From the author: - Where are the people? – the Little Prince finally spoke again. “It’s still lonely in the desert...” “It’s also lonely among people,” the snake noted. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Little Prince Do you know the feeling when pain appears, corroding melancholy, the need for intimacy and warm relationships, when there is no one to share joy and sorrow with or you are not heard? This feeling is called loneliness and sometimes it is impossible to hide from it. There are also completely different sensations when a person is alone, but there is no this heart-aching feeling, rather it is the taste of freedom, self-sufficiency and solitude, more on that in another article. In this one I will focus specifically on the seemingly unbearable experience of loneliness. There are several types or reasons for the occurrence of such difficult feelings, but they are tolerated almost equally: 1) Loneliness, when there are no loved ones nearby. Either they are far away or there is no contact with them. Those. this feeling is justified by the fact that there is no contact with loved ones for any reason, and the person is alone with problems, experiences, without friends, family and help. 2) Loneliness in couple relationships. That is, either there is no partner, or there is no love and tenderness with him, in general there is no happiness in his personal life, although there are close people around (relatives, friends). 3) Existential loneliness, which occurs regardless of the presence or absence of loved ones. This is the feeling that a person is alone with his life, alone with pain, and no matter how others want to help share difficult moments, only he is destined to feel it, overcome it, survive it. When questions of life and death, trust in the world, finding yourself, freedom arise. This is described by I. Yalom as existential isolation, as “an abyss between oneself and others, across which there are no bridges.” There are many ways written on the Internet to “fight loneliness”, how to find new friends, work and hobbies, a loved one, and this is important to do, because... Man is a social being and establishing contacts and making friends with the world is necessary, important and pleasant. I want to dwell on the moment when a person, at a certain point in life, suddenly becomes captivated by this suffocating feeling, which there is no one to tell about, which suddenly hits you in the middle of a party or waking up in the middle of the night, even if your beloved little noses are snoring in the next room. When fear, trembling, misunderstanding appears, the desire to throw off this feeling and not feel it again, throw it away like a blanket, wrap yourself in a hug, but loneliness does not let go. At this difficult moment, no matter what the reason is or which of the described types of loneliness, the feelings prevail equally strongly. It is during such periods that it will be useful to simply admit to yourself, to realize that you are lonely now. Don’t run away, don’t talk yourself into it, stay in this state, immerse yourself in it even more. I understand that it sounds absurd, because it hurts. Give yourself the mindset that you will not stay in this state for long, maybe a minute or an hour. Breathe, let the tears flow, relax, do not squeeze your body, turn your entire inner gaze into yourself, feel every piece of your body. Find that very point of pain, direct your attention to it, as if breathing warm and gentle light on it. Maybe questions or answers will appear in your head, just stay in this state, surrender to the pain and loneliness. They will not eat you up in these minutes, you will remain alive and even become more whole, because you will accept the feelings and allow them to pour out. You can talk to yourself as if you were a small child, stroke yourself, maybe on the contrary you will have a desire to do something, just be aware and accept what is happening inside. After a few minutes in this state, you may feel tired, or vice versa, relief. You will understand that you survived this melancholy and the pain, but did not collapse or break, you allowed them to be and were not afraid. Maybe loneliness will “tell” you something important, listen to yourself. Do not immerse yourself in this state on purpose or often, especially if you have a tendency.