Meditation helps the elderly and reduces loneliness

You wonder if you are on the stage or in the audience once you get the idea that life is a play.  And then all of a sudden you see that although you aren't two people, you are in both places, you watch the play but you also play a part in it.  It is only when you realise that the run of this play isn't going on forever, or maybe even realise that it isn't destined for Broadway or the West End of London, that you want to be more established with the part of you that is the audience.  The play has changed from comedy to sit com towards black humour and then on towards a conclusion, the actors have been dwindling, quite a few have left the stage, the curtains are a bit frayed and the orchestra want to go home.  Are you going to be left on the stage as the lights fade, bereft of friends and uncertain of where you are going, or are you going to be the witnessing person who can leave all the stories behind and go home untouched?  

When you are amongst Grannies and Grandpas, you notice that they aren't so fleet of foot any more, they love watching the children but can't easily join in with all the sport, they like to watch more than participate and some of them leave earlier than either you or they would like.  The point about a meditating person is that they have been practicing leaving every day when they meditate, they have been practicing knowing that they are really just in the audience and that the play is just a play.  It helps especially when things don't go so well, it helps if the play isn't such a success and the actors are booed off the stage, it helps when you don't get the parts you want and it helps when you or someone you love are called off the stage rather suddenly.  See below, the man meditating, he isn't missing any drama, he is quite happy just practicing being alone without being lonely.  Meditation helps loneliness. And see this article on Mindfulness and Depression from the Guardian on 23rd.  Serendipity isn't it.