The paradox of solitude and loneliness

Do you enjoy being alone? Are you often lonely? Regardless of how you answer these questions, I would like to offer you some new ways of seeing them. A conscious and mindful life and experience of solitude is the best way to prevent loneliness. Based on interviews with 150 people worldwide as well as current findings from international research on loneliness and results from philosophy, sociology and political science, this book encourages you to embrace and appreciate solitude and loneliness as important companions in life. Solitude is an important process and resource that enables us to become aware of our own wishes, fears and needs. By better understanding how to be alone, we can develop healthier and more self-determined ways of living and more effectively manage our own loneliness. But solitude and loneliness are not only personal feelings and states of mind but also social and political phenomena. How we as a society deal with both says a lot about us as post-modern society and about our values and human needs for connection and belonging, not only in times of Corona. Thus, the book also explores government responses to loneliness, and new initiatives for living lives in which solitude and loneliness are recast as key aspects of being human.

Cordula Reimann works as an independent strategy and conflict consultant, facilitator, mediator, trainer and coach, mainly in conflict zones. She is a recognised expert on conflict transformation and inclusive strategy processes. In her coaching and consulting work, she focuses on personality development, gender equality, collective and transgenerational trauma as well as biography work, being different and solitude/ loneliness. After studying social psychology, political science and international relations in Germany and England, she completed her doctorate in Conflict and Peace Studies at the University of Bradford. She also works as a guest lecturer and professor at various universities, including at the UN Peace University in Costa Rica.