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For the last five years, I have been following a woman I consider to be a Wounded Healer, mystic, visionary, and all around authentic Soul. Her name is Dr. Lissa Rankin and her blog posts, speeches and books have very much informed my own Hero's Journey. She is one of those rare individuals whose essence of KNOWINGNESS effortlessly imbues her work and shines through to those of us lucky enough to be aware of her prodigious talents. For those who are still uninitiated, I highly suggest visiting her website www.lissarankin.com But be forewarned, she pulls no punches and suffers no fools. If you are one and ready for a form of self improvement that causes you to truly face your fears and limiting beliefs with a side of NO BULLSHIT, you will truly resonate with her teachings!
Dr. Rankin has been on the at large speaking circuit for many years, and has given several TED talks the last few years. But something quite profound, yet not completely unexpected was expressed when she was asked by a panel what the next great medical epidemic that faces mankind, her answer was succinct and to the point. LONELINESS. She considers it to be a greater health threat than obesity, smoking, and drug and alcohol addiction combined. Sobering stuff!!
Yet, if you were to be honest with yourself, do you feel more lonely NOW than you did five years ago? I have the feeling the answer may be a resounding YES. The technology revolution, while providing us with an amazing array of advances in communication capabilities, has also caused us to become alienated to each other in true, authentic, SOUL connected ways. How many of you are using texting as your major form of ‘communicating’ with each other? And are substituting Facebook and Skype chats in lieu of actually going to visit someone IN PERSON. Don't get me wrong, some of these advances have actually made great strides in connecting people who would otherwise never have even met. I get that! I've gone on dates from it! (Though it doesn't make dating any easier..TRUST!)
But there is a whole other side to the devastating amount of disconnection that has transformed our way of engaging one another in an organic and meaningful manner. In fact, just the other night, I was at a restaurant and I kid you not, at least HALF of the tables were filled with folks who were ALL texting on their cell phones, seemingly oblivious to the other participants at their own table. FRIGHTENING!
“As a nation, we are embracing the digital revolution and, ironically, we are becoming a lonelier population. While there are many benefits of being participants in possibly the most relationally connected age in human history, the social media revolution has not made us feel more connected, less lonely, or replete with friends,” reports David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group. In the same Barna report, they discovered that loneliness has doubled in the past decade.
People who are subjected to long periods of loneliness are MUCH more susceptible to a malady of illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, dementia, and chronic inflammatory disease. Not to mention skyrocketing increases in both clinical depression and anxiety.
According to a research study by Psychology Today, “It turns out that fundamentally, long-term loneliness isn't about being awkward, or the victim of circumstance, or lacking opportunities to meet people. Each can be the reason for relatively short-term loneliness - anyone who has ever moved to a new town or a new school and had to start building a network of friends from scratch certainly knows what it's like to be lonely. But this kind of loneliness needn't last long, and new relationships usually are formed... unless you've fallen into a way of thinking that keeps relationships from forming.
More than anything else, the cure for persistent loneliness lies in breaking the negative cycle of thinking that created it in the first place.”
This is where we all have an obligation to take responsibility for this epidemic and its potential CURE! AS the saying goes, “How can there be so many lonely people, in a world FILLED with lonely people.” I suggest us all incorporating the Universal Law of BE THE SOURCE into our daily practice. Essentially, this means to simply be the source of what you are seeking for others. So for instance, the next time you are feeling lonely, think of someone in your life who may be going through a rough patch of their own and reach out to them. And I DO NOT mean shooting them a text or writing them a Facebook post. I mean picking up the phone and truly connecting with them. Invite them out for coffee, or over to your place for a meaningful conversation, face to face! You will be amazed at how much better and less isolated you will feel by taking these action steps in your life. Not to mention spreading the same sense of connection with others!
Hopefully, we can all agree that life's greatest JOYS come from sharing laughter, memories, love, and happiness with others. In fact, I would like to offer everyone reading this post a challenge. What would it look like to pick up the phone over the weekend, and call an old friend or relative that you have not spoken to in over a year, and catch up on old times?!I believe your heart and theirs will be filled with GRATITUDE by making such a gesture! I can attest to its transformative power by the many times I have done this myself! By using the tool of BEING THE SOURCE, you call Spirit into your experience and with that comes the magic of miracles. And right now, our planet needs the miracle of reconnection to help UNITE fractured relationships and disconnected souls in desperate need of the KNOWINGNESS that not only are they not alone, but that someone cares...........
Nerdmaste,
Jeffrey Louis Martinez
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