We’re living in strange times. As we struggle with new terms — flattening the curve, social distancing.

Does practicing social distance make you feel alone & isolated?

It doesn’t have to be that way!

Think of three things:

• The differences between being alone and being lonely,
• The deep ties that bind us,
• And the connection we feel when practicing kindness to others or gratitude for the little things in life

Being by your self can be a rich experience

Being by yourself creates an opportunity to experience rich memories and thoughts & feelings of shared experiences. Tap into your memory to recall the places you’ve been to,  people you’ve met, the feelings you experienced together, including the highs and the lows.

This is the time to reach out by phone, video call, text message, etc. to others and share those memories, share in the joy or simply just work out the difference or misunderstandings. We can certainly practice emotional connectedness while social distancing.

Whether we’re together physically or virtually, in these trying times when we do need to practice social distancing, we can avoid unintentionally experiencing emotional distance. We need to practice being emotionally connected when we’re alone.

At difficult & trying times, we need to practice more kindness toward others and towards our selves. Also, express gratitude for the little blessing in our life.  this is a great way to strengthen our bond to other human beings, rather than feel farther apart.

Practicing gratitude has an amazing way of vaporizing fear & anger, brain science research has revealed that we can not hold these two thoughts in our brain simultaneously i.e. gratitude & fear/anger.

Worry does not empty the sorrow of tomorrow, but it takes away strength from today.

When we all do this together, each in our own way, virtually/remotely we can feel more united.

Defining Emotional Connection

An emotional connection is a collection of subjective feelings that come together to create a bond between two people.

This video demonstrates the power of connecting and sharing. Also, included is a powerful relaxation meditation exercise.

Additional sessions:

Dr, Arathi Rao is doing a Facebook Live series every Wednesday at 8:00 PM EST USA, starting on Wednesdays 18th  to help people deal with the emotional toll of the Coronavirus epidemic, It’s her way of giving back the community. Please pass it along to anyone that can benefit. Here the link:

https://www.facebook.com/events/285135082467756/

Other resources

10 Toxic Thoughts That Can Sabotage Your Success