BEING ALONE OR BEING LONELY 

Being alone and being lonely are not the same thing. These are two different things. Being alone can be very fun and enjoyable, soothing or liberating. Loneliness, on the other hand, is painful and dark. And just because someone is alone does not mean that they are lonely or feel lonely. It may be exactly what they want. 

But there are people for whom being alone is scary and they try to avoid it at all costs. 

But when a person cannot stand being alone, it is actually the same as not being able to spend time with themselves. They are running away from themselves. I know this sounds a bit harsh and of course it is more nuanced than that, but I am approaching this topic from this side now. 

When a person is alone, everything that is inside, which has been suppressed by external things until now, is amplified much more. And people do not always like to “hear” or acknowledge their innerself and being alone. 

Like this guy in one of my favorite movies, Jerry Maguire (1996) , so he, Jerry Maguire, is a very successful, handsome, well-paid agent, women are crazy about him, but there's one thing he's not good at, being alone, and everyone knows that about him.

He can only marry a woman he doesn't love, with a child just so he won't be alone. But the movie is full of funny things, so it's not a drama, a little sleazy in places, but it's a nice Saturday night entertainment-

 However, if you manage to "not run away" from these inner things, then you can do something with them and then sooner or later you can feel really great about yourself 😊 And now I really mean when you feel good alone. Not in the company of others or surrounded by others, but just completely alone.

 And you would feel how great this is, oh my god! There is peace, there is joy and I you have the freedom to do what you want. And that is so, so good. 

And then being alone is no longer a burden, that we have to get over it and at all costs to meet someone, but something in which we can feel very comfortable. I like being alone too.😊 

UNBREAKABLE CONNECTION 

"I don't know who remembers (besides me 😊), but last year I wrote about a sick little seagull that ended up in our garden. Later, one of our kind neighbors took care of it through the whole summer, until it grew up and was able to fly.

Anyway, in case you don't recall, what happened next was that its sibling also showed up in the garden. So there were two of them here, shouting and occasionally squabbling like children. The mother seagull was here every day supervising them, though of course, she often flew away for long periods, only returning to check if everything was okay. And everything was fine. 

So, the little sick seagull grew (along with its sibling), and they flew away at the end of summer. Unfortunately, I didn't see it myself because I was in Hungary at the time, but I know from my husband that they turned into beautiful white seagulls with yellow beaks (my favorite type—that color contrast of black, white, and yellow makes them look truly stunning).

Now, here is the main point (after that long and boring introduction 😊). Imagine, this seagull—the little sickly one that recovered—returns often. It flies back to the garden to drink and sometimes looks for the neighbor who cared for it. For instance, I watched it today, and since the neighbor was nowhere to be found, the seagull tried to make a scene to grab his attention, as the bird bath is right in front of the neighbor's window. It started tugging at the bird bath with its beak. But nothing happened; the neighbor didn't come out. Then, it stood in front of the window, spread its massive wings, and flapped them a bit, but unfortunately, the neighbor still didn't appear. So, it eventually turned around and flew away.

I was deeply moved by this connection that formed between this bird and a human. Especially by the fact that the bird hasn't forgotten what happened to it. It keeps coming back, which I interpret as the relationship being important to it—perhaps as a way of saying thank you, or maybe because it still craves that kind of care it received before, even though it’s clearly capable of looking after itself now.

Until now, I’ve only seen this kind of special human-animal bond in movies, and I’m so grateful to have experienced it in real life. I think it’s something truly extraordinary... at least, it is to me 😊"