Mindfulness Audios Download: Feeling Loneliness

Daily Mindfulness Practice: Free Audio Download

by Monica A. Frank, Ph.D.

The following is part of a series of audios to teach how to practice mindfulness. Developing your ability to focus on the present moment can reduce distress and improve well-being.

Feeling Loneliness

Index for Mindfulness Audios

Additional reading:

Some tips for using these audios:

Start with the Understanding Mindfulness audios to learn about mindfulness.
These short practice exercises are to help train your brain to be more mindful when engaged in daily activities.
The audio format is just for convenience to help learn the material. You can also read the transcript. When you practice, however, you should engage in the behavior mindfully without listening to the audio.
The best way to train your brain to be more mindful is to practice in short sessions throughout the day while engaged in your normal activities.
The descriptions are an artificial way to help you get started. Eventually, the practice of mindfulness is being aware of what is described without using an inner verbal description.
This exercise is to help you develop tolerance of emotions. The audio provides guidance for being mindfully present with loneliness.
However, the actual practice of mindfulness is to allow yourself to be fully aware of your experience when feeling lonely. Although trying to create the emotion of loneliness would not be mindful, it may be possible to create the conditions that might cause you to feel lonely.

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Transcript of Audio: Feeling Loneliness

Allow yourself to fully experience feeling loneliness. Instead of trying to get rid of the feeling by seeking out others, let yourself just experience the feeling of loneliness. Instead of distressing about the feeling or thinking about how awful it feels, just let yourself experience loneliness. Notice how you experience it. What exactly do you feel and where do you feel it? What types of sensations do you experience when feeling lonely? How would you describe this experience? For instance, if loneliness feels painful, how is that pain felt? Where is the pain felt? Or do you feel numbness or an emptiness? How are those sensations experienced? Or is it a sense of being overwhelmed, feeling afraid? Whatever it is that you experience with loneliness, allow yourself to just “be” with that sensation without judgment. If you have thoughts about needing to get rid of the feeling about loneliness, just refocus back to the actual sensation of loneliness. Let those sensations flow over you, notice them but don't try to judge or get rid of them. Let yourself “be” with the feeling of loneliness, no matter how you might experience it.