How to Be Alone

What can we learn about ourselves when we let go of our fear of loneliness?

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posted Sep 03, 2010

Alone

In this fun, quirky video, filmmaker Andrea Dorfman and poet/singer/songwriter Tanya Davis use poetry, art, and music to offer advice for tackling one of society’s biggest fears: alone time.

Tanya shows us how to ease into loneliness—starting in easy places like the bathroom or coffee shop, turning off our cell phone security blankets, honoring the things we like to do by ourselves—as we learn to enjoy it and feed ourselves with it.

Recent studies show that our brains need downtime, away from computers and other digital devices, to spur creativity and productivity. Check out the video...then unplug and reap the rewards of solitude!

Film produced by Bravo!FACT.

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YES! Magazine encourages you to make free use of this article by taking these easy steps. aabdallah. (2010, September 01). How to Be Alone. Retrieved February 11, 2012, from YES! Magazine Web site: http://www.yesmagazine.org/happiness/how-to-be-alone. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License

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Reader Comments

being alone

Posted by Ellen Lee at Sep 04, 2010 05:06 PM

I was thinking as I was watching and listening
that the actor isn't alone, but I loved the message.
I live it most of every day.

Liking alone

Posted by Greg at Sep 04, 2010 06:51 PM

Listening to Tanya speak and play reminded me of the moment when I realized in HS that I could be comfortable with myself alone. I would not be bored. I would not be lonely. I would actually make room and time to be me.
Now I see that struggle in my 4-year-old daughter who does not even want to sit on the toilet without one of her parents present. I know she will someday wonder and explore her inner world with no one else around. Thanks for reminding me of the beauty of being.

aloneness

Posted by floyd elterman at Sep 05, 2010 11:57 PM

be sure you can stand alone before you bring another into your world. the other may challenge you. the other may die or go away or become lost. do not dispair. you are better for the experience and stronger in your resolve to live honestly and without pretense.

Beautiful A-lone

Posted by L Peters at Sep 07, 2010 10:57 AM

Thank you for creating and sharing this.

It feels like a paradox to say this but I was something I just had to share with others :) - the importance of loving being alone.

correction...

Posted by L Peters at Sep 07, 2010 10:58 AM

correction "...but IT was something I had to share..."

Love in alone

Posted by lILLIAN at Jun 25, 2011 05:33 AM

Beautifully expressed, Alone is good place to be, to visit and to grow.
Until one is confortable enough to be happy alone, everything else will fall into place from that point.
Lovely.

FABULOUS Piece!

Posted by Julia at Sep 13, 2010 04:55 AM

I love it!

Very well done, friends!

Bravo!

Posted by Susan at Sep 13, 2010 06:23 AM

Andrea & Tonya,

Bless you! Well done! And ohsotrue!

beautiful job

Posted by carmel at Jun 07, 2011 11:30 AM

thank you for creating this video, it is wonderful.
whenever I’m being interviewed as the founder of CoAbode.org, a house share service for single mothers. One of the main reasons single moms seek a house share experience is because of loneliness. I’ve quoted this statistic many times in the past “that more people die from loneliness than cigarette smoking. It truly is a dis-ease.
I'll upload it to our website for our members to enjoy. www.coabode.org

Power to alone time!!!