• “Be a loner. That gives you time to wonder, to search for the truth. Have holy curiosity. Make your life worth living.”

    —Albert Einstein

  • Think of their loneliness on holidays or Sundays, when single people find themselves alone upon leaving Mass, whereas the others are going to spend the day with their family; think of the loneliness in the evenings, when once the day is done, they go back home to find…four walls!  Think of the loneliness of heart, even in the midst of friends, which is often made even more bitter at the sight of those who are not alone.

    The Noonday Devil: Acedia, the Unnamed Evil of Our Times
    Jean-Charles Nault

  • “It’s better this way. A little lonelier but better.”

    —Lisa Schroeder,The Day Before 

  • Some may say, “It’s up to us to determine our own value,” and I agree to some extent, but if we’re completely alone and never see anyone or connect with others, then there’s no way for us to affirm our worth.  I think that no matter how much of a lone wolf someone may appear to be, there’s some level of desire within them to have another person—anyone—turn their attention to them. Like dogs, we simply can’t bear absolute loneliness. Unless we can see ourselves reflected from another person’s perspective, it isn’t possible for us to really know our worth.

    Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism

  • When we are lonely we not only react more intensely to the negatives; we also experience less of a soothing uplift from the positives. Even when we succeed in eliciting nurturing support from a friend or a loved one, if we are feeling lonely we tend to perceive the exchange as less fulfilling than we had hoped it would be.

    Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection

  • While the objective in going to certain bars and dance clubs appears to be getting drunk and hooking up, how many of the people crowding in are actually driven by a deeper craving for human connection that they simply don’t know how to pursue?  That they might fail to find truly satisfying connection amid blaring noise and shouted conversation—often interrupted by someone’s cell phone—is not entirely surprising.  Unfortunately, their failure to find what they need then makes them all the more susceptible to the slightly out of control behavior that often begins in bars and dance clubs.

    Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection

  • “Introverts don’t get lonely if they don’t socialize with a lot of people, but we do get lonely if we don’t have intimate interactions on a regular basis.”

    —Sophia Dembling, The Introvert’s Way: Living a Quiet Life in a Noisy World

  • Whenever you feel lonely, do you ever stop to think that your heart is calling out to God, who is its creator? Or do you think God places that feeling to get you to talk with Him?

    whiskeyismylover

  • I began to realize it wasn’t those quiet moments alone in my apartment that I dreaded, it’s that moment on Monday morning when my coworker asks what I did over the weekend.

    There’s Nothing Wrong With Spending Time Alone on Weekends

  • “When I get lonely these days, I think: So BE lonely. Learn your way around loneliness. Make a map of it. Sit with it, for once in your life. Welcome to the human experience. But never again use another person’s body or emotions as a scratching post for your own unfulfilled yearnings.”

    — Elizabeth Gilbert