The Enjoying Aloneness Project – Ending Jealousy Permanently (Part 5)

Loneliness is some hard core business. Codependency can be a helpful protection against feelings of loneliness, but it has some unfortunate side effects. When your sense of self is merged with another person, any break in connection with them can feel intolerable. If instead, you know how to enjoy being alone, then aloneness (part of our fundamental nature) no longer equals loneliness (the sense of desperation that happens when interpersonal needs go unmet). When you enjoy aloneness, a break in connection just means you get to enjoy some time with yourself!

The Enjoying Aloneness Project is a set of practices and beliefs to replace the ones that make up codependency. Those practices include . . .

  • loving yourself so you enjoy your own company
  • deepening intimacy everywhere so aloneness no longer implies loneliness
  • sensing our connectedness with others even no one else is around
  • learning to be whole and complete as a separate individual

This video is part 5 in a 6-part series on Ending Jealousy Permanently

About the Author

Steve Bearman, Ph.D., earned his doctorate in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He founded Interchange Counseling Institute in 2002 and is the lead teacher of Interchange's San Francisco-based year-long counseling and coaching training. When he's not counseling people, leading workshops, and advocating for social justice, Steve climbs mountains, adventures in the urban wilderness, explores the edges and limits of what's possible, deconstructs everything, and finds new ways to put it all back together.
Feb 09Steve Bearman ,