Coaching practices for Feeling Less Alone

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Feeling Less Alone, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• I feel cut off from everything, like I’m walled inside my own head and nothing reaches me
• Right now, in this exact ache, I feel cut off from everyone
• On top of the actual problem there’s this lonely conviction that I’m the only one who falls apart like this, that everyone else has it together
• My pain comes wrapped in this lonely conviction that I’m the only one who feels this exact thing, that something’s uniquely wrong with me
• Some days go by where I never once actually connect with another human

Practices that may help

1. Use belonging to ease isolation
   When you feel cut off, restore the sense that you are still a node in a larger whole.
   Sympatheia — the Stoic Practice of Universal Interconnection
2. Shared condition meditation
   Sit briefly with the awareness that right now, thousands of people are feeling exactly what you feel.
   Common Humanity, Made Practical
3. Common humanity: remember you are not alone
   Say to yourself: "Suffering is a part of life — I am not alone in this."
   The Self-Compassion Break
4. Expand tonglen to include all beings who share this suffering
   Whatever you are suffering, countless others feel it too — breathe in the shared pain, breathe out shared relief.
   Tonglen: The Tibetan Practice of Taking and Sending
5. One warm connection a day
   Make at least one genuine, attentive contact with another person each day.
   The Good Life: Lessons from the Harvard Study
6. Invoke common humanity in a moment of shame
   When you feel like a uniquely pathetic failure, remind yourself this is shared human experience.
   Working With Your Inner Critic
7. Finish the sentence: "Others also feel this when..."
   Complete a specific bridge between your pain and others' shared experience.
   Common Humanity, Made Practical
8. Schedule social contact as a priority activity
   Treat social interaction as a prescribed activity, not as something to do when you feel ready.
   Pleasant Events Scheduling, Made Practical
9. Find belonging in nature and the cosmos
   When human community feels inaccessible, find the sense of belonging in the natural world you are part of.
   Sympatheia — the Stoic Practice of Universal Interconnection
10. Add distance with your own name
    Label from a step back: "Sam is feeling overwhelmed" instead of "I am overwhelmed."
    Affect Labeling: Name It to Tame It

Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.