I hear from people regularly about how lonely they feel on their spiritual path. They have lost friends and loved ones because they believe differently now. People are afraid of them because of their ‘odd’ abilities: being empathic, feeling energies, knowing things about people and the future and more. They have left the well-paved road of established religion and find themselves wandering alone, cutting a new path. All they want to do is talk about this newly-found world of a Higher Power, the angelic realm, seeing dead people, the value of operating from a loving vibration and more, but when they do, people look at them like they’re a freak. They quickly learn to keep their mouths shut and hide.

I clearly (and painfully) remember going through vibrational shifts from healing work and meditation, and other times when my way of thinking took drastic turns because of paranormal experiences and direct guidance from Spirit. I was very lucky to always have at least a couple of like-minded friends around me, but there were times when even they didn’t understand me—just as there were times when I didn’t understand them.

I frequently felt alone and lonely. I learned that there are tremendous benefits in alone time. I believe I planned them before coming into this life so I could work on myself and so I could do my work without distraction. I came to value and love my alone time and I try to use it well.

I also learned that lonely is a choice. Yes, I was alone, but that didn’t mean I had to feel lonely. And I had to be careful not to interpret alone as lonely. There were even times when I felt totally alone in my beliefs while completely surrounded by people. My friend, a gifted seer, said to me years ago when I complained about not fitting in, “You may never truly fit in again.” For a while, that was very sad to me.
But the lonely and not-fitting-in times never lasted too long. And I learned many things during those times that I offer here as suggestions for you:

1. You are a multi-faceted person. Your spirituality is just one aspect of you. Learn to enjoy and develop the other aspects, if need be, when you are with others.
2. Ask Spirit to guide you to like-minded people, or people who might be looking to open spiritually and might benefit from talking to you.
3. Listen to Spirit when they impulse you to say something outside your comfort zone to someone else. They would do this to me frequently and I initially argued with them because I was afraid of being ‘ousted.’ But those conversations always led to something more for one or both of us. In many cases, it led to deep friendships and in other cases it led to their awakening and I felt humbled and honored to be used in that way.
4. There’s a time and place for everything. You can still be true to yourself and not be talking about spirituality. In most jobs, there’s no reason to be talking about your spiritual beliefs. It’s just not appropriate—in the same way you shouldn’t be talking about your sex life or politics there.
5. Wherever you are—play! If you see auras, practice seeing auras, whatever the conversation is. If you don’t see them—try. If you’re a healer, allow yourself to be the channel for healing to come through to all who need it. Practice receiving guidance. Ask to be told what to say or who to talk to. Play with the energies. I entertained myself through countless boring meetings by playing with the energies. I used to see if I could send enough love to the person who was in a bad mood to get them to laugh and so on.
6. Come out of the closet…gently. Yes, there is a time and place for everything, but when it is right, begin to say things to people. Go just beyond where they are speaking and see if they bite. If they are like-minded, they will, because they’ll be eager for more, too. I’m finding that there are truly so many of us awakening and so many searching for more that if you come out of the closet, we will find others eager to do the same. We need to start stepping out of our comfort zone to help those who are awakening and have no idea what’s going on.
7. Go to places where similarly-minded people typically go: some places of worship, natural food stores, yoga studios, healers, psychics, metaphysical bookstores, or classes on the topics you’re interested in.
8. If nothing else, find people and resources online. Bellesprit is a great source of information. Spiritual Networks (www.spiritualnetworks.com) is like Facebook, but for people from all spiritual walks. You will definitely find people there who think like you do—no matter how you think! Join my Facebook page. You can post questions there and I’ll do my best to answer them or get you hooked up with someone who can.

Probably the most important thing you can do is to recognize that no matter how alone you feel, you are NEVER EVER alone. Spirit is always around you and they come when you call. I know firsthand, that this is not always very satisfying when you crave the human touch, but the more you surrender to that, the more you truly feel never alone and never lonely.

I do believe that so much of the aloneness that people are feeling right now is part of the plan to push humanity into figuring out, and truly feeling that we are all one. I invite you to set your intentions to feel the oneness more fully.

I can say now that I never meet a stranger. Spirit has taken me into that deeper connection of oneness with people and I often feel like I have known them forever. I connect with their humanness and soul and feel a union with them, whether we have any beliefs in common or not.

Be open, be patient and you will find the human and spirit connections you are looking for.

Connect with Wendy Joy at www.facebook.com/wendyjoyauthor for answers to questions and FREE Distant Energy on the 9th of each month. Find information on healing sessions and Wendy’s book Clear Channel: A Guide for the Newly Awakening at www.wendyjoy.net.