THE SECRET OF LONELINESS IN THE SECOND HALF OF LIFE. AMAZON (available as audiobook)

 I hope that I was able to explain that to overcome our feeling of loneliness, we need to be at peace with ourselves; otherwise we will always be hunted by our demons and will always be looking for others to fill the void. Once we conquer loneliness, being alone will not mean isolation, but instead the feeling of being in the company of our expanded consciousness. What do I mean by expanded consciousness? We expand our consciousness when we become who we really are, and we are much more than meets the eye: we are our past and our present, we are all those we have met in our lives, we are our dreams and our achievements, and finally we are our view of the universe. Says Scott Peck in The Road Less Travelled: “Of the thousands, maybe even millions, of risks we can take in a lifetime, the greatest is the risk of growing up.” (1978) This means that once and for all we need to individuate from our parents and become who we really are, finally overcoming our emotional dependence on others. Psychologically, growing up is the only road to overcome the sense of loneliness and of being separated from the rest of the world. Why? Because we finally feel that we are able to stand alone in the universe, and that we will always be protected.

ACCORDING TO DON QUIXOTE...

 According to Don Quixote: "Trust in time, which usually sweetly solves many bitter difficulties." Despite graduating from the Faculty 

of Arts in my native country, I never read the work of Cervantes; perhaps because the teacher for that subject pushed us to read El Cid instead. Yet, Cervantes’ theory about the ability of time in planning our life always interested me. However, his is not our grandmothers’ advice about time making our sorrows die away. What the author is saying has to do with an unknown energy that, should we follow its path, will outline our destiny impeccably. It was 2015 when, after leaving the hospital following an operation for severe diverticulitis, my son brought me Max, a Maltese poodle, as a gift to keep me company. Although I loved cats, not so dogs. In my youth, during a vacation, I had barely managed to prevent a German shepherd from attacking me. So when Thomas showed up that Christmas with Max, I got the chills. Since I could never refuse a gift from my son, I thanked him for his generous gesture and took Max home. The first years of our relationship, as for all relationships, were far from easy. However, little by little, not only did I manage to get Max to understand the difference between the living room and the bathroom in my apartment; he was also able to learn Spanish. Today, Max and I have been together for eight years; we have learned to love each other and to sleep together without disturbing each other. While his bed is very close to mine, as soon as I turn off the light every night, Max climbs onto my bed and prepares to sleep on the empty pillow on my right. Feeling someone breathing next to me makes sleep come faster and more peaceful. Had I refused this beautiful Christmas gift, I would never have understood the real meaning of Don Quixote’s saying.