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Author Topic: Suffering from loneliness  (Read 153379 times)

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Offline Matthew

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Re: Suffering from loneliness
« Reply #130 on: January 26, 2024, 02:17:02 PM »
Bataar, I would suggest some (pre-Vatican II) books on the spiritual life. Maybe lives of the saints, but here I'm thinking more about meditation, prayer, and the spiritual life. Great books exist in reprint or even as PDFs you can get free online. We're talking about pre-Vatican II books, the youngest of which would be at least 62 years old.

Re: Suffering from loneliness
« Reply #131 on: January 26, 2024, 02:47:55 PM »
Bataar, please know that God wants what's best for us. However, what God knows to be best for us is not necessarily the same as what we think we want. 

If you haven't been given the friends that you wish for, it could be that you've been spared from something worse, which, for now in this life, is still unknowable. 

Remember too that you have a guardian angel who is silently tipping you away from situations that are not in your best interests in the long term. Maybe you could have been being hurt or disappointed (even worse than you say you have been) by people you thought could be trusted. Or maybe it could have been the risk of getting too comfortable in worldly social activities that could distract you from what's spiritually important. 

Hear this: Every time in the past I've prayed for something specific that I thought was so very necessary, the opposite happened! :laugh1: So I stopped asking for specific stuff. Then slowly, other good and better things happened, none of it what I had been asking for before. 

Add little spontaneous prayers during the day, before and after meals, before leaving the house for an errand and again when you return. It can be one of the standard prayers, for example the ones in the opening pages of a Missal. Or you can simply use your own words to ask God for a blessing as you go out and then give thanks when you return.

Finally, this verse from Psalm 94: "Today if ye shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts...." Remember that He is always speaking to us, though it's easy to miss it if we're preoccupied with other things.


Re: Suffering from loneliness
« Reply #132 on: February 14, 2024, 02:19:24 AM »
The biggest problem for me, I think, comes down to my "special interests". For autistic people, special interests can be quite the burden as that can be all you want to focus on, or even think about. While I've definitely gotten better as I've gotten older, It's really, really hard for me to want to go out and do anything that's not related somehow to one of my interests or something I'm interested in in some way. Other than going to the store or runningi errands, I pretty much just stay home because I can't think of anything I want to do for its sake.

The same is true for talking to people. Once I'm friends with someone, I can talk meaningfully about them and legitimately care about what's going on with them and their lives, but for strangers, I pretty much can't do that. If I talk to a stranger or someone I'm not close with, the whole purpose in talking to them is to discuss a certain subject that's interesting. I'm not shy, but if a person is a stranger, I don't know if we share common interests that would merit a discussion so there's no reason to talk to them. A lot of people suggest, for example, asking someone about their job. For my brain, this is very counterintuitive. Why do I want to know about this person's job? How will the information they provide be beneficial in and of itself? More than likely, I'll never see this person again so the information they provide, regarding their specific job will be absolutely useless once the conversation ends making it pointless to even ask in the first place. 

Not sure why I'm posting this exactly, just trying to illustrate how my brain works I suppsoe. Can't really figure out a way around it.

Re: Suffering from loneliness
« Reply #133 on: February 14, 2024, 10:55:05 AM »
The biggest problem for me, I think, comes down to my "special interests". For autistic people, special interests can be quite the burden as that can be all you want to focus on, or even think about. While I've definitely gotten better as I've gotten older, It's really, really hard for me to want to go out and do anything that's not related somehow to one of my interests or something I'm interested in in some way. Other than going to the store or runningi errands, I pretty much just stay home because I can't think of anything I want to do for its sake.
[...]
Not sure why I'm posting this exactly, just trying to illustrate how my brain works I suppsoe. Can't really figure out a way around it.

Bataar, first and foremost, you're a CATHOLIC, are you not?

In all charity, please, try this: drop the autism angle already. You've allowed it to become a case of the tail-wagging-the-dog.

Maybe the diagnosis is useful for specific methods in the education of children, for vocational counseling that maybe someone should work in a back office and not as a salesperson, etc. etc. But when autism becomes a person's self-declared identity, it's a very dangerous thing.

What did people do in all the centuries before some modernist (probably atheist) "professionals" came up with the definition and started categorizing more and more children and adults this way? (Consider that there are lots of parallels between the academics who argue in favor of "neurodiversity" and those who argue in favor of "gender diversity", but that's another topic.) The label becomes a crutch that's more crippling than helpful.

You speak of your brain as if it's somehow separate from you and is what determines your daily beliefs and behavior. No, your brain is just an organ inside your skull. What is you is your SOUL. What determines your thoughts and behavior is your WILL.

Plenty people in this thread have given you advice about how to stay busy during the day. That's about using your WILL to put some of those pointers into practice. Have you changed your habits at all? Have you sincerely asked God to help you change your habits? No need to reply, these are questions for you to consider honestly with yourself.

Plenty of people in this thread have given you spiritual advice about how to ensure that you're putting Our Lord first in your priorities, and how to look to Him for guidance and fortitude. You are the only one who can quietly and humbly reflect on the state of your soul. Others can't do it for you. Look through CathInfo in The Sacred, The Library, etc. Do a web search on a traditional Examen of Conscience, print it out, put it in your pocket, and go over it daily. DECIDE that your "special interests" include what's most necessary in your inner life. 

Re: Suffering from loneliness
« Reply #134 on: February 14, 2024, 11:24:31 AM »
I’ve recently been told by three people that it’s likely I am “on the autistic spectrum” and should really get myself tested and diagnosed.  While that would certainly explain some things about me to other people, and I think it may very well be the case, what difference would it make?  I’m in my mid-60’s.  Would a diagnosis somehow improve my life?  Make me holier, a better Catholic?  All it would do is to perhaps change a few people’s minds from thinking, “She could have made so much more of herself,” to, “She’s autistic. That explains why she never made more of herself.”  
God doesn’t care if a person is classed as autistic. That’s not a Catholic category.  Think on this!  How many Saints and people in the Bible would today be diagnosed autistic or as suffering from some other psychological illness?  Look through the latest DSM and assign diagnostic codes to Saints and holy people.  Sure, there’ll be plenty of people who fit the criteria for sociopaths and the like, but God uses the Book of Life, not the DSM at our judgment!  
And don’t worry about feeling worse right now, because that often happens during Lent.