A single mother with three children wrote a short article published in a newspaper thanking people who provided encouragement. Their support was vitally important to her and the children during some dark, difficult days.

"Thank you to the grocer who cashed the occasional support checks I received from my ex-husband and held the ones that bounced until I could make them good. Thank you to the parents who took my children with them on vacations I never could afford, even though I worked full time while holding down several part-time jobs. Thank you to the doctor and the dentist who charged me less than their regular rates for my children. Thank you to my principal for paying me to paint the interior of his house so I could buy groceries during the last three weeks of summer before school resumed. Thank you to the farmers who hired my sons to clean their chicken coops and help with harvesting their hay crops. What you paid them was their only spending money."

That single mother concluded her letter saying: "It has been more than 20 years since you opened your hearts to my children and me, but if you could see the two lawyers and PhD chemist they became, you'd know we did a good job with the kids."

Among the lessons to be gleaned in her experience are these:

1.  Accept help and assistance whenever it is offered.

2.  Even though you may feel alone, try to remind yourself that we are all interconnected. There are people who know you, see you, care about you and want to help you.

3.  Count your blessings. Re-read this woman's words. Count up all the blessings she received. Take an inventory of your own life and count up your blessings.

All who have lost a loved one to death experience loneliness following the loss. Though it may be a small consolation, it's worth noting that loneliness is a common human condition.

Author Tom Wolfe noted: The whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief that loneliness, far from being a rare and curious phenomenon peculiar to myself and to a few solitary men, is the central and inevitable fact of human existence.

Though lonely feelings exist and persist, there are ways to combat loneliness. Consider adapting some of these ways to relieve your bouts with loneliness.

· Connect with others. This can mean picking up the phone to chat, sending off daily emails to friends, writing letters, and spending time with people and organizations. Connect and remain connected.

· Be involved. Don't allow yourself to become a shut in or a hermit. Get out there. Take a class. Participate in a workshop. Hear a lecture. Join a civic group. The possibilities are endless and only limited by your time and creativity.

· Have a trusted confidant. If you don't have one, find a friend with whom you can bare your soul, someone with whom you feel totally at ease when talking about your deepest pains and greatest joys.

· Repeat this sentence. I am alone but I do not need to be lonely. There are many people who are not alone but are very lonely. Being alone is not the same as being lonely. Think carefully and deeply about this distinction.

· Express gratitude. Happiness in life is the by product of gratitude. So, if you haven't done this in some time, today count your blessings.

· Be a good listener. Those who listen carefully, compassionately to others never lack friends. Be there for someone else and just listen to them.

· Help others. One widow says: "I find it hard and awkward to socialize so I have nudged myself to become a volunteer at a hospice. I'm there twice a week. What a life changing experience this has been. I've made many new friends and gotten to know some very courageous people."

· Read more, a lot more. This will help you immerse yourself in a story or in learning some thing new.

· Focus on the positive. See your cup as half full rather than half empty. Face your future with faith not fear, with hope not dread.