Toronto/Calgary/Kamloops
Going
West with Others
Today, I
traveled with four other spiritual leaders by plane. We were enroute to our
Canadian leaders’ meeting, to be held in Venables Valley, British Columbia. It
was a prolonged travel, which included missing a connecting flight. It was too
bad. However, we had each other, sparing the five of us from stress. I did take
the time for a few minutes to read an article from the West Jet Flight magazine,
about the topic of ‘loneliness’. I’ll share some of the info.
Dr. Ami
Pokach, a clinical psychologist at York University in Toronto, shares his advice
and tips on the factors behind the rise of loneliness.
“One is our
culture. In Western culture, independence is the most important thing. And actually,
as humans, we are wired to need other people. Two is technology. Facebook helps
some people deal with loneliness, [but for] many, it intensifies loneliness
because they see the beautiful pictures people post and they say, ‘Look at my
life. I fall short.’”
“Loneliness
is known to cause people to view themselves negatively. It affects our spirit
and our health. Stress—and loneliness causes stress—is known to cause sleep
disturbances and to elevate heart rate, blood pressure and cortisol levels
creating a state of emergency in the body.”
“People who
are lonely may look at [travelling] as an opportunity to change their behaviours.
They may try things they [wouldn’t] try [at home], like seeking places where
people congregate, smiling at people, engaging in a conversation with the
people they meet and making new friends.”
The excerpts
are good. Pokach said something further on in the article that I liked, about
aloneness or being able to be alone without experiencing loneliness. https://www.westjetmagazine.com/story/article/loneliness
May the
Source be with you!
2 km
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