support? Where can they seek refuge from the cold loneliness?
In Buddhist teachings there is a clear pathway to seek refuge from suffering in the three jewels: the Buddha (the divine within and without), the Dharma (spiritual teachings or life path) and the Sangha (community). For those who struggle to find community and have no particular spiritual path, there is always access to the divine.
What is the divine? I like to keep this concept loose and open to personal definition. The divine can be a god or spirit you believe in, or it can simply be that part of yourself (no matter how small it may seem) that you cherish: your creativity, your caring heart, your wise mind. It is that part of you which, when you are connected to it, the outside world and a sense of time seem to melt away.
There are many ways to connect and practice cultivating with your own personal divinity. Make art, sing, dance, play. See art, listen to music, watch others dance and play. Volunteer, help others, connect with nature and animals. Exercise and feel strength in your body. Exercise your heart through practices appreciation and gratitude. Meditate, connect with spirit. Clean your home, solve math problems, build something. Challenge yourself, explore, grow.
It’s important to remember these parts of yourself, and to cultivate them during challenging times of isolation. By cultivating this connection, those challenging moments will pass more quickly and easily.
If you are a queer person who would like to cultivate a connection to some inner support and guidance, join me next week for a free webinar: Meet Your Queer Spirit Guide. Tuesday, August 22nd @ 6 PM. More info and registration here.
Failure: The Other “F” Word
There is a common four-letter “F” word that is used a lot and I want to take away its power: FAIL. In our culture there is so much pressure put on us to succeed, that to fail has become the worst thing next to death. Failing has become a dirty secret that no one wants to admit, out of fear of being brandished with a scarlet F.
In a recent interview on Fresh Air, Terry Gross interviewed David Sedaris about his new book in which he discusses many things, including his relationship to addiction and the rise of his success. In discussing his career, Sedaris mentions that he’d dreamed of being the successful author he is today, but he also feared failure. He implied that his father expected him to fail, so it was scary for Sedaris to announce his dreams of fame because if they didn’t come to fruition, then his fathers’ expectations would have. Failure was a dark cloud waiting for him at the end of the road.
With clients, I hear failure mostly in regards to relationships or careers: I got divorced because my marriage was failing. / If this relationship ends, it means I’m a failure! I’ll never have a successful relationship. / I totally bombed my presentation today! Now my boss knows for sure I’m a failure.
What I hear in this these statements is harsh self judgement and criticism, which in turn is a form of dis-empowerment. When we have a harsh inner critic or we continually judge ourselves, wearing down our self-esteem, we are beating ourselves up from the inside out. This behavior only depletes our confidence and inner strength — they are not acts of self-compassion or self-love.
Yes, it’s important and helpful to have self discipline and motivation to help us strive to do better in our lives. But when we do it in a violent way that tears us down, that is not helpful.
What is helpful is to look at each situation and to treat ourselves with fierce compassion. Think about the way a favorite teacher may have helped you – firmly with care they point out your mistake and help you see where to make improvements, without criticizing or discouraging your efforts.
It is important to be mindful of all the ways we speak to ourselves. We can be our own teacher when we make mistakes – firm and caring. Mistakes, errors, and even failures are all learning opportunities. They allow us to see where we need to focus our attention for improvement. The opportunities for growth and improvement in our lives are endless. Take every failure as an chance for evolution, and don’t let the inner critic stop you in your tracks.
Why We Are Our Own Worst Critic: The Challenge of Self-Compassion
Do people ever say to you, “Don’t be so hard on yourself,” and your inner voice replies with something like, “But I don’t know how not to,” or “If I’m not, who will? I won’t get very far in life”?
One of my yoga teachers talks about the “Little Man” in our head who tells us how we’re not going to succeed. “You can’t balance on one leg for five seconds – you will fall! You’re not good enough for them – they’re out of your league! You have to do everything yourself – you’re a loser and no one is going to help you! You’re gonna miss that bus, then you’ll be late to work, and then you’ll lose your job!”
All of these messages come from that voice in your head & can really beat you down, causing stress, anxiety, depression, and self-hatred. The majority of the time we are our own worst critic.
But here is the secret: That voice is not really you! You may think it is you because it’s coming from inside of you and and it sounds like you; but it’s not a part of you. That voice and those messages are a part of someone or something else. They grew from a little seed (or 2 or 20 seeds) that you unknowingly swallowed along time ago.
From a psychological perspective this is called an introjection. An introjection is “the unconscious adoption of the ideas or attitudes of others.” These voices or messages in your head are just ideas from someone else you started to believe without question.
Not all introjections are negative or make us feel bad about ourselves, but it’s wise to be curious about all of our unconscious beliefs. Introjections can be ideas we picked up from our family or community about religion and spirituality, politics and money, sex and identity, race and culture. They can also be ideas about who we are – things that people told us about ourselves as we grew up.
So, if you grew up in a home where you received messages about being smart, attractive and successful, after a while you probably started to believe that was true because it’s what the authorities in your life told you. And if your school environment was supportive of your growth, encouraging you to think critically and told you you were smart, then you probably believed that too. But imagine if you had parents and teachers who were unhappy, stressed, angry or sick, and blamed your for their suffering. If this went on for a few years, then after a while you started to believe that it’s true. We internalize these messages about ourself and the Little Man is not so nice – he is our own worst critic, judge and tormentor.
Now the question becomes, How do I get rid of the Little Man? I believe that the Little Man is not something we want to get rid of, but something to change. That voice is something which can be helpful when it says things which help us feel good about ourselves. It takes time to change that voice and the messages. It’s takes consciousness, awareness and effort. Think of it as retraining your brain to think differently about yourself.
This is where self-compassion comes in to help soften the voice and soothe the Little Man, so he doesn’t get defensive when you tell him he’s wrong. That would be like arguing and yelling “Shut Up! You’re wrong!” That’s not going to help someone change their thinking. Self-compassion brings in a level of understanding your own suffering allows the mind to open to other possibilities. This takes time and discipline, just as with any new skill we learn.
One of the best tools for working on this is practicing a Loving-Kindness meditation (or Metta from the Buddhist tradition). This practice has two parts: sending loving-kindness to yourself and to others. For the practice of self compassion I suggest focusing just on yourself. The basic practice is to get into a mindful state and focus on this mantra:
May I be happy. May I be well. May I be safe. May I be peaceful and at ease.
I suggest starting with just five minutes a day, every day. Over time these messages will start to become more natural and automatic, and eventually the Little Man may adopt them into his arsenal.
There are many other ways to work with introjections and cultivating self-worth and self-esteem, such as working with a therapist. This is just one way to begin the work on your own.
~ May you be free from suffering ~
– Nick Venegoni, MFT
Turn and Face the Strange
When was the last time a stranger struck up a meaningful conversation with you in public? Well, it happened to me last night at 10:30PM on a crowded bus, rumbling through the rainy streets of San Francisco.
I was on my way home from my weekly dance practice in Berkeley, when the young man sitting in front of me turned around and hesitantly asked me, “What are you passionate about?” It took me a moment to register the experience, as I was listening to a podcast and that was the last question I expected to hear from a stranger at this time of night. Considering the question briefly, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Music,” I said, and he smiled knowingly. He shared that he, too, was a musician of sorts, “a poet.” We shared why and how we felt passionate about music for a bit.
A few stops later the passenger sitting next to me exited the bus, and the young man quickly got up and sat down right next to me. “Tell me about a profound experience you’ve had,” he says. Again, not expecting this second question, I took a moment to ponder.
Just about a year ago I was part of a ceremony celebrating the life of the recently deceased David Bowie. We chose his song “Changes” as the theme of this ritual, and my friend who gave the sermon encouraged us to, “Turn and face the strange” in both our lives and inside ourselves; to not hide in fear from that which we don’t understand or are unfamiliar with. Little did we know then, that 2016 would get more and more “strange” with each passing month. We faced many challenges and losses. The “strange” hiding in the shadows came out into the light and took reign center stage, unbridled and unafraid.
Back on the bus, I was impressed by my companions unbridled courage to turn and face this stranger—me—and ask such poignant questions. I appreciated the opportunity to reflect on the experiences in my life which have brought me joy.
“Profound experiences have usually been in a group of people where we are all in sync, in the flow of life and feeling connection to the divine in those moments.,” I finally reply. Again he smiled in agreement, and we exchanged more stories and ideas. We introduced each other, shook hands, and a moment later I exited the bus at my stop, as he sailed over the hill toward the dark ocean.
Thank you, young man, for reminding me that turning and facing the strange can bring me joy and a full heart.
~ Nick Venegoni, MFT
How do I transform myself?
Most days I walk to work through a small park with a patch of grass and a children’s playground. There are a few large pine trees there, shedding their needles and cones on the grass. One particular day on my walk I spotted a small immature, “closed” pine cone. I picked it up, enjoying how it looked and felt in my hand. I stuck it in my pocket and brought it to my office, where I put it on my altar with other objects which remind me of the natural world outside my window.
I returned to my office a couple days later to find the pine cone had begun to open, flaying out about half of its bottom scales, while the top half stayed closed. I was completely surprised to see this had happened off the tree, let alone in my office. I wondered if the rest would open on its own in the next few days. I waited, yet nothing occurred — it had stopped opening the rest of the way. So this left me wondering, how did this transformation occur and why did it stop?
This feels like one of life’s many mysteries: What is the process of initiating and completing transformation in ourselves and in our lives?
The reason most people seek therapy is because you want something to change. You want to change the way they feel about yourself, your relationships, your lives, etc. Those who are new to therapy often think that I have a secret formula to give them, and if they follow it they will transform their experience. The truth is, I don’t have any formula to give you. BUT I can support and guide you on your inner journey to find that formula. The truth is the secret formula lies within, and you have to find it.
That pine cone didn’t open on its own, but the potential for it to open and transform is part of its natural essence. Through the contributions of heat from the sun and water from the clouds above, it was supported to open. The cone didn’t last long enough on the tree to fully open and mature. I don’t know if it ever will fully open, but I accept that it has done what it could with the resources it had. When I look at the pine cone it helps me have patience for myself and those I support, that we will transform to the best of our ability when we are ready.
~ Nick Venegoni, MFT
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