We Are Not Meant To Live Alone

Our culture today is obsessed with the idea of personal fulfillment and individual happiness, but what happens when you take a closer look at this ideal? While it's always exciting to experience new experiences, many people seem to forget that there will always be challenges in life. It's these struggles that make life worth living and are necessary for personal growth. However, when we shy away from these experiences in a misguided attempt to seek fulfillment solely within ourselves or other people, we not only lose the real rewards of being human but also lose sight of how important it is to live closely with others.

While it is true that there are things we would never be able to do or see on our own, the truth is that it wasn't meant to be. The human race was created to share, experience and ultimately understand life from the inside out with one another. We are made to experience the world together and learn from each other so that we may grow in awareness and compassion for one another.

If we all tried to live independently, life would be very difficult. We would rob ourselves of the opportunity to connect with others and we would also lose the true meaning of love.

Let's take a look at how living alone can impede success in all areas of our lives.

In Your Career: The idea that we must experience the world and live for ourselves prevents us from bettering our lives and careers by spending time with others and really learning about how to do things that we otherwise may not have been interested in before. An artist, for example, may choose to try his hand at farming because he'd rather spend time with people, as opposed to sitting alone in a room painting landscapes all day.

In the Social Realm: We must learn to connect with people in order to fully experience life, but we can't do this if we're too busy trying to live alone. We must learn how to enjoy the company of others and instead of living as if on a deserted island, focus on developing friendships and relationships.

In Your Relationships: People often forget that they must also be close with other people in order to truly love them. We cannot successfully love one another without understanding the nature and need for intimate connections between one another. If you try to live alone because your heart is not able to bear the idea of loving someone else unconditionally, you only hurt yourself.

In Yourself: If you find yourself living by yourself, you may be trying to avoid the idea that you must share your world with another person. However, we are all social animals and isolation can have a detrimental effect on us. It's important to remember that connecting with others is the only way to really grow as a person and understand who we are as human beings.

While it is true that some of us have been born into circumstances where it's impossible to be around other people, the fact is that even then, we need each other. We have to strive for an understanding of one another.

When we live alone, we limit our potential for experiencing life and all that it has to offer and in the process, we lose sight of the many benefits that come from living closely with others. We need to look past our own feelings and realize the many blessings that community offers us. Living alone is nothing more than living a deprived life.

Everyone deserves to live fully in the world; we all must embrace this idea of fraternity as a way of life instead of living as if on desert islands. As long as you are one step – or even one single opportunity – away from connecting with others, there is always hope for true fulfillment.

So instead of living alone, spend more time with your friends and family, because these are the people who can help you grow and learn how to achieve greater things than you ever thought were possible.

Written by Yossi Kreinik. Published in the Los Angeles Times . January 11, 2008. Copyright ©2008, The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles Times 2007 All Rights Reserved). Reprinted by permission of author. [ARTICLE END]

Wellness: A true potpourri of healing comfort foods

By Sarah Lorge Butler

You may have seen some unusual dishes at fine restaurants lately or perhaps caught a glimpse of comedian Bobby Slayton's weight-loss regimen on TV.

Foods that were once relegated more to niche markets, such as vegetarianism and whole foods, are being seen in a new light – and appearing on a growing number of dinner menus. The ubiquitous health food store is also gaining new fans.

"Food is huge right now," says chef Jesse Schenker of Bar Pitti in New York City. "People are willing to spend more on food and are willing to spend more time preparing it."

The Food Network has definitely played a part in this growing interest, adds chef Marcus Samuelsson of Aquavit.

"There are more chefs doing things that are still done through the eyes of fine dining," he says, "but we're seeing a lot more simple-edible food with different techniques."

That means not only more vegetarian dishes, but also many new foods for those who follow the Mediterranean diet. Iron Chef Michael Symon of Cleveland is a big fan of what he calls Mediterranean-style cooking, which layers flavor and texture without coming off as heavy or overbearing. He cooks both pork and lamb with wine, for example.

"A lot of people think it's kind of bland and heavy," Symon says, "but you can't hide that from the salt and fat in meat. When you use herbs, spices and things like that, it just gives it a flavor profile people like."

This new appreciation of flavors is showing up in some unique ways, too. Enter Bobby Slayton's shrimp diet. He became a vegetarian after suffering from kidney stones, but he craved shrimp. The comedian takes the unique step of getting his craving for shrimp satisfied with all the fat and calories drained out through a process called "lipid ablative therapy."

"What I get is four ounces of pure protein," Slayton says. "I'm telling you it's amazing, because when you put butter on it or anything else, it tastes incredible. It's almost like a Ph.D in shrimp."

Who doesn't need to lose weight? It's a growing problem, especially with our children. And while it may sound too good to be true, it is possible to lose weight on a "pizza diet." Most health experts don't recommend this approach – but then again, most people want instant results.

Los Angeles physician Dr. Dean Ornish has done scientific studies that prove being overweight is largely a lifestyle problem and not genetic. He also has the track record of helping people take the necessary steps to lose weight without drugs or surgery through his Program for Reversing Heart Disease.

Conclusion: If you have weight problems, it's not necessarily something you can't change. It's just taking the time to do it properly and slowly. Layoffs are stressful enough – why add stress from trying to lose weight?

You might think that eating lettuce is a healthy option, but it could be the last original vegetable on your plate. Hardly anyone cooks with fresh vegetables anymore.

Amazingly, cooking pretty much all your foods from scratch is possible for most people if you make small changes in how much and what kind of food you eat. The key is to replace junk foods with healthy ones like grilled chicken, fish or meat with veggies or whole grain pasta with marinara sauce.