Endlessly Tethered

Photo Credit: Artist Marc Chagall, Solitude, 1933

So much is being written about the loneliness epidemic. I strongly believe currently it is as prevalent as ever. I suspect there is not a human donning an earth suit that has not felt lonely. I most certainly have.

In fact, a recent report stated that one in three living in America have experienced loneliness.

I heard something on Tosha Silver’s Outrageous Openness Forum which is resonant. It was in response to a letter written from a forum member. Expressing that she had not suffered an individual loss, yet was affected by a profound sense of loneliness.

Tosha replied that this can become a sense of existential loneliness that is experienced. Slowly diminishing over time as we drop within creating an inner connection to ourselves and to the Divine. A relationship which is ever present, no matter what is occurring on the outside.

How to develop a connection on the inside so that the Divine alchemizes Loneliness to Solitude to Solace as one member so brilliantly shared.

We are meant to be within community. Yet, as my dear mom would share, she often intentionally chose aloneness. Instead of surrounding herself with people who depleted rather than energized her. She found contentment enjoying her own company.

To be able to intentionally choose how we desire to show up. Which invitations are a yes, and being okay with those that are not.

We are each made uniquely. Take a glance at a litter of puppies. How some have all their furry body parts touching and heaped upon one another. Others may be tucked away in the farthest corners requiring intentional breathing room. Switching positions as needed.

Photo Credit: Toni Martin, Trinie and her litter mates (Trinie, is the blue merle, hugging the pen with a pal nearby on the left. This is still her personality. Adores closeness.)

My being is very much like these puppies. I absolutely crave my quiet time, also savoring being 110 percent involved with a handful of cherished beings, both two and four legged.

Nothing being wrong with us when a sense of loneliness is ours. It is as natural as requiring added oxygen within a crowded room. The two existing side by side within a both/and most natural symbiotic nature.

As we drop within, discovering who we have been searching and seeking is us. The one who has inhabited our being the longest, is ever present. Often forgotten when the majority of our focus is an outward gaze.

“Stay with YOU, my love. Stay with you. Stay with your own heart. Stay in your own experience. Stay with the most vulnerable, terrified, and lonely places within yourself. Stay with you, love. Be FOR you sweetie, the way you always wanted someone else to be there for you as your champion.” ~ Elizabeth Gilbert

A Chorus of Listening

( Letter from Unconditional Love )

“Dear

tender-hearted treasure,

each time this Aloneness visits

we would love you

to call out to us,

chat to us, ( whispers too are fine)

tell us how you are,

how it is for you, this Aloneness,

tell us what happened

and what you’ve been trying to survive,

and even if the words escape

still call out

call out to us, your Chorus of Loving Angels Self ,

lean into us,

stir up our cloak of soothing and wonder

and inexplicable lightness of being ,

for this veil of Aloneness

melts,

yes melts, quietens,

loosens its grip

as we chat,

as we share,

as we breathe back into

our inseparable

to-getherness.”

July 2026

Liz Norris

Photo Credit: Artist Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, The Solitude, 1866

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